London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Ilford 1929
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Ilford]
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129
(6) Ophthalmic Department.— During the year 1929 the School
Oculist held 84 sessions for the refraction of children suffering
from defective vision. Full details of the work are given in
Table IV, Group II, on page 48.
545 school children were examined, 49 of these being cases
from 1928.
Of the 545 cases, 480 were referred from medical inspection,
and 65 from the School Clinic.
The 545 children were not all suffering from grave defects of vision. The following table shows the vision in the worst eye, as tested by Snellen's Type :—
| 6/6 | 6/9 | 6/12 | 6/18 | 6/24 | 8 | 8 | 6/0 |
| 87 | 133 | 99 | 74 | 55 | 52 | 30 | 15 |
The children who saw 6/6practically normal vision) were
suffering from symptoms such as headaches, inflamed eyelids, etc.,
which rendered further examination necessary.
Of the 545 children examined, 456 were found to require spectacles by reason of the following defects:—
| Myopia | 83 |
| Myopic Astigmatism | 68 |
| Hypermetropia | 77 |
| Hypermetropic Astigmatism | 148 |
| Mixed Astigmatism | 39 |
| Anisometropia | 8 |
| Hypermetropia with Squint | 33 |
| Total | 456 |