In the paper titled Prevalence and causes of blindness and low vision in leprosy villages of north eastern Nigeria (Br J Ophthalmol 2005;89:417–9) the author has notified us of an error. The second-last sentence in the second column on page 417 should read, ‘Definitions of blindness and visual impairment were: VA ⩾ 6/18, normal; 6/60 ⩽ VA < 6/18, visual impairment; 3/60 ⩽ VA < 6/60, severe visual impairment…’.