Eye care- Our Safety Is In Our Hands

Every year, second Thursday of the month of October is regarded as World Sight Day. The unanimous motive of the day is to create awareness regarding visual impairment and blindness and restore sight, whenever and wherever possible. Although, the global target is to reduce blindness in all countries, increasing longevity and non communicable chronic disease making the task as a distant dream. Before discussing further, let me throw some light on some of the EYE opening facts:

EYE-OPENING FACTS

• Almost 314 million people are categorized as visually impaired and out of them 45 million people are blind globally.
• The older age group people get commonly affected from visual impairment and as compared to males, females of every age group are more prone towards it.
• 87% of visually impaired world's population resides in developing countries.

Although, myriad of surgical techniques have been introduced in the market, number of affected people from vision loss is rising with every passing day. So, it is our responsibility without waiting further, we should start following preventive measure as early as possible. In India, People have the tendency of not visiting to doctor unless and until they get affected from any disease. But, now, the time has come when we have to reverse the trend. Enlisted below are some of the preventive measures which help in minimizing vision problems and restrict our visit to ophthalmologist.

PREVENTION IS BETTER THAN CURE   

• Go for regular eye check-ups after the age of 18 years in every six months.
• Make it a routine to splash plenty of water on the eyes in the morning and before going to sleep.
• Do simple eye exercise daily for 5 minutes. Move your eyeballs upward and downward, right and left, clockwise and anticlockwise direction. Repeat the process ten times.
• Avoid working for long hours in front of computer. If it is inevitable, take frequent small breaks or wear anti-glare glasses.
• Always wear sunglasses before stepping out in the sun.
• Increase the intake of green vegetables, almonds, carrots, spinach, etc. These vegetables help in maintaining good vision.

Last but not the least, take 7-8 hours of good night sleep regardless of hectic working schedule.

I am sure if you follow these measures, you are able to see this beautiful world without any vision problem till your last breath.