PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of eye lesions in patients with active and non active leprosy who are being accompanied in a reference center. METHODS: The transverse study consisted of ocular examinations and the study of demographic and clinical-epidemiological data, in the reference center in the city of Rio Branco, AC (Brazil). The study was conducted between October of 2001 and April of 2002. RESULTS: Two hundred fifty-four patients were examined, the average age was 41.9 years, 70.1% were males and 29.9% females; 73.6% were from the urban area, 76.8% were of the multibacillary form and 23.2% were of the paucibacillary form. Abnormalities of the ocular annexes were observed in 49.6% of the patients (n=126) and of the ocular globe in 39.4% (n=100), the most frequent being hypoesthesia of the cornea, cataract, madarosis, hiperchromic patches, hypolacrimation, and punctate keratitis. The eye lesions (74.4%) had unequal frequencies (r<0.0001), being predominant among those older than 40 years (48.4%, against 26.0% in those under 40 years of age), multibacillary form (76.8% against 23.2% in the paucibacillary form), and in those with a leprosy history of more than 5 years (76.8% against 23.2% leprosy history of less than 5 years). Ocular globe alterations were more frequent in patients who had concluded specific treatments (r<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of ocular morbidity in these leprosy patients, in almost three quarters (74.4%) of those examined in the outpatient clinics, appeared similar to that described in literature and was more frequent in the multibacillary form of the disease and in patients over 40 years of age.
Leprosy; Eye infections, bacterial; Leprosy; Blindness; Brazil; Cross-sectional studies
