Assessment of Office-Based Practice Patterns on Protective Eyewear Counseling for Patients With Monocular Vision
Purpose
To investigate the practice patterns of office-based counseling on protective eyeglasses in monocular patients, as well as to offer our counseling recommendations.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study, Data were collected in the form of surveys. Surveys were administered at an oculoplastic ophthalmology clinic in Michigan. Inclusion criteria included adults with vision of 20/400 or worse in only one eye. Survey questions were focused on whether patients with monocular vision recall being previously counseled by their primary ophthalmologist about wearing eye protection.
Results
A total of 60 surveys were filled out and collected. Of these, the average age was 62.2 years old (Range: 23-90 years old). Of the completed surveys, 56.7% (N 34) did not recall receiving education about wearing protective glasses over their better seeing eye, while 35.0% (N 21) recalled having received education from their referring ophthalmologist about eye protection, and 8.3% (N 5) were uncertain about receiving eye protection counseling. Those whose monocular vision being the result of trauma reported a lower recollection of protective eyewear counseling than the overall average.
Conclusion
The results of this study highlight the current counseling short-comings, as more than half (56.7%) of patients surveyed did not recall being counseled on the importance of protecting their better seeing-eye, or ways of doing so. More counseling on protective eyewear needs to be incorporated into the preferred practice pattern for care of patients with monocular visual impairment. We offer our complete recommendations for counseling these patients.