Eye lesions in leprosy

Out of 742 out-patients screened for ocular disease, 177 (24%) had eye lesions due to leprosy. These were more in the lepromatous spectrum of the disease and showed increasing trend with age of patient and duration of the disease. Madarosis was the commonest lesion (76%). The serious and sight threatening lesions like lagophthalmos, corneal anaesthesia, corneal opacities and ulcers, iritis and complicated cataracts constituted 8.22% of the lesions. Blindness due to corneal opacity and complicated cataract developed in 6 patients, constituting 3.4% of eye lesions with a prevalence rate of 0.8% among all the leprosy patients. Although the blinding lesions occurred in a very small percentage of patients, most of these are preventable through early recognition and institution of appropriate treatment. The simple techniques of examination to detect potentially sight threatening lesions should be taught to all leprosy workers to prevent blindness among leprosy patients.