Abstract

Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the knowledge, awareness and attitude towards keratorefractive surgery among myopes attending an Eye hospital in Nigeria. Materials & Methods: A Single center, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among consecutive consenting new patients diagnosed with any form of myopia at Eye foundation hospital group, Nigeria. Interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focused group discussions were used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, awareness and attitude towards keratorefractive surgery. Results: Three hundred and two participants were enrolled into the study with mean age of 30.48±8.44 years and an age range of 18 years to 57 years. Two hundred and seventeen (72%) of the participants had not heard about keratorefractive surgery before while 82 (27%) of the participants had heard about it, with social media (62.2%) contributing more to the awareness than the ophthalmologist (35.4%) and optometrist (17.1%). The odds of awareness of keratorefractive surgical procedures increased with urban place of residence (OR = 2.710, 95%CI 1.197-6.137; p= 0.017) and higher income (OR = 2.579, 95%CI 1.309-5.081; p= 0.006). Keratorefractive surgery was also viewed as risky, surgery for the financially privileged and needless. Conclusion: There was relative low awareness and negative attitude to keratorefractive surgical services in this study and the significant predictors of awareness of keratorefractive surgery were urban residence and annual income of at least N1,000,000. There is a need for patient education to improve awareness and attitude towards keratorefractive surgery.