Training for Primary Eye Care in Leprosy

We developed a primary eye care training programme for community-based leprosy control workers. The 20-hour training emphasized the detection and management of lagophthalmos(and its complications) and chronic iridocyclitis. Following training leprosy patients in four resettlement villages were examined independently by the health workers and ophthalmologist. The findings reveal good agreement between most signs(lagophthalmos, acute iridocyclitis, and chronic iridocyclitis). Based on these result, we recommend excluding the detection of abnormal blink pattern from future training programmes and including the detection of posterior synechia.