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A recent review of the causes and prevalence of low vision and blindness world wide is lack-ing. Such review is important for highlighting the causes and prevalence of visual impairment in the different parts of the world. Also, it is important in providing information on the types and magnitude of eye care programs needed in different parts of the world. In this article, the causes and prevalence of low vision and blind-ness in different parts of the world are reviewed and the socio-economic and psychological implications are briefly discussed. The review is based on an extensive review of the litera-ture using computer data bases combined with review of available national, regional and inter-national journals. Low vision and blindness are more prevalent in the developing countries than in the developed ones. Generally, the causes and prevalence of the conditions vary widely in different parts of the world and even within the same country. World wide, cataract is the most common cause of blindness and low vision among adults and elderly. Infectious diseases such as trachoma and onchocerciasis result-ing in low vision and blindness are peculiar to Africa, Asia and South America. Hereditary and congenital conditions are the most common causes of low vision and blindness among chil-dren worldwide.

Contact lenses were introduced into South Africa over three decades ago. Within the past 15 years, interest in the lenses has increased tremendously among practitioners and wearers, and this interest has influenced contact lens commercial activities in the country. Most contact lens companies in the country were established during this period. The standard of contact lens practice in South Africa is considered to be among the best in Africa. Lenses and solutions are readily available in the country. Major contact lens companies either have branches in South Africa or are represented by local agents. Hard lenses are generally manufactured locally, whereas soft lenses are imported. With the improvement in the social and economic situations of many South Africans, the prospect for contact lens wear in the country is considered to be good. This article is a synopsis of the history, education, practice profile, and commercial activities relating to contact lenses in South Africa.

Background: Welding is a common occupation in both developed and developing countries. The occupation is potentially vision-threatening if adequate safety measures are not taken to protect the eyes. Safety standards which guide such occupations are lacking in many developing countries including Nigeria. Therefore, it was considered of interest to study the welders in Nigeria in order to establish the current level of eye safety practice. Method: Questionnaires were administered to welders in Lagos area of Nigeria. Data from 339 completed questionnaires were analysed. Results: Less than half (43.7 per cent) of the welders used welding goggles when welding. Another 45.4 per cent used sun glasses, while others (10.9 per cent) did not use any device. In the week preceding the survey, 65.3 per cent of respondents reported having welded for a period without eye protection. About half (47.7 per cent) reported frequent exposure to nearby flashes when not welding. A majority of the welders reported that their eyes were sometimes or frequently irritated by fumes from welding. Conclusion: This study reveals that a large proportion of welders in Nigeria did not take adequate precautions to protect their eyes from hazards associated with welding. This finding is attributed to absence of ocular health safety standards in the country and inadequate knowledge of the potential occupational hazards by the welders. These results will be a strong tool in persuading the health authorities of the need to establish a committee to set safety standards, monitor compliance and to educate the welders and allied workers about the occupational hazards associated with the profession, and the need to take adequate safety precautions.

Background: This paper presents the findings of the first national survey of contact lens practice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The purpose of the survey was to collect data to document the demography and characteristics of contact lens practice at this early stage of practice in the Kingdom. Method: A questionnaire was sent to practitioners in each of the practices in the selected cities. Results: Data from questionnaires revealed that 97 per cent of the eye clinics engaged in contact lens practice. The government owned 8.5 per cent of the clinics; others were private establishments owned by businessmen (72.3 per cent), ophthalmologists (16 per cent) and optometrists (3.2 per cent). The majority (84.5 per cent) of the clinics have been established within the past 10 years. The practitioners were mainly optometrists (70.2 per cent), many of them (60.6 per cent) had the Doctor of Optometry (OD) degree and half (50 per cent) had trained in the Philippines. Almost all of the practitioners (95.7 per cent) were male. Most respondents (52 per cent) were between the ages of 31 and 40 years and 61.4 per cent had been in contact lens practice for more than five years. Conclusion: The data presented here shows that most of the practitioners are foreigners. This is expected to change significantly in the near future when local practitioners replace the foreigners.

Contact lenses are relatively new in Saudi Arabia, but interest in the lenses among the population is increasing rapidly. In spite of the short history of the lenses, practice, and practitioner standards are good. Refractive errors and cataracts together have a high prevalence rate within the kingdom and both could be treatable with contact lenses. This article is a synopsis of the history, educational activities, and practice relating to contact lenses. Future prospects for the lenses in the kingdom are high.

Background: As in many parts of the world, the Schirmer tear test is the main test used by optometrists in Saudi Arabia for assessing adequacy of tear production. Variability of the test has been reported in different ethnic groups but not in Arabs. This paper looks at the mean and repeatability of the values obtained by the Schirmer test in a normal Arab population Method: The test was performed on the right eyes of 23 young adult Saudi male subjects at five visits over two weeks. Result: Results showed that for each subject the test values were not repeatable, varying widely over the period of evaluation. The mean value was estimated at 10.6 mm and the 95 per cent confidence limits were 7.9 and 13.3 mm. It was also established that the greater the amount of tears, the greater the variability. Conclusion: This study supports the claim that the Schirmer test is not repeatable and hence is unreliable. Therefore, caution should be exercised in employing it for clinical diagnosis. (Clin Exp Optom 1995; 78: 5: 190–193)

The objective of this study was to establish the perceptions, expectations, apprehensions and realities of South Africa optometry students completing their undergraduate studies in 2006. Copies of a questionnaire containing relevant information were distributed to all graduating students at the four Universities offering Optometry. The responses were coded and analyzed. The respondents (N=143), representing 77% of the graduating students included 27.3% males and 72.7% females, aged 20 to 37 years (mean = 23.34 ± 2.75). About a third (32.9%) of the respondents considered opening their own practice as the best way of entering into practice. Also, this mode of practice was considered as providing the greatest fulfilment for their personal (60.8%) and professional (53.8%) goals as well as offering long term financial security (43.7%). Many (56.6%) have secured employment before graduation. Upon graduation, 43.4% would like to join a franchise. Many (79.7%) felt that Government was not offering sufficient opportunities for optometrists. The majority, (70.6%) felt that the South African optometry profession is fastly becoming saturated and this was of great concern to many (31.5%). About half, (50.3%) have plans to go overseas to practice and the most common destinations were the UK (36.1%) and Australia (15%). The mean minimum monthly salary expected as new graduates was between R9 500 and R11 500 in the public and private sectors respectively. On a response scale, the future of optometry in South Africa was scored as 6.59 ± 1.92. Findings in this study may be useful to all stake holders in optometric education in South Africa, as they may reflect the future of the optometry profession in the country.

Daily experience shows that colour of a very distant object cannot be accurately determined. It is assumed that visual acuity (VA) loss is one of the factors at play in this case. The effects of reduced VA as a result of refractive error or optical defocus on colour vision have not been examined. Such study willdictate the need or otherwise for optical correction before assessment of colour vision. The purpose of this study therefore, was to investigate the effects of optical defocus on colour vision in individuals with normal colour vision. Twenty nine young adult subjects (11 male and 18 females) were included in this study. Their ages ranged from 11 to 29 years with a mean of 22.1 ± 3.4 years. All subjects had VA of 6/6 or better and normal colour vision. The colour vision was evaluated with the Farnsworth panel D-15 (desaturated). Each subject was optically defocused to VA of 6/24, 6/60 and 1/60(6/360) at 6 meters respectively and colour vision was assessed at each reduced VA. At VA of 6/24, colour vision was not affected in all subjects. When the VA was reduced to 6/60, however, 15 (51%) of the subjects failed the colour vision test. When the VA was further reduced to 1/60 by optical defocus, 24 (83%) of the subjects failed the colour vision test. It was concluded that optical defocus and reduced VA can adversely affect colour vision test findings. While VA reduction to 6/24 may not affect the colour vision results, VA of 6/60 can. It is therefore, recommended that in clinical colour vision testing and colour vision screening, VA should first be assessed andcompensated, especially if uncorrected VA is 6/24 or worse.

It is always necessary to document his-torical events for the purpose of future gen-erations. The Department of Optometry at Turfloop had a complex development which needs to be documented; hence, the purpose of this article is to present a historical and educational overview of the optometric educa-tion at Turfloop, thirty years after its inception. This article is timely not only because of the milestone that the department has reached, but also because the institution (University of the North) where it was established 30 years ago has merged with the Medical University of Southern Africa (MEDUNSA), to form a new institution called University of Limpopo (UL) in January 2005. This article discusses the historical background of the department, staffing, facilities, academic developments, student enrolment, graduation and curriculum development. Academic, research and commu-nity outreach programmes are also discussed. Also, the future activities which may further enhance the development of the department are described. This article will serve as one of the reference sources for the present and future generations who may be interested in the his-torical development of optometric education at Turfloop.

This paper describes the design of an Arabic alphabet near acuity chart for examination of partially sighted patients. The alphabets used have similar legibility values (0.92 to 1.05) (Mean = 1.00) (SD = 0.05) and each row of the chart has similar legibility values as the others. The LogMAR method of acuity scaling was used, therefore each row is larger in size than the preceding row by a constant value of 1.26 (0.1 log unit). The inter-letter space in a row is equal to the breadth of each letter in the row and the inter-row spacing is equal the height of letters in the subjacent row. The chart has 10 rows and visual acuity values range from 9.6 to 1.2 M (LogMAR 1.4 to 0.5) at 40cm, corresponding to Snellen 6/144 to 6/18, 20/480 to 20/60. The chart will be useful for examining Arabic-speaking partially sighted subjects.

BACKGROUND: The onset and development of stereoacuity in children have been investigated by several authors. In addition to the study of those aspects of stereopsis, it is also important to collect normative data, which can be applied in the clinical setting. The purpose of this study was to establish Randot stereoacuity norms using a Saudi Arabian children population. METHOD: The Randot stereo test was used to measure stereoacuity for 791 male primary school children (aged six to 12 years) with normal vision. A battery of tests was used to establish that each child had normal eyes and vision prior to the stereoacuity measurement. RESULTS: The range of stereoacuities for all the age groups at 40 cm was 70 to 20 seconds of arc, except for the nine-year-old children in whom the range was 50 to 20 seconds of arc. More than one half (57.5 per cent) of the children achieved 29 seconds of arc. The mean stereoacuity for all of the children was 25.32 seconds of arc with a standard deviation of 9.93 seconds of arc. The mean stereoacuity for the children decreased from 29.11 seconds of arc at six years to 23.61 seconds of arc at 11 years. An inter-subject variation in stereoacuity development was observed. CONCLUSION: This paper provides normative data for Randot stereoacuity for children. The range and mean values presented here will be useful as reference data for clinical diagnosis of normalcy or otherwise of stereoacuity in children of similar ages when the Randot stereo test is used.

An Arabic visual acuity chart has been designed for low vision examination, using ten Arabic letters constructed on a 5 x 5 framework. The chart contains seven pages with acuity values ranging from 20/600 to 20/80, corresponding to letter sizes of 26.5-3.5 cm. Interletter spaces were made one-fifth the size of each letter in a row while inter-row spaces were made equal to the height of the letters in the row below. The chart will be useful to eye care practitioners who may wish to use Arabic charts in low vision evaluation.