Age, gender and refractive error association with intraocular pressure in healthy Saudi participants: a cross-sectional study

Purpose: To determine the distribution of intraocular pressure [IOP] and its association with age, gender and refractive error in non-glaucomatous Saudi participants

Design: Hospital-based cross-sectional observational study during Vision Day Screening Program. Participants: 458 participants living in the Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Methods: Recruited participants [aged 20 years or over] underwent a comprehensive questionnaire and ocular examination, including measurement of IOP with Perkins hand-held applanation tonometry and autorefraction

Main outcome measures: The distribution of IOP of either of the eyes [right or left eye by randomization] and associations with age, gender and refractive error

Results: Median IOP was 15.0 [range: 6-28] mmHg in the total population. There is no significant difference between the overall IOP of male participants, median 15 [range: 6-28] mmHg and female participants, median 16 [range: 6-28] mmHg [p = 0.180]. No statistically significant difference in IOP in relation to age comparing 20-45 years group to 46-69 years group was documented [p = 0.751]. There was no statistically significant relationship between refractive error category and IOP [p = 0.405]. Ocular hypertension with IOP > 21 mmHg was found in 8.7% of the participants

Conclusion: Variation in IOP by gender, age group and type of refractive error was not statistically significant. The observations need confirmation by study with larger sample representing Saudi population

peculiar case of a retained inert piece of fireworks as an intraocular foreign body in the anterior chamber

This is a descriptive case report of a seven-year-old boy presented in January 2007 with decreased vision in the right eye, for 2 months after sustaining a trauma while he was playing with fireworks during the Bid holiday. He was treated in a suburban hospital for corneal laceration and was prescribed a topical antibiotic and a topical steroid. When the child presented to us, a slit lamp examination revealed a thread in the anterior chamber, his un-aided visual acuity was 6/60 on a Snellen chart. Surgery to remove the foreign body was scheduled, but the patient never attended. The patient was lost to follow-up and returned in January 2011 with an un-aided visual acuity of 6/12, although the foreign body was retained in the anterior chamber [AC] with a quiet eye and good vision. At that time, we decided to follow the patient without any surgical intervention. Again, the patient was lost to follow-up and returned with almost full vision in September 2012, with a visual acuity of 6/6 without correction. Thus, we concluded that thread like lOFBs in the AC can be considered inert materials that may not need any surgical intervention in a quiet eye that does not show any signs of inflammation and where the IOFB is non-mobile and located away from the endothelium