Self-reported knowledge of refractive errors: A survey of a cohort of Nigerian doctors

Aim of the study: To determine the knowledge and awareness of physicians about refractive errors and corrections. Background: Refractive errors are one of the common causes of visual impairment and blindness but the only one with the cheapest and noninvasive form of treatment. Refractive errors affect people of all ages, sex, race, and professions including those in the practice of medicine. Physicians who have knowledge of refractive errors and especially of their own will be better advocates to counsel, educate, and advice their patients of the possible causes of their poor vision and the available treatment modalities, especially refractive errors where there are no eyecare personnel, and thus will be able to institute appropriate referral. Methodology: A cross-sectional purposive sampling and descriptive study was conducted among doctors in Ogun State using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Participants were recruited from various hospitals (public and private) and gatherings of doctors. Those who consented were those whose responses were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results: A total of 477 doctors participated in the survey with two thirds being males. Ninety-eight point five percent could recall the different types of refractive errors; 77.1% doctors reported they had refractive errors, out of which 71.5% of them reported they wear corrective lenses. Of the respondents, 20.6% of the physicians were able to match myopia as a distance error, while 12.2% correctly matched myopia with concave lenses. Among the corrective lenses wearing consultants, 11% of them reported a combination of errors, while 31.5% wear a “combination of lenses”, 32 physicians who have been corrective lens-wearers for more than 20 years reported myopia, and only 15 wear “concave lenses”. Conclusion: Refractive error seems common among the physicians; their knowledge about this eye disorder and its corrections is very poor even among corrective lens-wearers regardless of the cader of the physician or the duration of spectacle wear.