World sight day is one of the most important days on the eye health agenda. It is a great day to raise awareness about eye care problems that are not tackled in either developed or developing countries.
This year, the main objective is promoting awareness for avoidable blinding diseases such as cataract and diabetes. If you take a look inside your family and closed ones you will find vulnerable souls like young children, elderlies and diabetics.
So what can you do for them on world sight day? An immediate eye examination!
Book an appointment with an ophthalmologist and save their eye sight now!
#makevisioncount
Are you curious to know more?
What does world eyesight day want you to know more about?
What is avoidable blindness?
- Ageing
- Cataract
- Glaucoma
- Diabetic retinopathy
- Childhood blindness
- Refractive errors.
- Macular degeneration
- Vitamin A deficiency.
Ageing and eye health
Ageing is simply a number! It is only accompanied by a few age related decrease in body performance. One of the most easily affected organs and function is eyesight.
Some of the age-related eyesight problems are due to loss of elasticity of the lens: presbyopia (farsightedness related to age). It is easily treated with wearing the suitable eye glassed after visiting your eye doctor. Checkup is important to alter the glass lens to correct your eyesight perfectly.
More serious age-related eye diseases include CATARACT! It is very common above the age of 55! Its best treatment is regular follow up. Certain medications and eventually cataract surgery.
Most serious age-related eye health issues that may lead to irreversible visual damage (blindness) include: diabetic retinopathy (will be discussed later), Glaucoma and macular generation. * press here for more information about these topics**.
Raising awareness and pushing eye health agendas which include eye health for the elderly means that citizens over the age of 50 will remain independent, mobile and economically active adding more value to their country and society.
1. Diabetic retinopathy
Diabetes is one of the most challenging diseases that affect eyesight on many levels and in different age groups. Diabetes mellitus is nearly becoming a world epidemic affecting more than 422 million person worldwide.
The alarming increase in sedentary lifestyle, eating unhealthy, increased obesity has a major role in the increased incidence of diabetes, especially in poor countries.
Diabetes complicates almost all eye diseases. But per se the main cause of blindness is diabetic retinopathy. As it directly damages the retinal blood vessels. The less the control over blood sugar, higher blood pressure the more the risk for diabetic retinopathy...
Almost 1 in 3 diabetics may develop some degree of retinopathy and if uncontrolled 1 in 10 may lose their vision completely.
Is it avoidable?
On world sight day, we want to shed more light on the fact that 80% of vision loss is avoidable, with proper eye care, regular checkups, and change in lifestyle, controlling blood sugar and blood pressure, healthy attitude towards life, taking prescribed medications and finally LASER and non-LASER surgeries all are solutions for treatable vision loss!
2. Childhood blindness
Who said children are immune to vision impairment?
Unfortunately, more than 1 million children have suffered from permanent visual impairment. One of the main reason is vitamin A deficiency that also holds a rank in mortality in children under 5 years.
Former second on the list was corneal related blindness. But because it has declined dramatically over the years, cataract in children now holds second place in avoidable blindness.
Refractive errors, may not cause blindness per se, but are important to aware against. As it impairs the function of the eye, scholar abilities and more. The best solution for all, is knowledge, knowing that there are treatable diseases of the eye and that we could save millions of eyes every year!