Ocular Manifestations in Severe Acute Malnutrition in Children under 60 Months in a Secondary Health Center

Introduction: Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) is one of the main public health problems in the world. It is responsible in addition to the general symptoms, vitamin A deficiency which can cause serious eye damage including keratomalacia. This work aims to study possible ophthalmological lesions in severely acutely malnourished children from 0 to 60 months. Patients and Method: This study was carried out in a secondary ophthalmology center. It concerned all severely acute malnourished patients admitted for consultation in the pediatric department. Results: A total of 174 eyes of 87 children aged 0 to 60 months were examined. Two-thirds of the patients were aged between 6 and 18 months. Palpebral lesions are rare, however, we observed 12.64% blepharitis and palpebral dermatitis. Ocular involvement due to vitamin A deficiency was 6.9%, including one case of BITOT SPOT, 4 cases of conjunctival xerosis and one case of keratomalacia. Conclusion: Xerophthalmia is an ocular lesion due to a dietary intake deficient in vitamin A that occurs during severe acute malnutrition. Its occurrence is increasingly rare even in developing countries. However, some cases are observed in practice and may be responsible for profound visual impairments.