The Perception of Spectacles Use Among the General Population in Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Nawaf Osaywid Alrashidi,1 Wafy Abdulrahman Albrak,1 Shaker Osaywid Alreshidi,2 Lama Abdulrahman Alaradi,3 Hatim Adam Nagi Adam,3 Naif Mamdouh Alali,4 Faris Hashem,4 Hani Basher Albalawi,4 Ahmed Yousef Alothman,5 Shaima Sulaiman Alharbi2 1College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Majmaah, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Ha’il, Ha’il, Saudi Arabia; 4Division of Ophthalmology, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia; 5Ophthalmology Department, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Faris Hashem, Email [email protected]: The study aims to assess the perception of optical spectacles use among the Ha’il region population in Saudi Arabia.Patients and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was distributed via various social media applications to the residents of the Ha’il region. An online questionnaire was designed and included informed consent and questions assessing the participants’ perceptions about wearing eyeglasses, contact lenses, and general eye health.Results: 32.4% of the participants think that long-term eyeglasses wearing worsens vision, and 43% think eyeglasses wearing improves vision. 75.2% believe that long-term use of glasses could cause lifetime dependency on eyeglasses. Regarding contact lenses, 45.9% believe that long-term wearing worsens vision, and 24.1% think long-term wearing of contact lenses improves vision. 60% think long-term use of lenses causes lifetime dependency on those contact lenses.Conclusion: Our results highlighted the misconceptions among the study population regarding wearing prescribed eyeglasses and contact lenses. Thus, education programs and media are warranted to correct the misconceptions about spectacles and raise the awareness about refractive errors and treatment options.Keywords: refractive errors, vision impairment, eyeglasses, contact lense