Watch your eyes

According to a recent WHO study, 50 per cent of the world’s visually-challenged live in India. So, with 15 million people living in the dark, the country is in dire need of a vision intervention. The leading cause of preventable blindness is cataract, followed by refractive errors, glaucoma, diabetes and hypertension related retinopathy, genetic conditions like retinitis pigmentosa and corneal opacities and trauma.

 

But despite a large network of both government and private hospitals in the country, there still continues to be a strong need to create awareness and to also ensure regular eye check-ups so that these issues can be handled.

 

Educating patients is important to ensure that they take adequate care of their eyes and that will help control secondary blindness due to diseases like retinopathy and trauma.

 

Those suffering from diseases must have regular eye-check ups. There is still a lack of awareness about preventable silent diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and hypertensive retinopathy in our country. Diabetics and hypertensive patients carry out routine checks for their blood sugar and blood pressure levels but do not opt for eye check-ups every six months.

 

Dr Kasu Prasad Reddy, senior ophthalmologist and co-chairman of Maxi Vision Eye Hospital says, “These diseases cause silent blindness and identifying them in time is important. For many patients a visit to the hospital comes too late and their vision loss is irrecoverable. Lack of knowledge is one of the main reasons why people ignore and fail to get their eyes checked. It is very important for people with a family history of diabetes and glaucoma to get their eyes checked at least twice a year. These are preventable issues and can be dealt with.”

 

Myopia, if left unchecked, can result in blindness or severe visual impairment. Myopia or shortsightedness is congenital, sometimes even hereditary. Myopia increases with age and stabilizes around 19 years of age.

 

Eye check-ups for children must begin from three years of age to detect if there is are signs of any abnormalities. Also, some children claim they see floating black spots; frequent flashes of light in the eye are signs that eyes must be checked for myopia and proper screening by an ophthalmologist must be done.

 

Dr G.V.S. Prasad, head of the department of ophthalmology at Care Hospitals, Banjara Hills says: “Despite measures like mass screening camps, screening of eyes in schools and also at the public health centers, the required numbers are not met. This is because the number of ophthalmologists vis-a-vis patients is currently very low. The waiting lines at government hospitals continue to be very long and an equal number of patients come to private hospitals every day, which makes it very difficult to match the rising number of cases. The gap requires to be worked upon and also the number of doctors must increase.”

 

Another major reason for eye infections in urban areas is vehicular pollution, which leads to irritation and also allergy issues on the surface of the eyes.

 

There have also been a large number of cases of red eye or conjunctivitis reported. Ulcers of the cornea are also finding increasing instances in eye-clinics.

 

Dr Shubhra Goel, consultant ophthalmic at Apollo Hospitals said, “Dust leads to watering and irritation. Small particulate matter lead to infection of the tear glands located on the eyelid margins which lead to swelling. If neglected it can lead to serious spread of infection to the rest of the eye.”

 

For this reason, those riding bikes or travelling in autos must wear sunglasses to protect eyes. Also, washing the eyes after long travels is important as it helps flush out the debris. Using a tear substitute to keep the surface moist and healthy is also helpful.