Dubai: The eyes, one of the most delicate sense organs of the human body, are being neglected, causing several visual impairment problems in young children and older adults, UAE doctors point out.
Eighty per cent of visual problems such as refractive error, macular degeneration and glaucoma can be prevented or corrected if detected in time, yet parents in the UAE are oblivious to this and do not take their kids for regular eye checks.
On the occasion of World Sight Day today (Thursday), which is an international day of awareness, ophthalmologists take this opportunity to educate people on blindness and visual impairment. The theme of this year’s event is Universal Eye Health and eye doctors across the UAE emphasise the importance of regular eye checks for those who are especially vulnerable in the community — people with diabetes, older adults and younger children — in support of the Vision2020 campaign which aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020.
Dr Abdullah Naqi, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Dubai Hospital, says: “About two per cent children in any society suffer from amblyopia or lazy eye. This is something they are born with and this cannot be detected unless children from the age of three go in for regular eye screenings. This is necessary as lazy eye can be treated with eye patches, surgery or exercises if detected early. There should be regular eye check ups at schools to pick up such problems.”
A sedentary life in the UAE is directly responsible for the computer vision syndrome that UAE school-going children suffer from, resulting in poor vision. “Children are glued to their computer or television screens and video consoles and forget to blink. This leads to refractive errors, redness and pain in the eyes and eventually dryness in the eyes which is exacerbated by the air-conditioned living,” says Dr Saeed Mahboob Khan, Assistant Medical Director and Ophthalmologist at Prime Medical Centre.
Dr Edoardo Zinicola, Consultant Ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, seconds that: “World Sight Day presents an opportunity for the medical community to raise awareness about the importance of protecting and improving the health of our eyes, which is an important part of our role in the UAE. Screening younger children [around the age of five] is especially important because around one in eight schoolchildren has some form of vision problem, and many of these problems would previously have been undiagnosed.”
Besides this the other target group for visual impairment is adults in the age group of 50 and above who may be suffering from diabetes, who could suffer from retinopathy leading to blindness. The theme for World Sight Day this year is to make the world free of cataract by 2018 which is one of the leading causes of reversible blindness globally.
“Cataract is one of the inevitable eye conditions that any ageing society faces,” says Dr Naqi. Now that cataract surgeries give brilliant results, doctor’s advise adults above the age of 50 to go in for regular cataract checks and go in for timely surgery to restore proper eyesight.
