Farah Raheem, Zahid Siddiq, Aamir Ali Chaudhary, Ashfaq Ahmed.
Evaluation of Factors Responsible for Significant Spectacles Discomfort.
Ophthalmol Update Jan ;15(3):231-5.

Objectives: The objectives of the study is to find the factors that cause the significant discomforts with the spectacles making them intolerable for the patients. Material & Methods: This is a cross sectional study that consists of 50 patients (50 pairs of spectacle) who came to the O.P.D of Madina Teaching Hospital with the complaints of their existing spectacles. The significant discomforts were noted in the questionnaire along with the responsible factors that were either spectacles or patient related. Spectacles were checked for power versus prescription (Digital Topcon Lensometer Supore LM-8), centration (Prentice Rule), type (Digital Topcon Lensometer Supore LM-8) and frame fit. The current refractive status of the patient was initially measured by a digital autorefractor Nidek ARK-510A and then confirmed by subjective refraction and compared with the spectacles. The patients were also asked about their wearing time, instructions given about spectacles care from service provider and their proper follow up. Results: A total of 50 patients, 30 patients had blurred vision with their existing spectacles, 11 had headache, 6 complained about eyestrain with their spectacles, 2 had spectacle fitting problem and only 1 had diplopia. The factors found causing these problems were; inaccurate spectacles prescription 26%, wrong spectacles power 24%, decentration 6%, improper fit 8%, no cleanliness 2% and 34% problems were due to no proper follow up of the patients. The results found to be significant (p value < 0.01) using correlation coefficient (SPSS) version 20. Conclusion: It was concluded that the significant discomfort with the spectacles occurred due to inaccurate prescription of the refractive error correction, inaccurate dispensing of the spectacles, lack of the doctor-patient communication and improper follow up of the patients. However, age, gender, occupation, routine use of the spectacles and spectacles types were not associated with the significant spectacles discomfort.

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