The astigmatic effect of pterygium in a Tertiary Hospital in Kano, Nigeria.

AIM: This study aims to determine the effect of pterygium excision on the degree of corneal induced astigmatism and visual acuity. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a prospective interventional study conducted between September 2012 and June 2013. Consecutive patients with pterygium who met the inclusion criteria were recruited into the study. They had a basic eye examination, and those with existing comorbidity were excluded. Selected patients had pterygium excision using the bare sclera technique with intraoperative application of Mitomycin C. Detailed pre- and post-operative evaluation and refraction was done. RESULTS: There were 45 eyes of 33 patients aged 28-75 years. The mean age was 56.12 + 12.38 years. Six eyes had Grade I, 29 eyes had Grade II and 10 eyes had Grade III pterygium. The mean value for preoperative astigmatism was 2.12 ± 1.09 diopter cylinder (DC) while that for postoperative astigmatism was 0.72 ± 0.50 DC (P = 0.000). Surgery was associated with statistically significant increase in postoperative visual acuity. (P = 0.000). CONCLUSION: This study has shown that the degree of pterygium-induced astigmatism reduces significantly following surgical excision. Pterygium excision was associated with improvement in visual acuity.

Prevalence of Trachoma in Kano State, Nigeria: Results of 44 Local Government Area-Level Surveys.

PURPOSE: We sought to determine the prevalence of trachoma in 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Kano State, Nigeria. METHODS: A population-based prevalence survey was conducted in each Kano LGA. We used a two-stage systematic and quasi-random sampling strategy to select 25 households from each of 25 clusters in each LGA. All consenting household residents aged 1 year and above were examined for trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF), trachomatous inflammation-intense (TI) and trichiasis. RESULTS: State-wide crude prevalence of TF in persons aged 1-9 years was 3.4% (95% CI 3.3-3.5%), and of trichiasis in those aged ≥15 years was 2.3% (95% CI 2.1-2.4%). LGA-level age- and sex-adjusted trichiasis prevalence in those aged ≥15 years ranged from 0.1% to 2.9%. All but 4 (9%) of 44 LGAs had trichiasis prevalences in adults above the elimination threshold of 0.2%. State-wide prevalence of trichiasis in adult women was significantly higher than in adult men (2.6% vs 1.8%; OR = 1.5, 95% CI 1.3-1.7; p = 0.001). Four of 44 LGAs had TF prevalences in 1-9-year-olds between 10 and 15%, while another six LGAs had TF prevalences between 5 and 9.9%. In 37 LGAs, >80% of households had access to water within 30 minutes round-trip, but household latrine access was >80% in only 19 LGAs. CONCLUSION: Trichiasis is a public health problem in most LGAs in Kano. Surgeons need to be trained and deployed to provide community-based trichiasis surgery, with emphasis on delivery of such services to women. Antibiotics, facial cleanliness and environmental improvement are needed in 10 LGAs.