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The number of children admitted to Whipps Cross Hospital for operation
for strabismus during the year was 70, but this figure included 6 children under
school age. In several cases, owing to large angle of squint, two operations
were found to be necessary, so 76 squint operations were performed on the children
from the West Ham Ophthalmic Clinic.
Children also attended the Eye Clinic for treatment of external eye
diseases, and 513 such cases were seen, making 1,113 attendances.
A few children examined had special conditions, not belonging to any
of the above groups, twenty one such cases were found and included 6 cases of
congenital cataracts and several with lesions of the fundi.
Many additional attendances of children at the Eye Clinic are due to the
Health Service regulations requiring forms for repair of broken glasses, and very
rarely a day passes without one or more attending because they have broken their
glasses.
Apart from the 6 operations of children under school age the above figures
apply to school children only, but children referred from the Child Welfare
Department were also seen and treated in the Eye Clinic. There were 106 new cases
seen during the year which, along with others, numbered 183 and made 706 attendances,
and 83 prescriptions were given for glasses. Some of the children from
the Welfare Department were suitable for orthoptic treatment and 65 children were
seen by the Orthoptist and made 242 attendances.
DEFECTIVE COLOUR VISION. The Ishihara Test for the detection of this
defect has only been carried out in the case of children attending grammar and other
higher schools, for boys who have entered for Sea Training Scholarships, and for
those children who propose entering services where correct colour discrimination is
necessary. Defective colour vision is of fairly frequent occurrence in males - about
one in every 20 being affected, but is much less common among girls. It is such
a severe handicap in certain occupations that it is clearly in the child's interests
that it should be discovered before his career is decided.

The Royal College of Surgeons continued their special survey of school children
in their last year of attendance with a view to discovering the incidence of visual
defects other than the simple acuity of vision which is tested for at school medical
inspection. The results of this survey have taken some time to work out and are not
yet available. It is hoped that some interesting information will be included in
my report for 1950.
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