PurposeTo evaluate the anterior segment biometry characteristics in congenital cataract patients before undergoing surgery in a tertiary eye care centre.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed the charts of congenital cataract patients aged less than 15 years who had undergone the congenital cataract surgery from Jan-Dec, 2015. 451 eyes of 351 patients were reviewed. The eyes were examined using an autorefract-keratometer, applanation A-scan and parameters like keratometry, axial length, corneal astigmatism were noted.ResultsThe mean age at the surgery was 92.4 ± 4.13 months (range 6 months to 15 years). The ratio of boys to girls was 2.34:1. The mean axial length was 21.94 ± 1.94 mm. Girls had shorter axial length than boys (21.53 mm vs 22.11 mm, p = 0.01). The axial length in the cataractous eyes in bilateral cases was significantly smaller than that in the unilateral cases (21.46 mm vs 22.55 mm, p < 0.0001).The mean keratometry was 44.12 ± 2.6 D. Girls had larger mean keratometry value than boys (44.71 vs 43.88, p = 0.0032). Keratometry values were higher in cataractous eyes in bilateral cases than in the unilateral cases (44.61 D vs 43.51 D, p < 0.0001). The mean corneal astigmatism was 1.49 ± 1.13 D. The prevalence of the corneal astigmatism of 2.0 D or more was 25.5%. The with-the-rule astigmatism was the most frequent type (62.53%). Girls had higher mean astigmatism than boys (p = 0.0122). The mean corneal astigmatism was higher in the cataractous eyes in bilateral cases than in the unilateral cases (p = 0.0094).ConclusionsThe axial length, mean keratometry and corneal astigmatism in congenital cataract patients varied with age, gender, and laterality. The data on biometry characteristics of Nepalese pediatric patients provided in the present study are of clinical significance and hence greatly enhance the guidelines for treatment decisions, IOL power calculations and management of congenital cataract patients.

Introduction: Studies from Nepal show that most of the cases of unilateral childhood blindness are due to corneal causes. It was also observed that these corneal causes were mostly preventable or treatable. Objective: to study the patterns of corneal diseases in a pediatric out-patient department of a hospital in the eastern region of Nepal . Methods: A retrospective study of the patients who presented to the pediatric department of our hospital in the year 2014 was done with the help of the data received from the hospital recording system. Detail examination of every case was done in the out-patient-department of the hospital by pediatric ophthalmologists. Patients with only corneal disease were included, and those with corneal disease along with other ocular disease were excluded from the study. Results: Of 20,250 patients examined in the pediatric department over a one year period, 1911(9.4%) presented with isolated corneal problems. Keratitis and corneal ulcer were found in 47.8% of them. Corneal trauma was present in 5.6% and vitamin A deficiency leading to corneal opacity and keratomalacia was seen in 0.06% of the cases. Corneal blindness was observed in 66 eyes (bilateral in 3 cases). No case of trachoma or congenital corneal disease was observed. Conclusion: Childhood corneal blindness is mostly due to preventable and treatable causes.

INTRODUCTION: Ocular injuries are the most common cause of acquired monocular blindness in children. Ocular trauma in children is mainly accidental and has an age-specific pattern. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This was a prospective study conducted at Sagarmatha Choudhary Eye Hospital, Lahan, Nepal. All children upto 15 years of age, who were diagnosed and managed for traumatic cataract between October 2012 and March 2014 (18 months period), were included in the study. Altogether 189 cases were enrolled for the study. RESULTS: Out of total 189 cases, 138(73%) were male, 51(27%) were female. 85% of the children were in the age group of 5 to 15 years while only less than 15% of the children were from the age group of 0 to 5 years. The most common cause of injury was wooden stick(34.4%) while 14.5% of the cases did not know the mode of trauma. CONCLUSION: Taking measures for prevention of ocular trauma among children is strategically important to reduce the stubborn prevalence of blindness in children.

Sympathetic Ophthalmitis is a rare, granulomatous uveitis occurring after perforating eye injury or ocular surgical procedure to one eye. The pathophysiologyis not clearly understood. We report a rare case of sympathetic ophthalmitis that presented to us in our hospital.

To compare the efficacy of intravenous methylprednisolone and intravenous dexamethasone for the treatment of optic neuritis in terms of visual recovery and side-effects and to evaluate the clinical profile of optic neuritis patients admitted in BPKLCOS. 60 patients of acute idiopathic typical optic neuritis presenting to our centre were included in this prospective, randomized comparative study. Study population was randomly divided into two groups. Group I received intravenous dexamethasone 200 mg once daily for three days and Group II received intravenous methylprednisolone 500 mg/twelvehourly for three days followed by oral prednisolone for 11 days. Optic neuritis was found to be common in the age group of 21 to 30 years with female preponderance. The most frequent mode of presentation was abrupt loss of vision. Retrobulbar optic neuritis dominated the study group. Both groups were age and sex-matched. The mean presenting visual acuity in group I was 0.065±0.59. The mean presenting visual acuity in group II was 0.1±0.15. On day 90 of steroid therapy, visual acuity improved to 0.98±0.073 in Group I and 0.88±0.16 in Group II (p=0.23). At three months, there was statistically significant improvement in both groups in terms of colour vision, contrast sensitivity and Goldmann visual fields as well but difference between the two groups was statistically insignificant. Intravenous dexamethasone is an effective treatment for optic neuritis, which is comparable to intravenous methylprednisolone. However, larger studies are required to establish it as a safe, inexpensive and effective modality for the treatment of optic neuritis.