The 976 blind eyes among the 40986 out patients who visited to Dept. of Ophthalmology, Severance Hospital, Yonsei University Medical College from Sep. 1965 to Feb. 1972 were statistically evaluated. Blindness included visual acuity of F.C./lm. or less. The 817 blinds were ranged from infants to very eldety persons. For the evaluation of the site of blind eye, 159 persons(19.5%) were binocular and 658 persons (80.5%) monocular 331 persons (40.5%) were blind in the right and 327 persons (40%) in the left. In terms of frequency, the principal causes were lesions affecting the lens. 31.2%: the glsbe, 25. 3%: the cormea, 16.8%: the retina, 10.8% the optic nerve, 5.9%: In the blind eyes were due to trauma and 12% due to infectious and systemic disease. The blind eye disease was the cataract. 27.5%: the phthisis butbi. 14.1%: the cormeal opacity and ulcer. 12.8%: the glaucoma. 5.5%: the optic nerve atropy. 4.7%: the anophthalmos. 4.0%: the retinal detachment, 3.4%.
Anophthalmos ; Blindness ; Cataract ; Eye Diseases ; Glaucoma ; Humans ; Infant ; Ophthalmology ; Optic Nerve ; Outpatients ; Retina ; Retinal Detachment ; Telescopes ; Ulcer ; Visual Acuity

Two cases of hysteric amaurosis are reported. The first case is a male, 38 years of age, who had suffered from hysteric amaurosis three times during the last three years. His inability to pay the alimony to his divorced wife is considered as a causative factor. The second case is also a male, 30 years of age. He had once been attacked prior to the admission. The shock and solicitude for his missed parents during the Korean War are possibly the causative factor. Generally visible ocular symptoms in hysterica are not only amblyopia or amaurosis but also night blindness, diplopia, polyopia, metamorphopsia, metachromatopsia and differentiated various changes in visual field are found. In addition, we can easily find out in it, such as derealization, depersonalization, affective loss which are due to the disturbance of cognition, blepharoptosis, blepharospasm, strabismus, ophthalmoplegia, nystagmus, convergence insufficiency, spasm or paresis of accommodation which are resulted from motor function disturbance, headache, sensory paralysis in eye lid, conjunctiva and cornea which are followed by disturbance of perception and excessive lacrimation due to excrete disturbance. It may be needed to differentiate from simulation, malingering, retrobulbar optic neuritis. Treatment is referable to authorized suggestion with active understanding and sympathy.
Amblyopia ; Blepharoptosis ; Blepharospasm ; Blindness* ; Cognition ; Conjunctiva ; Cornea ; Depersonalization ; Diplopia ; Divorce ; Headache ; Humans ; Korean War ; Male ; Malingering ; Night Blindness ; Nystagmus, Pathologic ; Ophthalmoplegia ; Optic Neuritis ; Paralysis ; Parents ; Paresis ; Shock ; Spasm ; Spouses ; Strabismus ; Vision Disorders ; Visual Fields

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to determine if there is a corneal astigmatic change in patients with strong lid tension, such as essential blepharospasm. METHODS: Twenty-two eyes of 14 patients with blepharospasm who had undergone botulinum toxin A (Botox(R), Allergan) injection during the period February 2001 through January 2002 were included. The corneal astigmatic change was evaluated before injection and after 1st month and 6th month of injection by keratometric measurements. Corneal astigmatism was measured before and 1month after botulinum toxin A injection and changes of corneal astigmatism were checked using vector methods (corneal astigmatism change vector). RESULTS: The with-the-rule astigmatism group showed decreased average corneal astigmatism while the against-the-rule group showed increased astigmatism at 1month after injection. The corneal astigmatic change vector showed significantly greater against-the-rule change (16 eyes) than with-the-rule change (6 eyes) at 1 month after injection. CONCLUSIONS: We found that the corneal astigmatism was influenced by botulinum toxin A injection in patients with essential blepharospasm who seemed to have strong lid tension. Therefore it was proved that the corneal astigmatism was influenced by lid tension.
Astigmatism* ; Blepharospasm ; Botulinum Toxins* ; Humans

Foveal hypoplasia has been described in association with aniridia, albinism, microphthalmia and achromatopsia. Isolated foveal hypoplasia unassociated with other ocular abnormalities has been rarely reported and is regarded as a rare condition. Authors experienced two cases of isolated foveal hypoplasia in the same family. A 30-year-old woman and her 3-year-old daughter presented with a complaint of poor visual acuity and nystagmus. Ophthalmoscopic examination of their both eyes revealed loss of foveal reflex, absence of macular luteal pigment, and abnormal distribution of retinal vessels at the posterior pole. No abnormal ocular findings other than lens opacity, high myopia, and large optic cup were found.
Adult ; Albinism ; Aniridia ; Cataract ; Child, Preschool ; Color Vision Defects ; Female ; Humans ; Microphthalmos ; Myopia ; Nuclear Family ; Reflex ; Retinal Vessels ; Visual Acuity

Blindness is a worldwide health problem which affects at least 10 million people presently. The leading causes of preventable blindness in the world are trachoma, onchocerciasis, and xerophthalmia. The causes of blindness have been surveyed in many countries throughout the world, however they have varied with the country and nation. Even though there have been few reports on blindness in Korea, the nationwide surver has not been done yet. Before the survey is done, the blindness should be defined. But the definition of blindness varies in accordance with social, economical and educational status of that country. To standerdize the definition of blindness, the International Association for the Prevention of Blindness defines the visual acuity for distant vision of 5/200 or less of the better eye. In Korea. blindness has been defined. variably from visual acuity of counting finger/1 m to 20/200 or less, by serveral authors. In this survey. 1,369 patients who have visual acuity of 20/200 or less in one eye or in both eyes have been observed statistically from January 1972 to October 1978. 1. Number of blind patient .......... 1,369 (3.55%). 2. Type of blindness; Number of binocular blindness .......... 312 (22.79%), Number of monocular blindness .......... 1,057 (77.21%), Number of blindnel!s involving the left eye .......... 552(40.32%), Number of blindness involving the right eye .......... 505 (36.89%). 3. The sex and age of the blind patient; 803 persons (58.7%) were male and 566 persons (41.3%) were female. 219 persons (16.0%) were between 21 and 30 years of age, which was the highest rate. 113 person (8.3%) were over 71 years of age, which was the lowest rate. But the age distribution of blind patient shows decrescent as the age decrease. 4. The rate of the etiology of the blind eye; Trauma (23.02%), Eye disease (13.03%). Prenatal influences (7.20%). Systemic disease (5.59%), Tumor (0.77%), and unknown etiology (50.38%). 5. The rate of the site of the blind eye; Lens (32.90%). cornea (17.25%), retina (13.09%), optic nerve (8.86%). and uveal tract (3.69%). 6. The rate of the blind eye disease; Cataract (32.48%). corneal opacity (16.89%), optic nerve atrophy (7.20%), degeneration of the retina (7.08%), glaucoma (6.19%), phthisis bulbi (5.65%), anophthalmos (3.45%), uveitis (3.27%), and retinal detachment (3.21%). 7. The rate of the blind eye by visual acuity; Absolute blindness and visual acuity between 4/200 or above and less than 10/200 (19.2%), hand movement (19.0%). finger count/1m or less (18.6%). light perception only (16.5%), and visual acuity between 10/200 or above and less than 20/200 (4.5%). 8. Aside from absolute blindness (negative light perception), the causes of the blindness were the diseases of the lens, the cornea, and the retina. The prevalence of blindness due to the diseases of the cornea or optic nerve was the highest below the age of 20, and that due to lens diseases the highest over 41 year old.
Adult ; Age Distribution ; Anophthalmos ; Atrophy ; Blindness ; Cataract ; Cornea ; Corneal Opacity ; Educational Status ; Eye Diseases ; Female ; Fingers ; Glaucoma ; Hand ; Humans ; Korea ; Lens Diseases ; Male ; Onchocerciasis ; Optic Nerve ; Prevalence ; Retina ; Retinal Detachment ; Telescopes ; Trachoma ; Uveitis ; Visual Acuity ; Xerophthalmia

OBJECTIVES: Many factors influence the outcome of endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR). One of the most important prognostic factors is the level of obstruction in the lacrimal drainage system. The main objective of this report is to evaluate both the frequency of obstruction by anatomical region of the lacrimal drainage system on dacryocystography (DCG) and the surgical outcome of endoscopic DCR according to the obstruction level. METHODS: A retrospective series of 48 patients (60 eyes) who had undergone endoscopic DCR from January 2005 to November 2007 were enrolled. Preoperative evaluation consisted of a standard examination which included lacrimal irrigation, probing, DCG and osteomeatal unit (OMU) computed tomography. Patients were classified into four groups according to the obstruction level on DCG. Surgical outcome was evaluated postoperatively by subjective improvement of epiphora and patent rhinostomy opening on nasal endoscopic exam. RESULTS: Of 60 eyes, the levels of obstruction were the common canaliculus in 14 eyes (23.3%), the lacrimal sac in 13 eyes (21.7%), the duct-sac junction in 13 eyes (21.7%) and the nasolacrimal duct (NLD) in 20 eyes (33.3%). The ductsac junction obstruction was treated most successfully (100%), followed by NLD obstruction (90%), common canaliculus obstruction (78.6%) and saccal obstruction (69.2%). CONCLUSION: In patients with lacrimal drainage system obstruction, preoperative evaluation of obstruction level using DCG may be helpful for predicting the surgical outcome of endoscopic DCR. The saccal obstruction may have a worse prognosis than the other obstruction levels.
Dacryocystorhinostomy ; Drainage ; Eye ; Humans ; Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases ; Lacrimal Duct Obstruction ; Nasolacrimal Duct ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies

PURPOSE: To present the results of eye screening examinations using RetCam in healthy newborns. METHODS: Eye screening examinations were performed using the RetCam wide-field digital imaging system (Clarity Medical System, Pleasanton, CA, USA), as requested by parents, on healthy newborns within a week after birth in an obstetrics and gynecology hospital between June 2012 and September 2014. During the examination, photographs were taken showing red reflex and the fundus. The reading was conducted by a pediatric ophthalmologist. RESULTS: The examinations included a total of 10,023 newborn babies, and abnormalities were discovered in 2,916 patients (29.09%). The most commonly found abnormality was retinal hemorrhage, which was discovered in 2,796 babies (27.89%) and 471 patients showed a large amount of bleeding or macular hemorrhage. In 71 patients (0.7%), ophthalmologic examination was recommended after newborns presented with one of the following conditions: congenital cataracts, retinoblastoma, persistent hyperplastic primary vitreous, vitreous hemorrhaging, persistent pupillary membrane, choroidal nevus or albinism. Due to unclear photographs, 85 eyes of 49 patients (0.48%) could not be read. CONCLUSIONS: Ophthalmologic screening using RetCam is a safe, simple and useful technique for discovering ophthalmologic abnormalities. Additionally, when abnormalities are suspected, the role of a pediatric ophthalmologist is increasingly important in helping patients receive appropriate ophthalmologic treatment. Furthermore, retinal hemorrhage, which occurred in the majority of all observed abnormalities, requires further investigation to examine the possibilities of amblyopia in cases with a large amount of bleeding or macula involvement.
Albinism ; Amblyopia ; Cataract ; Choroid ; Gynecology ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn* ; Mass Screening* ; Membranes ; Nevus ; Obstetrics ; Parents ; Parturition ; Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous ; Reflex ; Retinal Hemorrhage ; Retinoblastoma

With the support of the World Vision, in June 2004, the district Chi Linh Health Centre (Hai Duong province) co-operated with Institute of Ophthalmology to survey on blindness and some eye diseases in 3,370 people. Objectives: identify the situation of blindness and some eye diseases in Chi Linh in the year 2004; identify the trachoma prevalence after 4 years implementing the project of trachoma control in Chi Linh. Methods: cross sectional study; Target population: all people. Results of survey has shown the prevalences of blindness and some eye diseases are so high compared with the figures of country survey, the leading causes of blindness are cataract, glaucoma, corneal opacity and pterigium. Conclusion: Thank to project of trachoma control supported by WV conducted in Chi Linh from 1999, the prevalence of active trachoma now has dropped to level under the criteria of WHO on active trachoma elimination. However, the rate of trichiasis is very far from criteria of WHO. Results of survey has shown also the serious situation of blindness. That is the big challenge for health workers and ophthalmologists in Hai Duong province and Chi Linh district in order to reduce the blindness prevalence in the next years.
Eye Diseases, Blindness, Epidemiology

To evaluate surgically induced astigmatism for 6 months following 3.2mm scleral tunnel incision cataract surgery according to incision site we divided 115 patients(124 eyes) into superior incision group 1 (58 eyes) and superotemporal incision group 2 (66 eyes). Each group was classified into 3 cases according to preoperative astigmatism. Postoperative astigmatic changes by vector method were 0.40 diopter(D) against-the-rule astigmatism(ATR) in group 1, 0.25 D ART in group 2 at 6 months and there was no difference between two groups(P>0.05). In the preoperative with-the-rule astigmatic cases, postoperative astigmatic changes were 0.56 D ART in group 1, 0.38 D ATR in group 2, in the preoperative against-the-rule astigmatic cases, postoperative astigmatic changes were 0.25 D ART in group 1, 0.12 D ART in group 2, in the preoperative no astigmatic cases, postoperative astigmatism changes were 0.53 D ATR in group 1, 0.25D ART in group 2 at 6 months. There was no significant difference between two groups in postoperative astigmatic changes(P>0.05) and corneal astigmatisms were stabilized after 2 months postoperatively in both groups(P<0.05).
Astigmatism* ; Cataract*

PURPOSE: To compare the effects of the lateral tarsal strip procedure alone and the lateral tarsal strip procedure combined with silicone tube intubation in the treatment of functional lacrimal duct obstruction. METHODS: The present study investigated 27 eyes of 20 patients underwent lateral tarsal strip procedure (LTS) alone and 29 eyes of 18 patients underwent combined lateral tarsal strip procedure and silicone tube intubation and who were diagnosed with functional lacrimal duct obstruction. The authors retrospectively reviewed patients' medical records for information including age, gender, history, follow-up period, tear meniscus height (TMH), and symptoms. RESULTS: The average age of the LTS alone group was 60.3 years, and that of the combined groups was 65.9 years. The TMHs in the LTS only and combined operation groups were 0.62 +/- 0.23 mm and 0.62 +/- 0.19 mm before the operation and 0.43 +/- 0.20 mm and 0.26 +/- 0.09 mm after the operation, respectively. The postoperative improvement in epiphora was 74.1% after the LTS alone and 86.2% after combined LTS with silicone tube intubation. The postoperative improvement in epiphora and the operative technique of the lateral tarsal strip-canthus sparing or cantholysis were not relevant. CONCLUSIONS: Lateral tarsal strip combined with silicone tube intubation appeared useful in the treatment of epiphora patients without anatomic lacrimal duct obstruction. Determining which operative technique of lateral tarsal strip procedure should be chosen is difficult, and the preoperative syringing and snap back test may be helpful.
Eye ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Intubation ; Lacrimal Apparatus Diseases ; Lacrimal Duct Obstruction ; Medical Records ; Nasolacrimal Duct ; Retrospective Studies ; Silicones