Ocular leprosy in Africa.
A clinical examination of 199 leprosy patients in Kenya showed that 62.5% had abnormal ocular findings, 51.2% of which were leprosy related. The potentially blinding lesions were uveitis, keratitis and lagophthalmos and these were found in 22.1% of the patients. 6 Patients (3%) had a visual acuity of less than 3/60 in the better eye and were classified blind. In all, there were 31 blind eyes of which only 12 had leprosy related causes. 10 of these (83%) belonged to lepromatous patients and 2 (17%) to tuberculoid patients. All the 10 eyes of the lepromatous patients were blind due to uveitis. It was shown that lepromatous leprosy patients are at a greater risk of leprosy related blindness especially from uveitis. The socio-psychological and economic implications of leprosy are discussed. Practical recommendations for the primary eye care of the leprosy patient are suggested.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D005141:Eyelid Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007918:Leprosy / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014605:Uveitis / Q000209:etiology; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology