About Workplace-Based Screening Eye Camps

It is estimated that 153 million people in the world have a visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive errors (visual acuity <6/18 or <20/60 in the better eye) and that is excluding presbyopia. In an aging world, the magnitude of uncorrected presbyopia is unimaginable. Because this is a problem among working populations, refractive error camps can be held for the sole purpose of screening and dispensing eyeglasses to large numbers of patients at one time. Industries and other fields of work that are likely to cause seeing disorders (or that are likely to suffer losses due to workers with poor vision) are also prime targets for this type of outreach camp.

Refractive error screening camps are conducted very similarly to cataract or comprehensive screening camps. Every patient is subjected to the same series of eye examinations, in the same order as in a regular screening camp Indeed, assessment of individuals who have refractive errors, particularly those aged 50 years or above, provides an opportunity for identifying other potentially blinding conditions before they cause visual loss (such as cataract, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy).