Thirty years in an urban low vision clinic: changes in prescribing habits of low vision practitioners.

PURPOSES

The purposes of this study were to determine the types of low vision devices (LVDs) prescribed by clinicians in a large optometrist led hospital low vision clinic and to investigate changes in these prescribing habits between 1973 and 2003.

METHODS

Data were collected from departmental records for all patients attending the low vision clinic at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, U.K., during the month of June in 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998, and 2003. The primary outcome measure was the type or types of LVDs prescribed to patients attending the clinic for the first time. Data were collected on the age, sex, and diagnosis of all patients attending the clinic.

RESULTS

One thousand four hundred thirty-eight patient visits were identified, of which 563 (39%) were first attendances. The median age of the patients examined did not change significantly over this time. Eighty-four percent of the patients attending the clinic for the first time were prescribed at least one LVD. The devices most frequently prescribed to new patients were nonilluminated hand magnifiers, illuminated hand magnifiers, and illuminated stand magnifiers. There was a linear increase in the proportion of hand magnifiers prescribed between 1973 and 2003 (r = 0.62, p < 0.05) and a corresponding decrease in the number of near spectacle-mounted telescopes prescribed (r = 0.70, p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Between 1973 and 2003, the low vision clinic at Moorfields Eye Hospital provided nearly 100,000 low vision consultations. The demographics of patients attending the clinic remained remarkably constant over this time. The number of spectacle-mounted devices prescribed to new patients fell between 1973 and 2003. It is thought this is in part the result of the increased availability of electronic magnification devices and the development of illuminated hand magnifiers. The development of the acrylic bright field magnifier and LED-illuminated LVDs have had particular clinical impact.