Abstract

KARA JOSE, Flávio Cotait; PASSOS, Lúcia Battistella; JERVASIO, Ana Carolina  and  SALOMAO, Gustavo Henrique. Interest and awareness in refractive surgery among medical students. Arq. Bras. Oftalmol. [online]. 2002, vol.65, n.1, pp. 71-74. ISSN 0004-2749.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0004-27492002000100013.

Three hundred and nineteen students from the Medical School of ABC (Santo André-SP) responded to a self-evaluation questionnaire. 62.7% had optical correction, of these 53.3% showed simple myopia or myopia associated to astigmatism as refraction errors; 92.8% had heard about refractive surgery; 34.2% were aware of this surgical technique and only 17.6% knew about the risks including intra and post operative complications. Of the 200 students who showed to have ametropia, 50.5% would like to be submitted to surgery and 69.0% expected to have recovery after surgery. Of all students, 51.7% had their last ophthalmological exam in less than a year; 32% were seen between 1 and 3 years and 15.7% in three years. Therefore, within the scope of this study, there has been little information about refractive surgery in ophthalmology clinics, staying far behind families, friends and university.

Keywords : Refraction, ocular; Refractive errors [surgery]; Knowledge, attitudes, practice; Students, medical.