Lack of awareness affects eyes

Chennai: Ophthalmologists in the city claim that most problems that occur in the eye are avoidable, but people are not aware and do not take the issues seriously unless the problem or pain gets worse.

Diabetic retinopathy (a condition where blood vessels to the eyes are affected due to high blood sugar levels in the body), which is increasing these days due to the increasing diabetic population, can be treated and controlled if the patient keeps the sugar level under control, they added.

Chairman and managing director of Dr Agarwal’s eye hospital, Dr Amar Agarwal said, “Most of the patients I receive are affected by avoidable blindness caused by diabetes and hypertension.” He adds that this is because people take eye health lightly.

Eyes are the first part that gets affected in a diabetic or BP patient, he said, and added that a normal person after the age of 40 should regularly go for check up once in 6 months.

Consanguineous marriages and slight precautions while doing any activity including riding can be avoided to avoid problems in the eye, he added.

“Multiple surveys show that the prevalence of diabetic retinopathy in Tamil Nadu to be 0.5 per cent in the general population. Only 7 per cent of individuals with diabetic retinopathy have had previous ophthalmic examinations,” said Dr Anand Parthasarathy, chief medical officer and senior consultant ophthalmologist, Vasan Eye Care Hospitals.

Director and superintendent of the Regional Institute of Ophthalmology and Government Ophthalmic Hospital, K. Namitha Bhuvaneshwari,  said, “Around 17 per cent of diabetic patients in the urban population end up with diabetic retinopathy and the figure is 7 per cent for the rural population in the state.”

Many government hospitals in the city conducted awareness programmes for doctors of other departments, nurses, patients and the general public, on maintaining eye health on Thursday on World Sight Day. The theme for this year is ‘No more avoidable blindness’.