Pattern of Ophthalmic Procedures Performed at a New Peripheral Eye Clinic in a Semi-urban Area in Port Harcourt, Nigeria - A 5 Year Review

Abstract

Aim: A number of ophthalmic procedures are essential in the management of ocular disorders and are an integral part of ophthalmic practice all over the world.  As different therapeutic methods evolve, some ophthalmic procedures have become outdated and some have been modified or replaced by various forms of laser therapy, leading to an increase in uptake of ophthalmic procedures in this country. Also though our patients still prefer non-surgical therapy, when surgery is performed, the results are much improved leading to greater patient satisfaction. This is a result of the use of more sophisticated and expensive surgical equipment and better surgical techniques. The ophthalmic procedures analyzed here were carried out in a general ophthalmic clinic without any subspecialty affiliation. Methodology: This is a retrospective review of ophthalmic procedures carried out in a specialist facility over a five year period. Information on age, sex and type of ocular procedure was retrieved from case notes of patients and entered into excel sheets. Data was exported from excel sheets for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 111 patients had Ophthalmic procedures over the 5 –year period under review with a mean age of 56.7±18.5 years and age range from 7 to 89 years. Sixty-three of the patients (56.8%) were males while forty-eight (43.2%) were females (M:F = 4:3). The commonest ophthalmic procedure carried out was cataract extraction which accounted for 48.6% of cases followed by yag laser capsulotomy (19.8%) and pterygium excision (18%). No surgical or laser procedures for glaucoma were performed during this period. Conclusion: Ophthalmic procedures are a very important mode of treatment of eye disorders. The most common procedure performed in our study was cataract extraction and more males than females underwent both cataract surgery and pterygium excision while more females had laser capsulotomy.