Do you care for eye-care?
Ram Babu approaches the age of 40 years. He experiences the lengthening of his arms; he has to increase the reading distance in order to see clearly the fine print in daily newspaper. He rushes to the nearby optical shop for an eye-test.
Richa on getting admission in desired college is to get her promised first pair of contact lenses, in place of distance vision spectacles, this year. Her mother accompanies her to the optical shop in the neighborhood.
5-year old Riya complains of itching in eyes. Daddy seeks help from the friendly optical shop.
And the recently-retired executive Ram Chandra experiences diminution of vision. To seek advice on the presence of cataract, he visits the family optician.
These are day-to-day examples of persons seeking eye care services from practitioners majority of whom are themselves not institutionally-qualified!
Optometry - the art and science of vision and eye care - was introduced by the government of India in the year 1958 with the establishment of the first School of Optometry at Gandhi Eye Hospital, Aligarh. Courses in optometry are now available at over 100 institutions in the country, ranging in duration from 2 to 4 years, leading to diploma and degree qualifications respectively, the fine example of which being Elite School of Optometry at Chennai. The two-fold aim of introducing optometry was to produce an army of trained personnel (i) to lessen the burden of refraction on the busy ophthalmologist so as to allow him to concentrate on surgery, and (ii) to save public from exploitation at the hands of unqualified opticians in the matter of scientific dispensing of spectacles. With the tremendous progress made over the years, optometry is now an established discipline of primary eye health care, regarded the world over as the first line of defense against blindness.
There are around 25,000 optometrists, 25,000 ophthalmologists and 35,000 opticians. But practice of refraction, spectacle dispensing and contact lens fitting etc. has not, so far, been regulated by government legislation!
Discussing characters of our illustrations, Ram Babu suffers from presbyopia, which is a physiological change in the eye by which power of accommodation of the crystalline lens inside the eye starts deteriorating with the passage of time, resulting in difficulty in seeing clearly at near distance, and necessitating the use of near vision glasses. Richa suffers from myopia, an error of refraction wherein there is problem in seeing distant objects clearly, and for which contact lenses are an ideal choice of correction. Riya suffers from mild conjunctivitis that requires treatment with local antibiotic drops coupled with advice on hygiene. And Ram Chandra suffers from incipient (age related) cataract - the opacification of the crystalline lens inside the eye - that requires periodic change in spectacles till the time he decides that he can no longer carry on with the deteriorating quality of vision, and to undergo surgery by which his cataractous lens would be removed and replaced with an artificial intra-ocular lens (IOL).
Eyes are God's choicest gift to mankind. Whatever one learns or does depends a great deal on adequate quality vision. Eyes are a part of our body, and are susceptible to changes, good or bad, inside our body. Systemic diseases, especially non-controlled diabetes and hypertension, can have adverse effect on eye health. And it's highly desirable that we seek advice on eye health matters from qualified professionals, i.e., optometrists and ophthalmologists.
So, next time you feel the need for an eye examination either for yourself or for one of your family members, simply ask yourself the question "Do I care for eye-care?"...and schedule an appointment with an eye care professional! more
Richa on getting admission in desired college is to get her promised first pair of contact lenses, in place of distance vision spectacles, this year. Her mother accompanies her to the optical shop in the neighborhood.
5-year old Riya complains of itching in eyes. Daddy seeks help from the friendly optical shop.
And the recently-retired executive Ram Chandra experiences diminution of vision. To seek advice on the presence of cataract, he visits the family optician.
These are day-to-day examples of persons seeking eye care services from practitioners majority of whom are themselves not institutionally-qualified!
Optometry - the art and science of vision and eye care - was introduced by the government of India in the year 1958 with the establishment of the first School of Optometry at Gandhi Eye Hospital, Aligarh. Courses in optometry are now available at over 100 institutions in the country, ranging in duration from 2 to 4 years, leading to diploma and degree qualifications respectively, the fine example of which being Elite School of Optometry at Chennai. The two-fold aim of introducing optometry was to produce an army of trained personnel (i) to lessen the burden of refraction on the busy ophthalmologist so as to allow him to concentrate on surgery, and (ii) to save public from exploitation at the hands of unqualified opticians in the matter of scientific dispensing of spectacles. With the tremendous progress made over the years, optometry is now an established discipline of primary eye health care, regarded the world over as the first line of defense against blindness.
There are around 25,000 optometrists, 25,000 ophthalmologists and 35,000 opticians. But practice of refraction, spectacle dispensing and contact lens fitting etc. has not, so far, been regulated by government legislation!
Discussing characters of our illustrations, Ram Babu suffers from presbyopia, which is a physiological change in the eye by which power of accommodation of the crystalline lens inside the eye starts deteriorating with the passage of time, resulting in difficulty in seeing clearly at near distance, and necessitating the use of near vision glasses. Richa suffers from myopia, an error of refraction wherein there is problem in seeing distant objects clearly, and for which contact lenses are an ideal choice of correction. Riya suffers from mild conjunctivitis that requires treatment with local antibiotic drops coupled with advice on hygiene. And Ram Chandra suffers from incipient (age related) cataract - the opacification of the crystalline lens inside the eye - that requires periodic change in spectacles till the time he decides that he can no longer carry on with the deteriorating quality of vision, and to undergo surgery by which his cataractous lens would be removed and replaced with an artificial intra-ocular lens (IOL).
Eyes are God's choicest gift to mankind. Whatever one learns or does depends a great deal on adequate quality vision. Eyes are a part of our body, and are susceptible to changes, good or bad, inside our body. Systemic diseases, especially non-controlled diabetes and hypertension, can have adverse effect on eye health. And it's highly desirable that we seek advice on eye health matters from qualified professionals, i.e., optometrists and ophthalmologists.
So, next time you feel the need for an eye examination either for yourself or for one of your family members, simply ask yourself the question "Do I care for eye-care?"...and schedule an appointment with an eye care professional! more
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As I have said earlier, as eye care professionals, we neither encourage nor discourage our patients to try out any other system of medicine or treatment approach towards errors of refraction...but I also would like to stress on one point: "Since glaucoma is a sneak thief of vision, wherein vision lost once cannot be re-gained by any means, one should avoid playing with his/her eyes with scientifically unproven methods". And, if you believe in attaining normal vision without glasses, surgery or contact lenses, you will be doing a yeoman service to the nation where there are scores of persons with weak sight and eye diseases...why not contact the vibrant new Government and encourage it to start a national service on the lines that can, as you say, take care of errors of refraction and other diseases in a much simpler way! more
Sep 16
Please comment of this video 20/20perfect vision by simple eye exercises http://restore-my-vision-now.com/?hop=altdaily&lead=0 more
Sep 16
If you are happy with the result of eye exercises for the correction of presbyopia and myopia, it's fine. As an eye care professional, like other ECPs, I don't believe in this modality...and I have patients who have tried this and came back to our eye clinic for the management suggested by us. We don't force anyone not to try your method. more
Sep 15
I will comment on your first two illustrations of Ram Babu and Richa. Both the problems can be rectified very easily with simple eye exercises without the need for any type of glasses, or contact lenses, but sorry to say none of theoptometrists, opthalmologists or opticians would never guide the patient to strictly follow the exercises because they are interested in selling the glasses. I have personally faced the problems of Ram babu and richa and have corrected my self by rigidly following the eye exercise regime for the last 7 years. When my reading distance increased to full arms length but today it has come back to elbow length similarly reading TV last lines was getting distorted which has now been cleared also by doing regular exercise in six months.. This very simple exercise I narrated to my known eye surgeon and after four months he came back to me with confirmation and even read a paper in the opthalmologist conference. every time I went to get my eyes tested and checked I always came back with prescription for glasses but I never used them. yes I care for eye care more
Sep 15
