Outcome of visual rehabilitation in severe visually impaired school going children reported in Low Vision Clinic of Mayo Hospital Lahore.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the outcome of visual rehabilitation in school going children of severe visual impairment having difficulty in reading, writing, mobility etc. Methods: One hundred children aged 6-15 years were examined and interviewed using questionnaire whether they show good outcome of low vision services provided by low vision specialist or not. Results: At first follow up after 15 days that majority of children got benefit from Low Vision services. In severe visual impairment, 7% of total 100 children got improvement in visual acuity after refraction. In the group of 4/60-5/60, 4% children showed improvement and shifted towards less severe group of visual acuity i.e. 5/60-6/60. Thus, total 11% of children changed their group of visual acuity from more severe group to less severe group. Color vision was tested with Ishihara chart, 67% participants had normal color vision while 18% with mild, 11% moderate and 4% with severe color vision deficiency. Contrast sensitivity tested with Low contrast flip chart 10 M optotypes “Lea numbers.†There was 2.5% contrast sensitivity in 61% clients, 5% in 29% and 10% in only 1% clients. Twenty three percent children got benefit from rehabilitation services. Children who had difficulty in seeing white board, showed improvement by 44%. Similarly, difficulty in reading books, writing and recognizing faces improved by 38%, 25% and 8% respectively after rehabilitation services. Conclusion: Low vision assessment, management, provision of appropriate devices, training of those devices and counseling of every visually impaired child is very important. It makes child able to improve his/her socioeconomic conditions after being successful in intellectual, moral and social instruction to train on his/ her particular subject.