OBJECTIVE:

To find the various causes of curable and incurable blindness in different age groups of patients attending the ophthalmology outpatient setup of a tertiary setup in North Chennai.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

This study was conducted at Government Stanley Medical College in the Department of Ophthalmology. Patients of all age groups were included in this study with visual acuity less than 3/60.

RESULTS:

At the end of our study, we found that Lens related causes constituted the largest proportion of blindness, followed by retina related causes. Additionally, we found out that 37.3% of blindness was due to incurable causes and nearly 63% blind patients can be cured.

CONCLUSION:

Since 63% of blindness can be cured, it is the duty of the ophthalmologists to raise awareness about the treatable causes of blindness among the public and help in reducing the load of blind patients in the society.