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48
(b) Ophthalmic Department.
During the year 1940 the School Oculist held 168 sessions for the refraction
of children suffering from defective vision (104 at Newbury Hall and 64 at
Mayesbrook). Full details of the work are given in Table III, Group II, on
page 57.
1,647 attendances (1,023 at Newbury Hall Clinic, 624 at Mayesbrook
Clinic) were made by 895 school children (561 at Newbury Hall Clinic, 334 at
Mayesbrook Clinic), as compared with 1,019 school children in 1939.
Of the 895 cases, 410 were referred from medical inspections, 99 were
referred from the School Clinic, 333 were "under observation" cases reexamined,
53 were re-examihed at parents' requests.
The 895 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 6/36 6/60 6/0
151 142 169 134 113 99 71 16
The children who saw (practically normal vision) were suffering
from symptoms such as headaches, inflamed eyelids, etc., which rendered
further examination necessary.
Of the 895 children examined, 694 were found to require spectacles, 401
being children who had previously had spectacles and 293 (new cases) by reason
of the following defects:—
Myopia 29
Myopic Astigmatism 58
Hypermetropia 29
Hypermetropic Astigmatism 110
Mixed Astigmatism 20
Anisometropia 9
Hypermetropia with Squint 38
Total 293
Of the remaining 201 children,
(i) 6 were suffering from the following other diseases, and spectacles were
not prescribed:—
Congenital Myopia 1
Corneal Ulcers, Conjunctivitis, Blepharitis 4
Subacute Cyclitis 1
Total 6
(ii) 56 children were found not to require spectacles, having no refractive
error requiring correction.
(iii) 96 children were wearing spectacles already and the lenses in use did
not require changing.
(iv) 43 children were also seen but treatment was not completed owing to
the following causes:—
Moved out of District 19
Parents objected to treatment or received
treatment elsewhere 7
Waiting appointment 11
Atropine given for examination (early 1941) 6
Total 43