Complications of traditional couching in a Nigerian local population

To evaluate the complications of traditional couching in a local population.

New patients who had undergone couching and presented to the consultant outpatient clinic of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital and D.D.S. Eye clinic in Benin-city between April 2002 and March 2003 were interviewed and examined by the author to identify the complications.

Eighteen eyes of 14 patients who had undergone couching were seen in Benin-city over a 1 year period. The cost of couching was similar to modern cataract surgery. Ten patients (71.42%) were initially satisfied but later became unsatisfied because of the complications and 2 (14.29%) were unsatisfied with the procedure. The main reasons for opting for couching were ignorance and fear of surgery. The main complications were secondary glaucoma (61.54%), hyphaema (15.38%) and optic atrophy (15.38%). Visual acuity of no light perception was seen in 33.33 % of eyes mainly from secondary glaucoma but 50% of eyes had corrected visual acuity of 6/18 or better.

In view of the above complications, traditional couching should not be encouraged.