RESEARCH ARTICLE


Relative Proportion Of Different Types Of Refractive Errors In Subjects Seeking Laser Vision Correction



Talal A. Althomali*
Associate Professor, Taif University, Taif, Saudi Arabia


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Creative Commons License
© 2018 Talal A. Althomali.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Taif University, PO Box 795, Code 21944, Taif, Saudi Arabia, Tel: 00966566889983, Fax: 00966127443818; E-mail: tthomali@hotmail.com


Abstract

Background:

Refractive errors are a form of optical defect affecting more than 2.3 billion people worldwide. As refractive errors are a major contributor of mild to moderate vision impairment, assessment of their relative proportion would be helpful in the strategic planning of health programs.

Purpose:

To determine the pattern of the relative proportion of types of refractive errors among the adult candidates seeking laser assisted refractive correction in a private clinic setting in Saudi Arabia.

Methods:

The clinical charts of 687 patients (1374 eyes) with mean age 27.6 ± 7.5 years who desired laser vision correction and underwent a pre-LASIK work-up were reviewed retrospectively. Refractive errors were classified as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. Manifest refraction spherical equivalent (MRSE) was applied to define refractive errors.

Outcome Measures:

Distribution percentage of different types of refractive errors; myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism.

Results:

The mean spherical equivalent for 1374 eyes was -3.11 ± 2.88 D. Of the total 1374 eyes, 91.8% (n = 1262) eyes had myopia, 4.7% (n = 65) eyes had hyperopia and 3.4% (n = 47) had emmetropia with astigmatism. Distribution percentage of astigmatism (cylinder error of ≥ 0.50 D) was 78.5% (1078/1374 eyes); of which % 69.1% (994/1374) had low to moderate astigmatism and 9.4% (129/1374) had high astigmatism.

Conclusion and Relevance:

Of the adult candidates seeking laser refractive correction in a private setting in Saudi Arabia, myopia represented greatest burden with more than 90% myopic eyes, compared to hyperopia in nearly 5% eyes. Astigmatism was present in more than 78% eyes.

Keywords: Relative proportion of types of refractive errors, Laser vision correction, Myopia, Hyperopia, Astigmatism, Saudi Arabia.