How to protect your eyes, preserve your vision

THE EDITOR: World Sight Day was celebrated on October 13. This year’s theme continues to be “Love your Eyes” and the four Ps to remind us of how to do this – prevent, protect, preserve and prioritise.

It is possible that your eyesight may be the most valuable of your five senses. Your entire life’s quality drops significantly if you were to lose your vision.

Prevent eye diseases by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Stop smoking, drink less and maintain healthy eating habits. People with diabetes should also take extra control of their blood sugar levels as this is critical to prevention of future vision loss.

Protect your eyes using sunglasses to block out UV rays. If you work in hazardous conditions with chemicals and flying particles, wear protective glasses when doing your work. Women should also be careful not to use expired eye makeup in case of infecting their eyes.

Remember to take breaks from screen time, to avoid dry eye and eye strain. Blink regularly, close your eyes and rest them for at least 20 seconds after 20 minutes of concentration on the screen.

Preserve your vision by doing yearly eye check-ups with your ophthalmologist and optometrist and remember to share all your medical and family history so you can fully understand your risk factors.

Prioritise your vision by practising all of the above. Do not postpone eye checks and remember to take prescribed medication and wear your glasses.

We are happy to promote universal eye health and help spread healthy vision awareness. Our social and economic stressors will multiply if too many people within our society become blind. WHO says 80 per cent of global blindness is preventable. Let’s all do our part to preserve the eyesight of our population.

DR RONNIE BHOLA

CEO and eye surgeon