Visual acuity measurement is a vital part of an optometric examination. The purpose of the present study was to compare visual acuity in preschool children using two charts – the Lea symbols chart and the Sheridan Gardiner chart. One hundred and fifty-three preschool children (72 boys and 81 girls) between the ages of 3 and 5 years (mean age and standard deviation 4.23 ± 0.78 years) were recruited from five randomly selected nursery schools. Distance visual acuity was measured monocularly and binocularly after a pre-test was done. An interval of 5 minutes was allowed for testing with both charts. The ages and sexes of each child were documented. Results showed a statistical difference in visual acuities using both charts (p < 0.05). There was also a statistical difference in both charts regarding age. There was no significant gender difference between the results from each chart.

This study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices of Nigerian optometrists and optometry students with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, while also assessing its impact of their daily personal and professional routines. The Google Forms suite was used to design an online struc- tured survey/questionnaire. This was sent to Nigerian optometrists and optometry students along with a message soliciting their voluntary participation. This survey took place between 10th April and 15th May 2020. The responses received were electronically transmitted to the authors and populated via Google suite software. Descriptive statistics and inferences were then derived from these data. A total of 399 valid responses were logged during this study. Of these, 183 (45.4%) respondents were optometry students from the eight optometry education departments in Nigeria. Optometric doctors made up 216 of the respondents. 86% of optometrists reported having cases of COVID-19 in their state. No optometrists reported suffering from the COVID-19 disease while one (0.5%) student had been infected with COVID-19. Twelve percent of student respondents felt educational facilities were adequate to cater for post COVID- 19 resumption, while 21.5% of students felt that the ongoing academic session should be restarted. The COVID-19 Pandemic has impacted greatly on service delivery among Nigerian optometrists and optometry education. Educational institutions must also adjust to current realities in order to be able to provide safe and adequate training when the academic section resumes or restarts.

Purpose: This study was conducted to ascertain the effect of retinal defocusing or retinal blur on lateral heterophoria at far and near.Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study involving 57 participants aged 5 to 35 years, who were selected based on the inclusion criteria of being myopes and emmetropes who had a normal general and ocular health. The Von Graefe technique was used for measuring phoria under standard testing conditions.Results: The mean baseline lateral phoria for emmetropes were 0.53 ± 1.14∆ exophoria and 2.47 ± 2.08∆ exophoria at far and near respectively, while after defocusing, it was 2.80 ± 0.88∆ exophoria and 4.34 ± 1.70∆ exophoria at far and near respectively. For myopes, the baseline lateral phoria was 1.52 ± 1.09∆ exophoria and 4.76 ± 1.13∆ exophoria at far and near respectively while after defocussing, it was 3.39 ± 0.92∆ exophoria at far and 7.60 ± 1.00∆ exophoria at near. The mean difference in lateral phoria was found to be significant at the 95% confidence level (P = 0.000). There was no statistically significant difference in lateral phoria change at far (P = 0.072), while the near phoria difference was significant (P = 0.002).Conclusion: Gas Retinal defocusing with +2.50D resulted in a shift towards exophoria at both far and near, with myopes experiencing more exophoric shift. This is because they are less sensitive to the presence of blur. This will enable practitioners to be cautious of the inhibition of accommodation due to higher exophoria at near when prescribing lenses. Keywords: Retinal Defocus, Myopia, Emmetropia, Near lateral phoria, Distance lateral phoria.

Glaucoma is a chronic optic neuropathy that can lead to irreversible functional and morphological damage if left untreated. The gold standard therapeutic approaches in managing patients with glaucoma and limiting progression include local drops, laser, and/or surgery, which are all geared at reducing intraocular pressure (IOP). Nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, organic compounds, and micronutrients have been gaining increasing interest in the past decade as integrative IOP-independent strategies to delay or halt glaucomatous retinal ganglion cell degeneration. In our minireview, we examine the various nutrients and compounds proposed in the current literature for the management of ophthalmology diseases, especially for glaucoma. With respect to each substance considered, this minireview reports the molecular and biological characteristics, neuroprotective activities, antioxidant properties, beneficial mechanisms, and clinical studies published in the past decade in the field of general medicine. This study highlights the potential benefits of these substances in glaucoma and other ophthalmologic pathologies. Nutritional supplementation can thus be useful as integrative IOP-independent strategies in the management of glaucoma and in other ophthalmologic pathologies. Large multicenter clinical trials based on functional and morphologic data collected over long follow-up periods in patients with IOP-independent treatments can pave the way for alternative and/or coadjutant therapeutic options in the management of glaucoma and other ocular pathologies.