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90
To the School Medical Officer,
County Borough of East Ham,
Education Committee.
Sir,
I have to report that in the Ophthalmic Clinic during the
past year I have examined 762 cases of defective vision discovered
and referred to me by the School Medical Officers in their routine
examinations. Besides these I have had under observation 698
cases, previously seen, whose sight for various reasons was liable
to be adversely affected by their school work or for whom special
arrangements had to be made, their parents being reluctant that
they should be sent to residential "Myope" schools. This step
was rendered necessary by the absence of special "Myope"
Classes in East Ham. Of this latter group 516 cases remain under
observation, while 182 no longer require it.
The re-examination of cases already seen adds very considerably
to the work of the Clinic, but it is of the greatest importance.
It brings home to all concerned, to the parents, the
teachers, and the children themselves, that these conditions are
only too liable to get worse, and that constant attention must be
given both at school and at home if children with defective sight
are to have good education and yet not suffer so much in the
process that, in spite of considerable scholastic success, their
wage-earning capacities are seriously reduced by damage to their
eyes before they can begin to earn their own livings. Supervision
consists in re-examining at regular intervals, usually of six
months, and noting the deterioration or otherwise of vision, prescribing
fresh glasses, or checking the amount of work done in
school if necessary, and lastly, in keeping careful watch upon the
condition of the teeth and the occurrence of unhealthy tonsils and
adenoids, these conditions being specially liable to lead to increase
in the degree of short sight.
Besides cases showing vjsual defects, 55 cases of eye disease
have been under treatment. Three serious cases of corneal
ulceration have occurred in which I feared for the ultimate state
of the eye. I had these cases admitted under me at the Royal
Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital with, I am glad to say, happy
results. These diseases—Corneal ulceration, Phlyctenular conjunctivitis,
and Blepharitis, will, we hope, ultimately disappear as