Ophthalmology Research: An International Journal

Aim: To identify the pattern of ocular surgeries performed at UPTH and determine any significant changes in trends of these surgeries over a ten-year period - 2005 to 2016.

Methods: It was a hospital-based retrospective study over a ten-year period. Data were extracted from the ocular surgery register and inputted into an excel-spread sheet. Data analyzed with United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Epi-Info version 7 software to determine significant differences in trends of the various eye surgeries.  A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 1,039 major and 1,322 minor ocular surgeries were done in a ten-year period. Most of the major cases (198) were done in 2012 while the least number of the major cases (27) were done in 2016. Significant variations in trends within this period occurred with cataract extraction, corneal repair, evisceration/enucleation and trabeculectomy (p<0.0001 respectively). Most of the minor cases (271) were done in 2008 while the least number (83) was done in 2011 with significant trend occurring with pterygium excision (p<0.001) and conjunctival mass excision (p<0.009). The most common major ocular surgery was cataract extraction (744) while the most common minor surgery was pterygium excision (597).

Conclusion: Ocular surgical load in UPTH is comparable to other parts of the country. There was a significant variation in the trend of cataract surgery, corneal repair, evisceration/enucleation, trabeculectomy, pterygium excision and conjunctival mass excision. These may have been affected by incessant breaks in services as a result of both local and national strike actions by health workers. In addition, patients’ ignorance or refusal to accept some of the procedures offered may have also contributed to the trend seen. Enlightenment and regular service delivery are keys to improving ocular surgical uptake.