Patients' responses to retinitis pigmentosa

Forty-eight patients with retinitis pigmentosa completed at home a questionnaire about everyday tasks, and recorded their distance visual acuities on reduced Snellen charts. Respondents were asked to assess their own abilities for seven tasks involving visual search and mobility on a 1 to 4 scale. This revealed the relative difficulty of each task for the whole group. Other questions were open-ended to allow respondents to express their individual visual problems and experiences. Several problems came to light that were not amenable to treatment with low vision aids, but should be considered as a guide to the clinician in counseling.