Wazig zien — blurred or hazy vision — was the frequent complaint of young Atjehnese men and women whose cause Dr. C. E. Gomperts set out to trace as the sixth question of his eye survey of 1937.
The investigation
Of 335 persons examined, 47 — 14 per cent — showed clear abnormalities giving an explanation for their complaint. These were for the most part refraction anomalies (30 cases).
Gomperts noted a methodological limit: since the refraction anomalies were diagnosed only from the fundus changes typical of them — skiaskopisch examination not being feasible because of the troublesome reflexes of the electric ophthalmoscope — it was very possible that refraction anomalies also occurred among the other patients examined without visible fundus changes. The cases of hypermetropie were established on further examination at Koetaradja.
The corneal finding
A large part of the patients complaining of blurred vision who reported at the eye out-patient clinic at Koetaradja showed, with the fluorescein test, “een heel lichte punt- en streepvormige verkleuring in het cornea-centrum” — a very slight punctate and linear discolouration in the centre of the cornea — while the cornea often showed nothing remarkable on ordinary focal examination, in particular no dullness.
The fluorescein test was also carried out at the kampong survey, but observation of these slight corneal discolourations was not possible there because the dark-room tent let through too much light.
Gomperts found that these corneal changes reacted either not at all, or only very slowly, to vitamin-A-rich therapy — cod-liver oil by mouth and cod-liver oil instillation — “zoodat andere hem onbekende factoren ook in het spel moeten zijn” — so that other factors unknown to him must also be in play.
See Also
- Oogheelkundig kampongonderzoek in Groot-Atjeh (Maart-December 1937)
- Xerophthalmie
- Levertraan
- C. E. Gomperts
- Koeta Radja
Source
Oriënteerend oogheelkundig onderzoek bij de Atjehsche bevolking van Groot-Atjeh gedurende 1937 (“Orienting Ophthalmological Survey among the Atjehnese Population of Groot-Atjeh during 1937”), by Dr. C. E. Gomperts, offprint from the Geneeskundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië, Afl. 19, Deel 80 (1940), pp. 1191-1238 (Batavia-Centrum: G. Kolff & Co.). Received by the editors 25 October 1939. Offprint DLP-157, Bibliotheek KITLV.