Awareness and utilization of protective eye device among welders in a southwestern Nigeria community.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of awareness and practice of use of protective eye devices among welders in Ile-Ife. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study of 405 consenting welders. A pretested proforma was utilized to obtain information on sociodemographic characteristics, as well as awareness and use of protective eye device. RESULTS: The age of the respondents ranged from 16 to 80 years. The mean age was 39 ± 13 years. A large proportion (315, 78%) of the welders was aged between 21 and 50 years. The youngest group aged ≤ 20 years accounted for 15 (4%) of all welders, while the oldest group aged > 60 years accounted for 21 (5.2%). 402 were males (99.3%) and three were females (0.7%). Three hundred thirty-six (83%) of the welders had practiced for 6 years and above. There was a high level of awareness of protective eye devices among the welders (367, 90.6%), being higher among arc welders compared with gas welders (P < 0.001). Less than half (186, 45.9%) of the welders possessed protective eye devices. Of these, only 39 (9.6%) made use of the devices always. Some of the reasons for not using the protective eye devices include discomfort and poor visibility (56, 13.6%) and inadequate appreciation of the necessity to wear it (49, 12.1%). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that a significant proportion of welders in Ile-Ife were not utilizing protective eye device. Health education and awareness campaigns about the importance and benefits of utilizing protective eye devices are recommended.

Causes of blindness in a special education school.

BACKGROUND: Blind children and young adults have to overcome a lifetime of emotional, social and economic difficulties. They employ non-vision dependent methods for education. OBJECTIVE: To assess the causes of blindness in a special school in southwestern Nigeria to aid the development of efficient blindness prevention programmes. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey of the Ekiti State Special Education School, Nigeria was conducted in May-June 2008 after approval from the Ministry of Education. All students in the blind section were examined for visual acuity, pen-torch eye examination and dilated fundoscopy in addition to taking biodata and history. RESULTS: Thirty blind students with mean age of 18±7.3 years and male: female ratio of 1.7:1 were examined. Blindness resulted commonly from cataract eight (26.7%), glaucoma six (20%) retinitis pigmentosa four (16.7%) and posttraumatic phthysis bulbi two (6.7%). Blindness was avoidable in 18 (61%) of cases. Glaucoma blindness was associated with redness, pain, lacrimation and photophobia in 15 (50%) and hyphaema in 16.7% of students; none of these students were on any medication at the time of study. CONCLUSION: The causes of blindness in rehabilitation school for the blind are largely avoidable and glaucoma-blind pupils face additional painful eye related morbidity during rehabilitation. While preventive measures and early intervention are needful against childhood cataract and glaucoma, regular ophthalmic consultations and medications are needed especially for glaucoma blind pupils.

Eye disease in Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa, Nigeria.

Eye disease constitutes an incapacitating condition with significant socioeconomic consequences. Regional differences occur in the pattern of presentation, which influence preventive strategies in order to achieve the goals of Vision 2020 global initiative. The purpose of the study is to determine the prevalence and causes of eye disease in Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa in order to provide a database for the planning of primary eye care delivery system. Medical records of new consecutive patients presenting in the eye clinic of Wesley Guild Hospital, Ilesa over a 5-year period (January 2000 - December 2004) were studied. The prevalence of eye disease was 2.3%. A total of 1717 patients had eye disorders. The mean age was 52.0 years +/- 2.4 s.d, with a female preponderance (Male: Female ratio 1:1.2). The leading diagnoses were cataract (26.0%), refractive error (18.5%), allergic conjunctivitis (12.4%) and glaucoma (10.9%). High volume cataract surgery, health education, early diagnosis and prompt management while incorporating, primary eye care within the comprehensive health care system could reduce the impact of the preventable causes of blindness.