Article Text
Summary
We discuss the case of a 49-year-old soldier with a macula-on rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in Sierra Leone. The case highlights the challenge of accessing visually preserving ophthalmic specialist care in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for vitreoretinal (VR) disease. It highlights a shortage of VR surgeons in SSA, limited examination facilities, the larger issue of accessing specialist care urgently and the costs associated with accessing surgery out-of-country. It also identifies a shortage in epidemiological data on the issue which limits the assessment of the scale of the problem.
- retina
- macula
- ophthalmology
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Footnotes
Contributors EE and PS were both involved with the planning, conducting and reporting of this case. SC has been involved in the reporting of this case and has contributed significantly to the draft writing process.
Funding Steptoe funded by the Global Ophthalmology Awards Programme Grant supported by Bayer, the National Institute for Health Research - Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, the BMA Humanitarian Fund and the Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust outside of the submitted work
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Obtained.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.