Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to assess the impact of refractive errors on vision-related quality of life among medical students and to evaluate their awareness, attitudes, and preferences toward refractive surgery and other correction methods.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional design, in which Saudi medical students were surveyed from randomly selected colleges via an online Arabic questionnaire covering demographics, refractive error history, corrective method comfort, attitudes, and National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25 (NEI-VFQ-25).
Results: Among 417 medical students, females (n=205, 49.2%) and males (n=212, 50.8%) were nearly equal; most were 20–24 years (n=227, 54.4%) and preclinical (n=208, 49.9%). Refractive errors were reported by 203 (48.7%), mainly nearsightedness (n=100, 24.0%). Eyeglasses were used by 138 (33.1%), with 127 (30.5%) comfortable, whereas 57 (13.7%) found contact lenses uncomfortable. Awareness of corrective surgeries was noted in 266 (63.8%) of students. Key NEI-VFQ-25 findings included an overall score of 66.03, the highest scores in color vision (89.07) and peripheral vision (86.61), and the lowest in role difficulties (33.90) and dependency (38.11). Importantly, non-refractive error students had better social functioning (85.36 vs. 80.70, p≤0.05) and lower dependency (35.28 vs. 41.09, p≤0.05). Awareness was significantly higher among females, 20- to 24-year-olds, clinical students, and those with refractive errors (all p

Key words: Refractive errors, vision-related quality of life, medical students, refractive surgery, Saudi Arabia.