Trachoma is a disease known thousand years ago and still as a potential blindness disease all over the world. The authors call attention to the factors related with the transmission, present historical data and distribution of the disease in Brazil and in the world, comment on the agent, the signs and symptoms of this chronic conjunctivitis. Still, reinforce the need to enable professionals for the diagnosis, detection and treatment.The reflection of these attitudes will be the contribution to the elimination […]

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of pterygium in small communities along the Solimões and Japurá rivers, State of Amazonas, Brazil. Design: cross-sectional study. METHODS: This study was carried out on populations of the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Data were collected by two separate ophthalmologists in three expeditions, covering 55 local communities. A total number of 1295 patients were examined, of which 659 were over 18 years old. The patients diagnosed with pterygium answered a questionnaire addressing gender, age and […]

PURPOSE: To describe the epidemiological profile of patients waiting for penetrating keratoplasty in state of Pará, Brazil. METHODS: Transversal and retrospective study, with 1261 patients, in the period of january 2001 until to december 2009, were registered on the waiting list for corneal transplantation in the Central Notification, Captation and Distribution of Organs (CNCDO) of Pará. Registration forms of cornea receiving were used, adapted to the purposes of this research. RESULTS: In relation to frequency, it was obtained 51% male; […]

PURPOSE: The proposal of this study is to test and to validate as the effectiveness and efficiency in a series of cases the prototype of a national equipment of magnification to reading. METHODS: A recently developed of equipment of magnification (patent pending Brazilian Institutte of Industrial Property # 020050145260) was tested in a group of 30 patients (age range 9 to 80 years, 17 males). A portable apparatus was developed with a system of capture of images coupled with a […]

PURPOSE: Assess cost-effectiveness of glaucoma and/or ocular hypertension medical therapy using prostaglandin analogues in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. METHODS: This cross-sectional study evaluated the cost (average wholesale price) of different prostaglandin analogues (bimatoprost, latanoprost, travoprost) in relation to its effectiveness in reducing intra-ocular pressure. Monthly, annually and 5-year cost to achieve 1% and 20% of IOP reduction was calculated. Monthly, annually and 5-year cost to reduce 1 mmHg and 8 mmHg from baseline IOP was also calculated. RESULTS: […]