Eyesight plays most important role among all senses in our day to day life, visual impairment hampers the ability to perform daily chores independently, most of the causes for visual impairment are avoidable, unfortunately general public awareness about prevention and early detection is very low.

World sight day

World sight day is observed on 8^th October dedicated to global awareness, WHO theme for 2020 is “ hope in sight’, it is being observed that 1 billion people around the world have a preventable visual impairment or one that has yet to be addressed. The majority of people with vision impairment or blindness are above the age of 50, the most common causative factors are cataract, refractive error or glaucoma, these are uncontrollable, however; regular ophthalmologist consultation can identify reasons behind visual impairment at appropriate time and prevent further deterioration before its too late and irreversible.

Covid pandemic has changed the entire world like never before, with the amount of casualties and infections, it is understandable that most of the people aren’t ready to come out of the house unless its life or livelihood threatening situation, however; one must understand that certain eye conditions need immediate attention to prevent permanent damage.

At first, pain or sudden vision loss is too startling and no individual ignores them, such patients usually seek immediate care and attention, this can happen in conditions like corneal infections, retinal detachment, however; some slowly developing conditions are easily ignored, a slow peripheral or side vision loss can be indicative of glaucoma. In glaucoma, pressure in the eye increases to more than normal scale resulting in permanent vision loss.

Don’t delay eye check up for any problem

Diabetic patients need regular examination of eye, they are susceptible to retinopathy where in eye sight is gradually lost because of bleeding into the eye cavity, this can only be detected through ophthalmic examination, long standing diabetic patients are at high risk and must undergo regular check ups.

Although; cataract surgeries are not an emergency; prolong delay causes increase in hardness of cataract and impair sight to an extent of disability, matured cataract makes surgery more complicated and yields suboptimal results with delayed recovery, moreover; the risk of extreme sight loss can increase accidental falls that could be detrimental in elderly patients.

There is a condition called “ age related macular degeneration” in this condition, elderly patients slowly loose sight at the centre of visual field. This condition is very common in smokers, diet deficient in antioxidants and some hereditary factors, unfortunately many

Dr.Bhanu Prakash.M
MaxiVision Super Specialty Eye Hospital
Hyderabad.

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