Patterns of visual loss in untreated sickle cell retinopathy.

Ophthalmic assessments of 120 patients with homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease and of 222 with sickle cell haemoglobin-C (SC) disease were conducted over a period of ten years. Visual acuity loss (V.A. less than or equal to 6/18) attributable to sickle cell retinopathy occurred in 10% of untreated eyes during a mean observation period of 6.9 years. Visual loss was strongly associated with proliferative sickle retinopathy (p less than 0.001) and most commonly resulted from vitreous haemorrhage, tractional retinal detachment and epiretinal membranes. The incidence of visual loss was 31 per 1000 eye-years observation among eyes with proliferative disease compared to 1.4 per 1000 eye-years observation among eyes with non-proliferative disease.

Angioid streaks in Jamaican patients with homozygous sickle cell disease.

Angioid streaks were observed in 21 of 242 patients with homozygous sickle cell disease. Two morphological types were observed. There is no evidence that angioid streaks in Jamaican patients are related to pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

Ocular findings in sickle cell-haemoglobin O Arab disease.

The ocular findings in 2 patients with sickle cell-haemoglobin O Arab disease are described. One patient had proliferative sickle cell retinopathy with extensive autoinfarction of lesions. Sickle cell-haemoglobin O Arab disease must be added to the list of conditions that may be associated with proliferative sickle cell retinopathy.

Ocular findings of elderly cases of homozygous sickle-cell disease in Jamaica.

The ocular fingings in 60 patients with homozygous sickle-cell disease over the age of 40 years have been described. Peripheral retinal vessel disease was common and appeared to increase with age. Retinitis proliferans was common among older patients in the group. Angioid streaks occurred in 13 (22 per cent) patients.