![Sample our Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing & Allied Health journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5944/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Medicine-Dentistry-Nursing-Allied-Health.jpg"})
Abstract
Purpose
The aim was to compare the power of spectacles donated to a recycled spectacle program to the custom‐made spectacle refractive prescriptions dispensed in a developing country.
Methods
Two hundred consecutive prescriptions were audited in an optical dispensary in Timor‐Leste, a developing nation. These refractions were compared against measurements of 2,075 wearable donated spectacles. We determined how many of the 200 prescriptions could be matched to a donated spectacle measurement, how many donated spectacles could be tried for each prescription and how long it would take to find the matched spectacles.
Results
There were 1,854 donated spectacles identified as being suitable for comparison with the 200 refractive prescriptions. Twenty‐nine out of 200 prescriptions (14.5 per cent) were matched to at least one pair of donated spectacles.
Conclusion
Recycling all spectacles is not cost‐effective in a developing country that has the ability to make custom‐made spectacles and dispense ready‐made spectacles.
Acknowledgements
Authors thank the RANZCO Eye Foundation/Hobart Eye Surgeons East Timor Scholarship for funding the collection of data in Dili, Timor‐Leste. We are grateful to Adilson (Joni) Juvinal Da Silva, Fo Naroman Timor‐Leste, for information regarding the spectacles and lenses at the optical dispensary, Julianne Sanders for helping Fo Naroman Timor‐Leste audit their spectacle dispensing records for the year 2013, Lions Save Sight Foundation volunteers for collecting the spectacles and allowing us to analyse more than 2,000 pairs for the study and Kate Hanman for teaching and supervising the medical students.