BACKGROUND Traumatic cataract is one of the common sequelae following ocular injury. It is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness. Ocular trauma leading to traumatic cataract, if managed early gives good visual outcome. Associated ocular structure involvement has much bearing on the management and prognosis of traumatic cataract. We wanted to study the visual outcome of cataract surgery in traumatic cataract. METHODS All patients included in this prospective study were subjected complete ocular examination, intra ocular lens (IOL) power calculation and small incision cataract surgery (SICS) with IOL implantation. Visual outcome was assessed after 1st week, 2 nd week, 6th week and 6 months. Postoperative visual outcome and post-operative complications were assessed. RESULTS Out of 50 cases studied, 56 % of cases were in the age group of less than 20 years. Male: Female ratio was 2.57 : 1. Traumatic cataract was higher in patients of rural background as compared to urban background (64 % vs 32 %). In 58 % of cases, penetrating injury was the type of trauma. 60 % of patients had visual acuity of less than 3/60 at presentation. Corneal injuries (34 %), scleral tear in (22 %) and iris related problems (18 %) were the most common associated findings. All the patients were treated with SICS with IOL implantation. Most common intra-operative complication was posterior capsule rupture seen in 14 % of cases, 34 % of patients had anterior uveitis as early post-operative complication and 24 % of patients developed PCO as late post-operative complication; 68 % of the patients achieved visual acuity of above 6/18. CONCLUSIONS Timely management and involvement of other structures in traumatic cataract determines the visual prognosis of cataract surgery in traumatic cataract. Thus, our study showed that traumatic cataract can be successfully managed surgically with intraocular lens implantation with good visual outcome, unless there is associated corneal opacity or posterior segment involvement. More emphasis should be laid on the preventive measures like mass health education and awareness about risk of ocular trauma, and need to adopt safety measures should be focused, especially during playground, and at workplace. KEYWORDS Traumatic Cataract, Small Incision Cataract Surgery, IOL, Visual Acuity

BACKGROUND Refractive error is an optical defect, intrinsic to the eye which prevents light from being brought to a single point focus on the retina, thus reducing normal vision. Diagnosis and treatment of refractive error is relatively simple and is one of easiest ways to reduce impaired vision. We wanted to determine the prevalence and frequency of various types of refractive errors in rural population of Ganjam, Odisha. METHODS This is a cross sectional study in which 7,384 individuals in the age group of 5-60 years were evaluated during teleophthalmology visits during the period October 2016 to September 2018, in the rural population of Ganjam, Odisha. Individuals whose VA was <6/6 were further evaluated using slit lamp, retinoscopy and ophthalmoscopy. The requisite refractive error correction was carried out and the results were properly recorded to diagnose the type of refractive error. RESULTS The Prevalence of refractive error was found to be 27.40%. Refractive error was found to be more common in males (30.38%) as compared to the female rural population which reported a prevalence of 23.65%. The prevalence of refractive errors was found to be highest in the age group of 5-10 years i.e., 35.50%. In our study, myopia was the most common type of refractive error accounting for 61.31% followed by hypermetropia 26.82% and astigmatism 11.85% respectively. Myopia was the most common refractive error in both males (60.38%) and females (62.82%). Hypermetropia was found to be more common in females (30.69%) as compared to males (24.4%). Astigmatism was more common in males (15.17%) as compared to females (6.47%). It was observed that myopia was the most common refractive error in the age group 5-10 years (75.4%), while hypermetropia was most commonly observed in the age group 41-50 years (41.3%). Out of the 2,024 rural population having refractive error (21.09%), individuals were using glasses. Rest were either unaware or not using glasses. 14.7% of rural population with refractive error had history of spectacle use in siblings and 9.7% had history of spectacle use in either parents. CONCLUSIONS Rural population represents a high-risk group and is often neglected while it accounts for significant proportion of refractive errors. Most of the rural population are unaware of their refractive errors. Refractive errors can be easily treated with spectacles and as such, the detrimental impact of visual impairment on the quality of life can be easily prevented.