Academic and Psychosocial Impact of Wearing Eyeglasses Among Medical Students and Trainee Doctors: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Original Article

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the relationship between eyeglass wearing and academic performance and psychosocial outcomes in medical students and trainee doctors.

Methodology: The present study was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted at MMC/Bacha Khan Medical College between April 17 and September 18, 2025. 150 eyeglass-wearing individuals aged 18 to 35 years were sampled using a consecutive sampling method. Data on demographics, academic performance, and psychosocial experiences were collected using a structured questionnaire. Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests were used to analyze associations, with Monte Carlo simulation used for sparse data. A significance level of 0.05 was used as the threshold.

Results: Myopia was the most common refractive error (78%), followed by hypermetropia (19.3%) and astigmatism (3.3%). There was a significant difference in the distribution of refractive error by field of study (p = 0.03), but not by gender, age, or years of eyeglass wear. A higher percentage of participants reported improved academic performance after vision correction. Still, no significant correlation was found between the type of refractive error and problems in reading, clinical tasks, or procedural performance (p > 0.05). The psychosocial outcomes, such as embarrassment, social avoidance, confidence, and self-esteem, were mostly similar between groups (all p > 0.05), but some participants experienced negative outcomes.

Conclusion: Eyeglass use was associated with self-reported improvements in academic performance in medical students and trainee doctors, and no significant difference in psychosocial outcomes. The results are subject to interpretation due to the cross-sectional design. Further longitudinal studies are needed to establish causal relationships