The purpose of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological and clinical profile of patients living with glaucoma and receiving care in a tertiary eye center in Ghana. This was a hospital-based retrospective study of clinical records of glaucoma patients from January 2010 to December 2019. The study involved collating demographic information of patients, clinical presentation, and the management of glaucoma. A total of nineteen thousand (19,000) charts were retrieved from the eye center’s archives. Out of these, 660 (3.5%) records of patients qualified for the study and were analyzed. There were 398 (60.3%) males and 262 (39.7%) females. Their ages ranged from 9 to 86 years (mean age = 47.30; SD ± 16.86 years). The averages of ocular parameters of 1,320 eyes (660 patients) were visual acuity = 0.26 ± 0.55 logMAR; intraocular pressure: 17.31 ± 6.11 mmHg; cup-to-disc ratios: 0.67 ± 0.17 D; and the average retinal nerve fibers thickness was 95.03 ± 21.74 μm. The mainstay of treatment was the sole use of medication. Males were the major group receiving glaucoma care at the tertiary level. Glaucoma cases included juveniles but the mean age suggests most were of adult-onset. Socio-demographic characteristics affected the diagnosis and management of glaucoma among patients receiving care at a referral center. Public health, stakeholders, and policymakers’ interventions can help identify individuals with glaucoma.

SIGNIFICANCE:No information is available on contact lens discomfort in any African population. Such information may be helpful in developing the scope and priorities for intervention. PURPOSE:The purpose of the study was to examine contact lens-and patient-related factors associated with contact lens discomfort among wearers in Ghana. METHODS:In this multicenter cross-sectional study, contact lens wearers 18 years and older were recruited. The Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire-8 and a standardized scripted interview were administered to 72 contact lens wearers at five clinical sites, and 40 participants' lens storage cases were collected and cultured. A variety of patient-and contact lens-related factors were examined. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression modeling were used to assess risk factors associated with contact lens discomfort.RESULTS: Seventy-two contact lens wearers aged 18 to 45 years completed the study. The mean age was 27.5 ± 6.4 years, 65.3% of them were females, 86.1% wore soft contact lens, and 13.9% wore rigid gas-permeable lens. Contact lens discomfort was reported by 66.7% of the subjects. Most frequent lens storage cases isolates were Bacillus species (40%) and fungi (31.1%). Significant association was found between disinfecting with tap water (5.98; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.22 to 29.27; P = .03), heavy visual display terminal use (3.39; 95% CI, 1.01 to 11.34; P = .05), high water content (1.16; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.33; P = .03), and contact lens discomfort. Demographic factors, wear modality, and care solutions were not significant (all P > .05). CONCLUSIONS:In considering the use of contact lenses for refractive correction in this population, strategies for preventing contact lens discomfort that should be targeted include use of low-water-content lenses, disinfecting with multipurpose solutions, and reducing the time spent daily on visual display terminal use.

BACKGROUND፡ The aim of this study was to determine whether Central Corneal Thickness (CCT) is associated with intraocular pressure measurement (IOP) with a Non-contact tonometer and the Goldmann applanation tonometer in glaucoma patients.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study involved two hundred and thirty-two eyes of clinically diagnosed glaucoma patients receiving care at a referral facility. IOP measurements were obtained using both the Non-Contact Tonometer (NCT) and Goldmann Applanation Tonometer (GAT). The association between age, ethnicity, and CCT, as well as CCT on the measures of NCT and GAT, were analyzed.RESULTS: There were 64(55.2%) males and 52 (44.8%) females and their ages ranged from 18 to 85 years (mean age = 47.72; SD ±15.75 years). There was a weak positive correlation between the CCT and NCT findings in the right eye (r = 0.19, n = 116, p < 0.05) and in the left eye (r = 0.25, n = 116, p < 0.05). However, there was no correlation between CCT and GAT measurements. Age had a significant correlation with CCT while gender and ethnicity had no significant correlation.CONCLUSION: The study found a significant association between CCT and NCT. However, there was no significant association between CCT and GAT. CCT had an association with age but independent of gender and ethnicity since there was no significant relationship between these variables.

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Background: The growing middle-class population of Ghana has seen more people being employed in visually demanding occupations  and hence there is an increased desire for quality post-cataract surgical visual outcomes. This study aimed at comparing the outcomes of manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) and phacoemulsification (PHACO) among Ghanaians. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study in which records of patients who underwent MSCIS or phacoemulsification by the same surgeon were reviewed. Results: Medical records of 248 eyes were reviewed, out of which 132 underwent PHACO and 116 had MSICS. A significant number of the  PHACO group had good (6/6–6/18) uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) compared to the MSICS group at 1–2 weeks follow-up (p = 0.003) and 4–6 weeks follow-up (p = 0.002). MSICS resulted in a higher total astigmatic change compared to PHACO (p < 0.001). The PHACO grouphad a higher number of postoperative complications compared with the MSICS group (p <0.001). Postoperative borderline and poor  uncorrected visual acuity were associated with age, total astigmatic change, and postoperative complications. Conclusion: The postoperative UCVA outcomes at 4–6 weeks’ follow-up indicates that PHACO resulted in noticeably less spectacle dependency when compared to MSICS.