Changing patterns of visual loss in the eastern province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Considerable attention has been given to the problems of prevention of blindness and trachoma in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia over the past 40 years. It was reported in the 1960s that trachoma prevalence in Eastern Province preschool children was in excess of 90% in villages and 70% in towns, leading to a high incidence of blindness. Unpublished data from the Kig Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital 1984 G/ 1404 Hnational Survey of Eye Disease and Visual Loss demonstrated that, according to World Health Organization criteria, the prevalence of blindness in the Eastern Province was 3.3% and the prevalence of active trachoma was 11.3%. Recent socioeconomic improvement, including the health services, prompted a new survey in order to assess the current situation. From a stratified geographic cluster sample, 4819 persons were registered and 4340 were examined. Results from this 1990 survey are compared with the 1984 data. Blindness was reduced from 3.3% to 1.5%, and cataract remains the major cause of blindness [37.5%]. Trachoma is responsible for 9.4% of the causes of blindness in 1990, in comparison to 27.3% in 1984. Active trachoma has decreased to a level where it can no longer be considered a major health hazard [1%]; however, total elimination of the disease, and protection of families at risk is recommended

Choristomatous cysts of the orbit

The orbit and adnexa are frequent sites of cystic lesions of which dermoid cysts are the most common. There is however a small number of cysts which do not exhibit typical dermoid histopathologic features and which deserve a more appropriate denomination. Nine such lesions have been uncovered in 90 patients who underwent surgery for removal of orbital and adnexal dermoid cysts between 1982 and 1995. The cysts were predominantly located in the anterior medial orbit close to the trochlea, all were lined by nonkeratinized stratified epithelium or bilayered cuboidal epithelium but lacked the usual sebaceous and hairy contents of dermoid cysts. Previous authors have pnaccurately called this group conjunctival dermoid cysts, but because of the nature of the cyst lining, they are more accurately denominated a subset of a more general term, choristomatous cysts