Hikmat Ullah.
Factors Responsible for Delayed Presentation of Strabismus in patients aging up to 16 Years.
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;16(4):835-7.

Objective: To determine the factors responsible for delayed presentation of strabismus in patient`s age group up to 16 years. It was a hospital based cross sectional study Materials and Methods: A comprehensive pre designed questionnaire was used to collect data from parents of affected children. Questionnaire enlisted different factors/reasons which can be assumed to be responsible for the delayed presentation of squint in children. Patients from both the genders were included in our study i.e <16 years age. The delayed presentation defined for our study is i-e a child presenting with ocular deviation of more than 3 months. All patients with delayed presentation of squint whose age is equal or less than 16 years presenting to pediatric ophthalmology OPD were included in our study after the verbal consent from the parents/guardians. Results: Total patients were 12 out of which 8 (66.6%) were male and 4(33.3%) were female. Between age 1-5 there were 25% patients.16.6% were with the age of 6-10 years. 58.33% patients were with the age of 10-16 years. In primary causes unawareness contributed 50%. Poverty contributed 25%. Unavailability of health care services in hometown contributed 8.3% and fear of surgery contributed 16.6%. In secondary causes unavailability of healthcare services contributed 41.8%. Poverty contributed 16.6%. fear of surgery contributed 16.6% and ignorance contributed 25%. Conclusion: Strabismus not only affects the outlook of a person cosmetically but also produces negative effect on patient visual acuity. Untreated squint is the leading cause of Amblyopia in childhood. It is concluded that primary cause of delayed presentation is unawareness and the secondary cause is lack of health care facilities.

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