Purpose: To assess the subjective visual disability of patients with epiphora and to compare the results with that of patients waiting for second eye cataract surgery.
Design: A prospective, randomised, questionnaire-based study.
Methods: Forty-six patients with epiphora listed for dacryocystorhinostomy and 50 patients having second eye cataract extraction were enrolled. A questionnaire focusing on functional visual disability in daily life and based on VF-14 was completed for each participant.
Results: Eighty-six percent of patients with epiphora and 41% of second-eye cataracts had difficulty reading small print (P < 0.05). The extent of such difficulty was moderate to great in 48% of epiphora and only 26% of cataract patients .A substantial percentage of epiphora patients and second eye cataract also reported difficulty with other tasks, such as doing fine work (78.9% vs. 42%) (P < 0.05), watching television (63.1% vs. 19%) (P < 0.05), seeing steps or stairs (43.4% vs. 10%) (P < 0.05), or reading signs (39.1% vs. 4%) (P < 0.05), respectively.
Conclusions: There is widespread recognition of the effect of cataract on visual function. This has resulted in substantial government funding to improve access to cataract surgery. In comparison, epiphora is rarely considered as a significant cause of visual disability. This study suggests that patients with epiphora suffer the same if not more of a visual handicap than patients awaiting second eye cataract surgery.