See an eye doctor when you can still see the doctor — Expert advice

Out of all the five sensory organ given to man, (the eyes, ears, tongue, skin, and nose) the eye is decribed as the most important important orga of all. Humans are fairly unique in their reliance on sight as the dominant sense and this is reflected in how complicated our eyes are relative to other […]

Out of all the five sensory organ given to man, (the eyes, ears, tongue, skin, and nose) the eye is decribed as the most important important orga of all. Humans are fairly unique in their reliance on sight as the dominant sense and this is reflected in how complicated our eyes are relative to other creatures.

An online medium, InsysdNet defines the human eye as a vital organ of vision which plays a very important role not only in life but also the human body. It added that the human eye is the organ which gives us the sense of sight, allowing us to learn more about the surrounding world than we do with any of the other four senses. The eye allows us to see and interpret the shapes, colors, and dimensions of objects in the world by processing the light they reflect or emit. The eye is able to see in bright light or in dim light, but it cannot see objects when there is no light.

The resident Optometrist at Touchstone Eye International, Wuse Abuja, Dr Ohuonu Enyinnaya Ogidi who said, the Eye is an important organ to every individual explained that, once you take away the sight of a man, the person becomes a liability. “Because without vision you can do virtually nothing and eventually you are relegated in the society. Lack of vision makes you to be economically incapacitated in every spheres of life.”

Dr Ogidi said, it is very important to see an eye doctor while you can see the doctor adding that it is unfortunate that many people don’t consider checking their eyes until about 60% of their vision is already gone.

“It is important to go and see the doctor when you can still recognize his face and interact with the doctor for him to know the necessary action to take at the early stage your eye has problem.”

According to WHO,  every individual is to do regular thorough eye examination once in a year in other to detect any abnormally at the early.

He said dilated eye examination may be considered by the examiner to enable him/her have full assessment of the internal structures of the eyes.

While given some steps for proper eye care and management he said, knowing one family eye health history and general health history is very important in maintaining good vision. “Somebody may stop at family’s eye health history because we are talking about the eye but the general health history is as important too because there are some systemic conditions in human body that affects the eye with various degrees of damage if not properly managed. So, when you are trying to take all the steps to have good and healthy vision, you don’t only stop at knowing your family’s Eye health history rather you also know the  family general health history so that if there is any reoccurrence  of a particular disease such as hypertension, diabetes, others, such information will help your eye doctor to work out a plan for your treatment.”

He added also that self-evaluation  on the eye is a necessity for good vision explaining that ordinarily, an individual should be the first examiner of his eye because there are simple sign and symptoms that serves as an indication that there is a problem.

“For instance, when you start to feel pain in your eyes you don’t have to be a doctor before you know something is wrong with your eye. When you finish bathing and you look at the mirror and see your eyes are red, you don’t have to be a doctor before you know you have red eyes. Other symptoms like; heaviness in the eyes, occasional blurring of vision; it could be at far or near, difficulty reading tiny prints, are all indications to visit the eye doctor who will conduct a comprehensive examination  for a clear picture of what all the signs and symptoms in your eyes stands for.”

The eye doctor also recommended the use of sun glasses with anti glare especially when the sun is very high. He said this will help protect the eye from what is ultra-violet radiation.

“Though there are different types of sun glasses you can get in an optical shop but the one with Anti-reflective glare will go a long way to protect the eyes from certain rays of light that are very dangerous to your eyes. When you do that you will prevent your eyes from having disease like solar cataract.”

According to him, eating right is a vital way in maintaining good vision, “we are just what we eat. You must know that some of the things we eat go a long way to affect our vision. For instance, when you eat food that is too much rich in carbohydrate it tend to increase the blood sugar content, when the sugar level in the blood is high it causes hyperglycemia and when not properly managed diabetics sets in. On the other hand the eyes becomes myopic with blurring of vision at far.”

He advised comsumption of foods that gives healthy vision such as, fruits and vegetables rich in Vitamins and minerals, anti-oxidant and so on adding that these food components are found in carrots, green beans, green garden eggs, cucumbers, fresh fish, walnuts, sea food and others.

Dr Ogidi further said for good vision smoking of any kind which poses threat to the eye and general health status must be avoided while also adding that maintaining a healthy weight is a must. “It’s been discovered that excessive weight, like in a case of obesity has a way of affecting the eyes.”

“For those that work in construction companies or deal in chemicals or reactive agents, it is good to wear “protective eye wear”. Give your eye soem rest with what we call 20-20 rule. For instance, Civil Servants who work with computers or read with computers, it is good to know that when you work at length your eyes are under pressure. Therefore, intermittently your eyes needs some relaxation of about 20 seconds this will help you to have some ease and also have some moments of blinking.”

He said though age has a way of affecting the eyes but it differs with sex, “for instance, women at the ages of 35 and above find it difficult to read tiny print. Reading and maintaining the normal distance which is roughly 40cm becomes difficult while men own set in at the ages of 40 and above. When you see the person trying to struggle with reading he need to see his doctor, this is called presbyopia.”

“Other age related eye conditions are, cataract, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.”

Dr Ogidi advised parents to observed their children in other to know when their sight is becoming a concern. “For children, watching TV from a reasonable distance does not have any significant effect on the eye but when children are directly in front of the TV, it shows that their vision needs help as most times they are short sighted.”

He also advised the practice of proper hygiene to keep our eyes save from infections. “Regular washing of hands with water from a running tap will prevent possible infections in the eyes.”