A survey on knowledge and attitude of Saudi female students toward refractive correction.

Background: To assess the general knowledge and attitude of refractive error correction methods among female Saudi university students.

Methods: One thousand, one hundred and sixty-five female university students, between 17 and 32 years of age were randomly interviewed using self-administered questionnaires with open and closed-ended questions. The questions collected information on demographics (gender, age, educational status, college of study, and occupation), addressed general knowledge/perception of the difference between the professions of ophthalmology and optometry, and attitudes toward spectacle, contact lens (CL) usage, including coloured prescription CLs, and refractive surgery for correcting refractive errors.