A study of amblyopia in 18-19 year old males.

During a vision screening of 6,556 National Service pre-enlistees aged 18-19 years at the Medical Classification Centre of Central Manpower Base, 48 subjects were found to have visual acuity of 6/12 or less in one or both eyes in the absence of ocular pathology. The prevalence of amblyopia in this population is 0.73%. Amblyopia was due to anisometropia in 24 cases (50%), strabismus in 9 cases (18.7%), high astigmatism (meridional) in 7 cases (14.5%) and other causes or a combination of factors in 8 cases (16.7%). Strabismic amblyopia is most commonly associated with esotropia. There is a positive association between the severity of amblyopia and the degree of strabismus in strabismic amblyopes. Meridional amblyopia tends to be less severe than most other types of amblyopia. The amblyopes were detected late (average 7-10 years of age) and orthoptic treatment of a small minority of them upon diagnosis was unsuccessful.