[Visual problems in albinos: a hospital study carried out at the Douala General Hospital]

We report here a clinical study investigating the main visual problems associated with albinism, with a view to determining the best treatment. We came across 42 cases of albinism during the course of this study, corresponding to a prevalence for albinism of 0.15%. One in ten albinos were of the yellow mutant type and more of the albinos were men than were women (sex ratio 1.21). The maximum visual acuity recorded was 3/10 and 40.47% of the patient had a best visual acuity score no higher than 1/10. Vision was best in the yellow mutants and it improved with age. We found that 33.33% of the albino patients had a squint and 35.71% had torticullis at primary fixation. In contrast to the results of previous studies, the most common ametropia was myopic astigmatism (61.9%). These findings have potential implications for the treatment of visual problems in albinos.