Dr.ARPITHA PEREIRA
Purpose: To study the ocular disorders among children below the age of 8 years and analyse vision threatening diseases (<6/60) that can lead to permanent visual impairment.
Methods: Descriptive cross sectional study between January 2015 to 2017. 520 children were included. 6 categories of ocular disorders- Refractive errors, strabismus and amblyopia, anterior segment, posterior segment, lids, adnexa and orbit and ocular trauma.
Results: 52% were females. Anterior segment diseases 41 %; Refractive errors 34%; Amblyopia & strabismus 10%; lids and orbit 8%; posterior segment 4% and trauma 3%. 14% of total and 70% of posterior segment diseases were vision threatening.
Conclusion: Though posterior segment diseases are less common than anterior segment ones, a larger proportion of them are visually threatening. Screening programmes with posterior segment evaluation in children below the critical age are necessary for detection and treatment of refractive errors and other eye disorders.


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