A new normal with cataract surgery during COVID-19 pandemic.

Cataract is the second leading cause of preventable blindness on the globe. Several programs across the country have been running efficiently to increase the cataract surgical rates and decrease blindness due to cataract. The current COVID-19 pandemic has led to a complete halt of these programs and thus accumulating all the elective cataract procedures. At present with the better understanding of the safety precautions among the health care workers and general population the Government of India (GoI) has given clearance for functioning of eye care facilities. In order to facilitate smooth functioning of every clinic, in this paper, we prepared preferred practice pattern based on consensus discussions between leading ophthalmologists in India including representatives from major governmental and private institutions as well as the All India Ophthalmological Society leadership. These guidelines will be applicable to all practice settings including tertiary institutions, corporate and group practices and individual eye clinics. The guidelines include triage, use of personal protective equipment, precautions to be taken in the OPD and operating room as well for elective cataract screening and surgery. These guidelines have been prepared based on current situation but are expected to evolve over a period of time based on the ongoing pandemic and guidelines from GoI.

Visual field defects in epidemic dropsy.

UNLABELLED: Epidemic dropsy is a multi-system disease involving the cardiovascular, hepatic, renal, ocular and other systems. It is a toxic disease caused by the unintentional ingestion of Argemone mexicana (prickly yellow poppy) seeds as an adulterant of wheat flour or more commonly of cooking oil such as mustard oil. PURPOSE: To investigate the occurrence of visual field defects in patients suffering from epidemic dropsy glaucoma. METHODS: Visual field analysis was performed to ascertain the field defects, in patients suffering from epidemic dropsy. Group I consisted of 35 patients (69 eyes) whose intraocular pressure (IOP) was > or = 22 mmHg. Ten dropsy patients (20 eyes) with normal IOP (<22 mm Hg) formed Group II. Ten healthy unexposed volunteers (20 eyes) constituted Group III. All the patients were tested using the Armaly full field glaucoma screening test on the Humphrey field analyzer. RESULTS: Forty seven of the 69 eyes (68%) suffering from epidemic dropsy glaucoma, and 18 out of 20 (90%) eyes in dropsy patients with normal IOP, showed field defects. In the control group, 15% eyes had only nasal field defects. The difference between Group I and II was not significant (p = 0.054), though the field defects were significantly more frequent in dropsy patients as compared to the controls (p < 0.01 in either case). The results suggest that visual field defects in epidemic dropsy occur independently of the rise in intraocular pressure. Field defects were detected more frequently in patients who underwent visual field analysis early in the course of disease, as compared to those who underwent screening later on in the disease course. CONCLUSIONS: In epidemic dropsy, acute visual field defects occur independent of rise of intraocular pressure and more frequently in the early stage of the disease.