Neuro-Ophthalmology in Northern Africa Before and After COVID

In 2019, a group of Americans and Africans traveled to villages in a northern African country, examining patients from dawn to dusk. The visual acuities and refractions were recorded, health status determined, and plans for follow-up made. Recorded were problems found: corneal/external disease, glaucoma, cataract, pediatric/strabismus, retina, orbital, neuro- ophthalmologic. The results were shared with two residency groups in that country. In 2020, a series of patients with neuro-ophthalmologic problems presented and were examined. There were two goals with this visit: learn to use B-scan ultrasound in ophthalmology patients, and decide which patients with prolonged intracranial hypertension should be treated with optic nerve sheath fenestration/decompression surgery (history, exams, indications for surgery, work-up, and surgery techniques). The surgical equipment had been brought from America. In 2021, the COVID pandemic prohibited the Americans from returning, but patients were shared remotely and surgical decisions and interventions continued. This is the report of the first few patients considered for optic nerve sheath decompression surgery in that country