The dangers of couching in southwest Nigeria

The need to highlight the dangers to the eye and visual status in couching has become necessary in order to discourage its patronage. This was a bi-center clinic-based prospective descriptive study about new cases of couched eyes which were seen over a two-year period. Oral interviews, eye examinations, refractions, and perimetry tests were used to obtain the information. SPSS version 16 was used for the descriptive analysis. Twenty-five patients and 30 eyes of 15 (60%) males and 10 (40%) females were studied. The age range was 34-90 years with a mean age of 67.87 years (SD 11.27). Presenting versus (vs) corrected visual acuity (VA) for normal vision was 6.7% vs 23.3%, visual impairment was 16.7% vs 26.3%, and blindness was 76.7% vs 50%. A significant number still remained blind after corrections (P = 0.014). The most common presenting complaint was "poor/blurred vision" in 24 (80.4%) and the most frequent duration of couching before presentation was 7-12 months (46.7%). Subjects with a cup:disc ratio > 0.6 had intraocular pressures (IOPs) of > 21 mmHg, and 50% of those patients had IOP > 40 mmHg (P = 0.001). Glaucoma (13.3%) and corneal opacity/retinal detachment/couching maculopathy/optic atrophy (10%) were the most common complications. Couching causes visually-disabling complications, and is therefore strongly condemned. Increasing public awareness and putting a policy in place for affordable and accessible cataract services in government hospitals would gradually phase out its patronage.