Sight-Seeing

Childhood Eye Diseases

Refractive error

Reduced visual acuity can occur at any age. However, with increasing addiction to television and game-boys, it often strikes earlier and lots of children currently seem to suffer from myopia (short-sightedness) or hypermetropia (long-sightedness).

Treatment

Prescription glasses offer an easy solution to the problem. However, parents must ensure that their kids actually use those glasses (despite being referred to in school as 'double battery, zero power!'). Regular eye examinations are a must.

Amblyopia

A condition that usually occurs at birth, Amblyopia is popularly referred to as Lazy Eye. It's a condition where one eye is normal while the other has a refractive error (or is just plain lazy!). The condition may offer no symptoms but in some cases the child may have a deviation of one eye or a squint.

Treatment

While the condition cannot be cured, its progress can be arrested by the use of occlusion glasses that force the lazy eye into action. Treatment also includes contact lenses, prescription glasses and eye exercises.

Dry Eyes Syndrome

Tears actually serve a purpose, apart from emotional blackmail! Tears bathe the eyes and wash away dust particles and thereby protect from infections.

In Dry Eye Syndrome, there is decreased production of fluids from the tear glands. A chemical imbalance in the substances that make up the tear film also leads to dry eyes. Adults aged 40 or older are most likely to experience dry eyes. The symptoms include irritation and discomfort, scratching and burning sensation in the eyes as well as blurred vision.

Treatment

While dry eye syndrome is an ongoing condition, the accompanying symptoms can be managed with the help of artificial tears created by using eye-drops.

Glaucoma

The silent thief, as it is rightly referred to, this condition stealthily creeps up on you and slyly robs you of your vision. Scientifically speaking, glaucoma is the result of damage to the optic nerve accompanied by abnormally high pressure inside the eyeball. The only symptom that Glaucoma sometimes offers is blind spots in your side (peripheral) vision.

Treatment

Fortunately, medical advances have made it easier to diagnose and treat glaucoma. Treatment options range from eye-drops to surgery in extreme cases. If detected and treated early, glaucoma need not cause even moderate vision loss.

Eye Injury

Mumbaikars will recognise this immediately. Eye injury is common in the weeks leading up to Holi, thanks to errant revellers hurling balloons at commuters in a local train. The eye is one of the most delicate organs of the body and can be injured all too easily.

Eye trauma can result from cuts, scratches, penetration, debris, light, chemicals, and blunt forces. Untreated trauma may cause further injury and lead to loss of vision. It is vital to receive immediate medical treatment for the ailment. Depending on the cause, eye trauma can cause a variety of symptoms such as pain, redness, bleeding, eyelid swelling, sensitivity to light, headaches, loss of vision, etc.

First Aid and Treatment

In case of burns from explosions, flames and other hot objects, do not try to remove the debris from the eyes. In case of chemical burns, however, immediately flush the eye with water. If you've suffered trauma from blunt objects do not apply ice over the eyes. Remember, that all but the most trivial eye trauma needs immediate first aid and emergency medical treatment.

Cataract

If you're an older adult and your world appears hazy, it's time to get checked for a cataract, which is one of the most oft heard of eye diseases in the elderly. It occurs when the lens of the eye becomes cloudy so that it can no longer focus the real-world images.

Cataract Surgery Procedure

The only way to remove a cataract is to surgically remove the cloudy lens itself. An outpatient procedure, cataract removal is a painless surgery that requires only a small incision through which the lens is removed and absolutely no stitches are required. In 95 per cent of the cases an artificial lens is implanted into the eye during surgery which improves vision, without having to rely on glasses.

 Are you suffering from computer vision syndrome?

Our eyes react differently to characters on the screen than they do to printed matter. We generally don't have a problem focusing on most printed material as it consists of dense black characters with well-defined edges. Such contrast is lacking in computer generated characters and makes focussing rather difficult on the eyes. To compensate for this, our eyes strain to maintain focus and involuntarily shift into a mode known as RPA or Resting Point of Accommodation. This phenomenon is called the Computer Vision Syndrome or CVS.

The best way to combat CVS would be to limit time spent on the computer. While that's not a viable option for many, here are some tips to help you beat CVS.

• Ensure proper lighting such as slightly dim lighting for computer work and no glare whatsoever.

• Visit an ophthalmologist who can prescribe you computer vision glasses.

• Every 30 minutes take your eyes off the screen and look at something really far away like at a tree out the window in order to relax your strained optical muscles.