Care for your eyes—On World Sight Day

India has the largest burden of global blindness. A considerable number of Indians also suffer from significant impairment of vision that threatens their ability to be self-reliable. While the problem is formidable, the need to take up the challenge of curtailing it is compelling.  According to World Health organization up to 80% of cases of blindness are avoidable, either resulting from preventable conditions (20%) or being treatable (60%) so that the sight is restored.

Eyes are the expression of your soul connecting you to the world. Sight is the most precious gift God has given to mankind. Eyes are constantly at work from the moment we wake up to the moment we close them to go to sleep thus it is important to maintain good eye sight and preserve the visual function throughout one’s life time. 

So, following are the general measures one should take care to safeguard their eyes:

• Diet: For healthy functioning of eyes, one needs sufficient quantity of vitamin A, green leafy vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, meat (especially liver). A balanced diet with a correct proportion of proteins, carbohydrates and fats in combination of these food items will help in keeping eyes healthy. For infants, mother’s milk is very important. It is during the time of weaning that infants can develop Vitamin A deficiency that may lead to a permanent impairment of vision.
• Hygiene: Keeping eyes clean is important to ward off infections. First thing in the morning is to clean the eyes in running tap water. You can make a cup of your hand and collect water in it, bend your neck and submerge your eyes one by one in the cup with lids open. Repeat it several times so that the discharge collected over night is washed off completely. Do not splash water on to eyes since it can result in an abrasion and the lids close as a reflex action without any cleansing being achieved. One should clean the eyes after coming back from outdoors as well as before going to bed. It is equally important to have good hand hygiene.  Do not touch your eyes with dirty, greasy hands. Make sure you sanitize your hands at regular intervals.
• Desk Jobs: Jobs are getting oriented around computers and laptops, it is important to take few precautions:

1. Computer screen should be kept 30-50 cm away from the eyes.
2. Top edge of the screen should be in line with the level of eyes.
3. The chair should be ergonomically designed for comfort and correct posture.
4. Take a break every 20-30 minutes to walk 20 steps, look beyond 20 feet and blink completely 20 times.
5. Increase font size for comfort and adjust picture quality for comfortable viewing.
6. White background generally gives less strain as contrast is more.

To do:

• Regular vision and eye pressure check ups to be done; if one suffers from any kind of allergy or sight related problem.  At least an annual check up would go a long way to keep your eyes healthy and optimally functional.
• Take doctor’s advice on how to protect your eyes from the sun and wind.
• Your sunglasses should have UV protection, colour and refraction correction.
• If you wear contact lenses, get the latest updates on new types of lenses, and switch to a more comfortable brand.

Awareness about Eye Donation

Lack of public awareness about eye donation is the biggest cause for a growing disparity between the number of corneas available and the number of people needing them. Moolchand Medcity and National Eye Bank (Dr. Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS) have joined hands to work together for creating awareness about eye donation and cornea retrieval by providing a platform in the precinct of Moolchand Eye Clinic.

Moolchand Eye Clinic with a constant endeavor to bring upward trend in eyes donation is providing corneal transplantation and sharing best practices in tissue preservation, transport and surgical practices.  Thus an eye for an eye makes someone to see this beautiful and bright world full of colors.

Dr. Satish Mehta, Consultant, Ophthalmology, Moolchand Eye Clinic, Moolchand Medcity, New Delhi.

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