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Pattern of visual disability and type of low vision aid rehabilitation in a tertiary eye care referral center: A descriptive study

Purpose: The aim of this study is to review the pattern of visual disability and the type of low vision rehabilitation done in patients who attended the low vision clinic at a tertiary eye care referral center in Kerala between May 2015 and April 2016. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective, hospital-based review of 200 medical records of patients who attended a tertiary eye care center in Kerala between May 2015 and April 2016. Criteria for low vision were defined as best-corrected visual acuity binocularly (BCVA) for distance by logarithm of minimum angle of resolution chart was >0.4 and for near was N8 with + 4.00 DS addition with near vision test types. The data collected included age, gender, diagnosis, BCVA for distance and near, improvement of near vision after low vision aid (LVA), and the type of LVA preferred by the patient. Results: Two hundred patients were reviewed. Of these, 64% were males and 36% were females. The age group was between 5 and 90 years. Fifty-one percent low vision was because of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) with or without maculopathy, 5% central serous retinopathy, 1% venous occlusions, 12% age-related macular degenerations, 6% retinal detachment, 3% macular hole, 19% other retinal diseases, 1% glaucoma, and 2% others. BCVA binocularly for distance was between 0.4 and 0.7 in 46%, 0.8–1 in 44%, and >1 in 10% and near vision with +4.00 add was between N8–N12 in 56% and N18–N36 in 44%. With LVA, 62% improved to N6, 35% N8–N10, and 3% N12–N18. Nearly 61% of patients preferred prismatic spectacles. Conclusion: Patients with PDR with or without diabetic maculopathy who had low vision in spite of maximum treatment formed the largest group in our study. The BCVA for near improved to N6 in 62% of the patients. Prismatic spectacles were the LVA most commonly preferred for near vision.