Objective
To evaluate the utility of teleconsultation in the provision of eye care services during the COVID-19 lockdown. Disparities in the consultation burden of sub-specialities and socio-demographic differences in teleconsultation utilization were also assessed.
Methods
Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital Rawalpindi began audio and video teleconsultation using broadband telecommunication services during the lockdown. Patients’ and consultations’ data gathered during the first three weeks after the commencement of this programme were compared with data from the four weeks prior to lockdown. The weekly consultation ratio and overall consultation burden of sub-specialities were measured. Chi-Square tests of association determined the relationship between different variables (socioeconomic status and consultation characteristics) and consultation modality (on-site vs online).
Results
In total, 17507 on-site consultations (4377/week) were conducted compared to 1431 teleconsultations (477/week), which maintained 10.89% of the weekly pre-lockdown eye care services. The post-lockdown teleconsultation programme saw a relatively higher percentage of service utility among female (47.09% vs 44.71%), younger-age (31.33±19.45 vs 41.25±23.32 years) and higher-socioeconomic-status (32.21% vs 0.30%) patients compared to pre-lockdown on-site consultations. The most common indication for teleconsultation was red-eye (16.70%). While cornea and glaucoma clinics maintained most of the pre-lockdown services (30.42% and 29% respectively), the highest dropout was seen in optometric and vitreoretinal services supporting only 5.54% and 8.28% of pre-lockdown services, respectively.
Conclusion
Digital initiatives could partially maintain eye care services during the lockdown. Focused strategies to improve teleconsultation utilization are required during the pandemic and beyond.
Trachoma was diagnosed in 3.7% of the children aged < 10 years. The low rates for positive PCR may be due to loss of the plasmid, the involvement of other Chlamydiae, or their absence in chronic infections. The results obtained here underestimate the prevalence of trachoma because most of the mothers (and babies) were not tested in the district of Attock.
Purpose:To report a case of conjuctival leiomyoma.Case Report:An 18-year-old female patient presented with a conjunctival growth in the left eye for a 2-year-period with no change in size. She merely presented for cosmetic reasons. Visual acuity was 20/20 in each eye. The lesion had prominent vessels and was not adherent to the sclera. The growth resembled a benign lesion of the conjunctiva. The tough and vascular tissue was excised and sent for histopathology. The defect was covered by an end to end conjunctival suturing. Histopathology showed the lesion to be conjunctival leiomyoma. Trichome was used to highlight the spindle shaped cells and immuno-histochemistry using anti-smooth muscle actin antibody and Vimentin was applied to confirm the diagnosis.Conclusion:This case adds to the total number of cases of conjuctival leiomyoma reported in the literature to date. An ophthalmologist needs to think beyond a common mass when encountering a conjunctival growth extending onto the cornea.
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