E H Voss¹, M C Puricelli², M C Alonso3
¹Centro Voss de Baja Visin, Low Vision, Buenos Aires , Argentina; ²Clínica Dr.Fernández Sasso, Low Vision, Buenos Aires , Argentina; 3Centro Privado de Ojos Buenos Aires, Low Vision, Buenos Aires , Argentina
PURPOSE
(1) To know the most frequent causes of Low Vision;
(2) Preferences in rehabilitation according to age, visual pathology, useful remaing vision and needs of patients.
MATERIAL AND METHOD
We reviewed 568 case histories in a private clinic (November 1999-May 2000) and selected the 317 that complied with the legal definition of Low Vision Person in force in Argentina: "Person whose visual acuity do not exceed 3/10 in the best corrected eye and/or a visual field not superior to 20* from the fixation point". This definition is subtly different from the O.M.S. definition (Bangkok, 23-24 July 1992).
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
From the general and particular analysis of each pathology it results that:
- Most frequent causes of Low Vision are maculopaties (56,78%). Among them, Age Related Maculopathy (ARM) ranks in the first place (65,55%); second, myopic maculopathies (21,66%); third, diabetic retinopathy (11,04%). Glaucoma represented the 10,41% of the study and pathology the 9,14%.
- Age: 88% of the patients are between 51 and 80 years old.
- Sex: female (57%) prevailed over male (43%). In myopia women doubled men (66% vs. 33%)
- Most of the adults rehabilitated for near (78%) reaching "Point 7" or "text book reading" (64%)
- Visual aids for near most used were microscopic lenses (44%); magnifiers (16%); filters (13%); aerial lenses (11%) and prismatic lenses (8%).
- A minor percentage preferred distance rehabilitation (38%) with telescopic lenses (24%); filters (10%); aerial lenses (8%); contact lenses (3,4%)
KEY WORDS: low vision - maculopathy - retinopathy - rehabilitation
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