Compliance of spectacle wear among adolescents in a tertiary care hospital

Context: Unaddressed refractive errors account for a large proportion of ocular morbidities among adolescents and can hamper their overall development. Hence, compliance with the use of visual aids should be ensured. Aim: To evaluate the degree of spectacle compliance and to assess the principle determinants for non-compliance among adolescents in a tertiary care hospital. Settings and Design: Hospital based, prospective observational study. Methods and Material: A prospective observational study was conducted over 2 years. 365 adolescents (10-19 years) attending ophthalmology OPD were observed and interviewed using questionnaire and possible causes associated with non-compliance identified. Results: Out of 365 adolescents, 190 (52.05 %) were females and 175 (47.95 %) males. Overall compliance rate was 47.12 %. Compliance was more with urban residence (p value 0.014), father’s education (p value 0.022), myopia (p value 0.001) and poor uncorrected visual acuity in better eye (p value 0.0015). The common causes for not wearing spectacles were peer pressure (17.62 %), parental disapproval (15.03 %), broken spectacles (13.47 %), dislike spectacles (11.92%), social stigma/misconceptions (10.87%), occasional use (8.81 %), forgetfulness (7.25 %), lost spectacles (6.22%), headache due to spectacles (5.18 %) and discomfort due to spectacles (3.63 %). Conclusion: Proper counselling of adolescents and their parents regarding importance of using spectacles is essential at the time of prescribing spectacles and it can improve spectacle compliance and visual outcome.