Background/purpose: To determine the main causes of blindness in
Benin-city, Nigeria. Method: The medical records of 1,698 new
patients attending the consultant outpatient eye clinic of the
University of Benin Teaching Hospital between May 2001 and April 2003
were reviewed and the causes of blindness recorded. Results: One
hundred and twenty eight patients (7.54%) presented with binocular
blindness while 248 patients (14.6%) presented with uniocular
blindness. The major causes of binocular blindness were cataract
(34.4%), glaucoma (25%) and age related macula degeneration (8.59%).
The main causes of uniocular blindness were cataract (23.79%), glaucoma
(22.58%) and trauma (11.69%). Conclusion: Avoidable causes of
blindness remain the leading causes of blindness but age related macula
degeneration, which was not reported in earlier studies, is now the
third major cause of blindness. Preventive and curative measures should
be instituted to tackle the leading causes of blindness