Eye-care since birth

Protecting the eyes is important right from birth, and acting swiftly in adulthood ensures that vision is retained. With many people losing vision due to injuries, infections and diseases, it is becoming important to understand that eye-care at early stages of life and also during an injury or disease must not be ignored. The deterioration of an eye is through simple tell-tale signs and acting swiftly one’s eyes keep it safe.

Epidemic of blindness in premature babies Dr Subhadra Jalali India has the world’s largest number of premature births — including those from the infertility treatment centers.

With the government of India and UNICEF setting up more than 700 special newborn care centers in India, survival of newborns is being looked into but continues to remain a challenge in many aspects.

It has been found that 18 to 20 per cent of these babies become blind within three to four months of birth due to retinopathy of prematurity.

Dr Subhadra Jalali, associate director, consultant at LV Prasad Eye Institute, says, “With no proper screening of the eyes during birth, we are seeing a lot of ‘saved’ newborns with ‘unscreened retinopathy of prematurity’. Till 2000, we used to see a few blind newborns but now we are seeing eight to 10 babies every week. If the retinal examination of these premature babies is done within 20 to 30 days, ROP could be readily detected and treated and it would save them from becoming blind.”

Screening of premature babies as well as normal newborns is very important and every children’s hospital must have an ophthalmologist.

Pollution is also a harmful agent Dr Prashant Gupta With rising pollution in cities, it is found that pollutants in the air cause allergic reaction in the eyes, which leads to redness, pain, watering, blurring of vision, foreign body sensation and burning sensation in the eyes.

High levels of pollutants like nitric oxide, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide in the air causes allergic reactions in the eye, which leads to watering. Dr Prashant Gupta, consultant ophthalmologist at Apollo Hospitals, says, “Sudden watering when exposed to wind is due to lodging of dust particles in the eye. In this case, when the victim rubs the eye than the foreign body causes irritation.”

Also, one must not look directly at bright lights or the sun. It is advisable to wear sunglasses to protect oneself from the harsh rays of the sun and from dust particles.

Growing pollution levels are leading to increased eye problems in India and pollution is found to be one of the causes for increasing eye diseases in the general population.

Common symptoms that are actually indicators of serious eye problems Dr K. Haridas Signs like redness of eye, watering, itching, irritation, blurring of vision, gritty sensation, burning sensation, floaters and coloured halo must not be ignored. When these symptoms are felt the patient must immediately approach an ophthalmologist.

Blurred or defective vision is found to be one of the most important symptoms of eye disease.

Dr K. Haridas, professor and head of the department of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Squint at Osmania Medical College and Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, says, “Some of the basic symptoms like double vision, squint and flashes of light and appearance of dark spots in the field of vision are often ignored by patients. With a large number of population spending long hours in front of a computer, it is becoming increasingly important to opt for eye check-ups every year.”

Also, those who are working on computers, smart phones for long hours need to rest their eyes for 20 seconds every half an hour.

Visually impaired in India and beyond Total number of blind people in the world: 324 million Total number of blind people in India: 8.3 million 60 per cent blind are women 84 per cent are over 50 years of age

Causes Common causes of blindness are uncorrected refractive error, age related muscular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, corneal scars, injury, infections, retinal and optic nerve diseases. Apart from this, people can become blind due to injuries, blasts, accidents, crackers, cricket balls and also occupational hazards where one works without proper eye protection. Diseases like uncontrolled blood sugar, blood pressure, smoking, excessive exposure to sunlight, nutritional deficiencies and also lack of quality eye care are some of the reasons for preventable or curable blindness.