World Sight Day 2022: World Sight Day, observed on 13 October, gives an opportunity to raise awareness of retinal diseases and to demonstrate the community’s commitment to supporting millions of people across the country with preventable vision loss. The theme of this year’s World Sight Day is ‘Love your eyes’, which reinforces the importance of taking care of one’s eyes, which it deserves. The day is an important occasion to raise awareness about the importance of regular eye exams, which are important for maintaining eye health, especially in people who are prone to the disease or have a chronic condition such as diabetes.
Sight is our most important sense because our vision drives our perception. However, very few people know that the eyes are among the first senses to become sick and damaged with age, lead an unhealthy lifestyle, smoke and have a hereditary predisposition. Children should take care of their eyes to prevent the early onset of retinal diseases, just as it is necessary for adults and older people to take care of their eyes to prevent the occurrence of life-threatening events such as accidents or falls. Therefore, early prevention of progressive eye diseases such as cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and diabetic retinopathy (DR) should include regular screening.
Dr NS Muralidhar, President, Vitreo Retinal Society of India (VRSI) said, “In my clinical practice, we see about 60% retinal disease patients, 10% glaucoma patients and 30% cataract patients in a month. The key of all three is timely diagnosis and treatment of the condition. Without timely treatment, the condition is allowed to progress, resulting in irreversible vision loss. But it is preventable. Especially diabetics and the elderly. An annual, regular eye check-up for those in the population can help catch it early. Early detection is imperative to enable early care and prevent vision loss.”
Follow these 6 tips to maintain better vision:
1. Routine Checkup: Regular eye exams are important for maintaining good vision, as they can help prevent or detect diseases early and prevent vision loss.
2. Be aware of diseases related to eyes: Being aware of eye diseases can help you and your caregivers manage them better. Whether it is external damage or an underlying condition, awareness is important to preserve our vision.
3. Wear your shades: Macular degeneration is a condition where the macula deteriorates over time leading to blurring and in some cases, blindness. The UV rays of the sun accelerate this process, so it is very important to protect your eyes by wearing sunglasses.
4. Take a break from the screen: Excessive use of computers, TVs and phones can seriously affect the eyes and even cause dry eyes, affecting vision clarity. It is recommended that you take breaks every 30-40 minutes to reduce screen time or try the 20-20-20 rule—look about 20 feet away in front of you for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.
5. Monitor, control glucose levels and blood pressure: Monitoring glucose levels is important for diabetics if they want to avoid or manage diabetic retinopathy (DR). High levels of glucose can lead to blindness from DR, while high blood pressure can damage organs such as the heart and eyes.
6. Maintain a healthy lifestyle: A healthy lifestyle includes eliminating defects such as smoking and alcohol consumption along with a healthy diet, regular exercise and adequate sleep. This is important for preventing vision loss as it puts pressure on your eyes and prevents retinal damage and progressive eye diseases.
Dr. Manisha Agarwal, Secretary, VRSI said, “It is important for people to maintain eye health from an early age. Today there are patients suffering from retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy, which can lead to loss of vision. If not detected and treated in time, diabetic retinopathy is a leading cause of preventable blindness and its onset is mainly related to the duration of progression of diabetes, through regular exercise, balanced diet, Timely strict control of diabetes including regular medications can delay the retinal screening for DR. It is important for patients to have an eye exam including a retinal exam, especially when they are diagnosed with diabetes and then have any visual problems annually Although not, because the timing may be too late, they begin to have visual impairment. The follow-up interval may shorten as DR progresses. In the case of AMD which is age-related and multifactorial smoking is one of the avoidable causes. highlights the fact that we all We need to make changes in our lifestyle to maintain good eye health.”
Retinal damage cannot be reversed, so you must be disciplined with your lifestyle, with regular check-ups and following recommended treatments to prevent damage to the eyes and poor vision.