prevention of blindness

A pilot cross sectional study was performed to identify causes of blindness (BL) in blind school children with an aim to gather information on preventable and treatable causes of visual impairement. An informed consent from parents were obtained. Relevant ocular history and basic ocular examinations were carried. A total of 70 students were examined. The main causes of severe visual impairment and BL in the better eye of students were microphthalmos (37.14%), corneal scar (4.28%), anophthalmos (14.28%), optic nerveatrophy (7.14%), buphthalmos/glaucoma (2.85%), staphyloma (4.28%), cataract (5.71%), retinal dystrophy (2.85 %), coloboma (7.14%), etc. It was found that corneal scar, glaucoma and cataract were the prominent causes of BL among the students of blind school. Almost 38% of the students had preventable or treatable causes, indicating the need of genetical counseling and focused intervention.