Abstract:

The process of jewelry making involves minute visual tasks at closer working distance for goldsmiths, which demands high visual ability that eventually might result with receded near point of convergence (NPC). Hence the aim of our study is to compare the near point of convergence between goldsmiths and normal population. One group of 72 male experienced goldsmiths and other group of 72 male normal populations were evaluated. Binocularly the near point of convergence was tested with sharpened tip of pencil. The patient age ranges between 30 to 60 years with best corrected visual acuity of 6/6, N6 monocularly without any ocular pathology were included in both the groups. The other near occupational work was excluded for normal population. The p-value for subjective comparison of NPC is 0.008 and for the objective comparison of NPC is 0.0005 which showed a highly statistical significant changes between goldsmiths and normal population for both subjective and objective comparison. Hence this test can be used as a clue to suspect whether the goldsmiths having convergence insufficiency and to decide on referring the patient for further binocular vision assessment and treatment accordingly.

Keywords: Goldsmiths, near point of convergence, sharpened pencil tip.

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