Purpose:To determine the magnitude and pattern of refractive errors among patients attending the ophthalmology department of a new medical college in North-East India.Materials and Methods:A prospective study of the new patients (age ≥5 years), who were phakic and whose unaided visual acuities were worse than 20/20 but improved with pinhole, was done. Complete ophthalmic examination and refraction with appropriate cycloplegia for age were done for the 4582 eligible patients. Spherical equivalents (SE) of refractive errors of the right eyes were used for analysis.Results:Of the 4582 eligible patients, 2546 patients had refractive errors (55.56%). The proportion of emmetropia (SE − 0.50–+0.50 diopter sphere [DS]), myopia (SE <−0.50 DS), high myopia (SE >−5.0 DS), and hypermetropia (>+0.50 DS for adults and >+2.0 DS for children) were 53.1%, 27.4%, 2.6%, and 16.9%, respectively. The proportion of hyperopia increased till 59 years and then decreased with age (P = 0.000). The proportion of myopia and high myopia decreased significantly with age after 39 years (P = 0.000 and P = 0.004, respectively). Of the 1510 patients with astigmatism, 17% had with-the-rule (WTR), 23.4% had against-the-rule (ATR), and 19% had oblique astigmatisms. The proportion of WTR and ATR astigmatisms significantly decreased (P = 0.000) and increased (P = 0.000) with age, respectively.Conclusions:This study has provided the magnitude and pattern of refractive errors in the study population. It will serve as the initial step for conducting community-based studies on the prevalence of refractive errors in this part of the country since such data are lacking from this region. Moreover, this study will help the primary care physicians to have an overview of the magnitude and pattern of refractive errors presenting to a health-care center as refractive error is an established and significant public health problem worldwide.

This is the normative data for macular thickness in healthy Indian eyes using Zeiss SD-OCT. This will serve as a baseline for diagnosing and treating macular pathologies in Indian eyes because such data using Zeiss SD-OCT in Indian eyes have previously been lacking.

Background and Aim: Phacoemulsification surgery with intraocular lens implantation is routinely done under topical anaesthesia in many centres. No comparative study on the efficacy of number of drops of topical anaesthetics effective for phacoemulsification surgery has been done. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of 2 drops versus 3 drops proparacaine 0.5% ophthalmic solution for phacoemulsification surgery. Methods: Patients with uncomplicated cataract undergoing phacoemulsification surgery were randomised into two groups. Group 1 (n = 53) received 3 drops of proparacaine 0.5% whereas group 2 (n = 47) received 2 drops of the same solution before the start of surgery. All the patients underwent phacoemulsification with foldable intraocular lens implantation. Each patient's subjective experience of pain was measured using a 10 point Visual Analogue Pain Scale (VAS). Patient's cooperation during the surgery was assessed using a 3 point score. Both the evaluating resident doctor and patients were blinded. Results: In group 1, 73.6% patients scored 0, 20.8% scored 1 and 5.7% scored 2 of VAS respectively and in group 2, 89.4%, 6.4%, 4.3% patients scored 0, 1 and 2 of VAS respectively. In patient cooperation, 90.1% and 9.4% patients in group 1 scored 1 and 2 respectively whereas 87.2% and 12.8% patients scored 1 and 2 respectively in group 2. No statistically significant difference in the mean VAS (P = 0.0.55) and patient cooperation score (P = 0.597) was found between the two groups. The mean VAS score was 1.24 ± 0.534 and the mean patient cooperation score was 1.11 ± 0.314. The mean total surgical time was 25.11 ± 2.68 minutes. No additional drops were required for either group. Conclusions: Topical anaesthesia with both 2 drops and 3 drops proparacaine 0.5% ophthalmic solution is effective for phacoemulsification with intraocular lens implantation. Additional T. Natung et al. 95 anaesthesia may be unnecessary in these cases.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of a simplified, fixed surgical dosage calculation for uncomplicated, horizontal, concomitant strabismus in adults. Methods: Outcomes analysis of a fixed-dose calculation method for uncomplicated, horizontal, concomitant strabismus in adults (≥18 years) wherein 1-mm recession/resection equals 2 PD for lateral rectus and 3 PD for medial rectus. This was a retrospective case series. Results: The mean age of the patients was 28.50 ± 8.43 years, the mean amount of preoperative deviation was 35.16 ± 9.97 PD, the mean expected correction was 36.26 ± 9.49 PD, and the mean correction achieved was 35.92 ± 10.74 PD. There were 22 monocular exotropias, six monocular esotropias, eight alternate divergent squints, and two alternate convergent squints. There were 20 cases of sensory strabismus (54.28%). There was no statistically significant difference between the expected correction and correction achieved ( P = 0.519), meaning that our fixed-dose calculation method was effective. Thirty-five out of 38 patients had successful outcomes as per our criteria of less than 10-PD deviations from straight in primary position. Therefore, the success rate achieved by this procedure was 92.10%. There was no statistically significant correlation between age and the amount of deviation ( P = 0.611) Conclusion: Our case series had a high postoperative success rate in terms of motor alignment. It is hoped that this simplified, fixed-dosage calculation method would help the numerous novice strabismus surgeons, make their starting steps easier and give them the confidence to do strabismus surgeries. They can modify the dosages later as per their own experiences.