India is home to world’s 20% legally blind population. Approximately 40 million people in India, including 1.6 million children are facing challenges related to their vision but not many of them get the necessary support that can enhance the quality of their life. Many of the people aren’t aware until the disease has progressed too far. Yes! Many of these diseases are silent in their onset and are hard to manage afterwards. What are these diseases? Let’s know about them in details.
Diabetic Retinopathy – Many people don’t know but long term diabetes can give them some serious eye troubles. Diabetic Retinopathy is caused by damage to light-sensitive tissue called retina. At first, this condition might cause no symptoms at all. But it can gradually lead to blindness.
The condition can develop in anyone who has Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. The longer you have diabetes, the more likely you are to develop this eye complication. It can also quickly develop among people who have less controlled blood sugar.
Age related macular degeneration – AMD or Age Related Macular degeneration is an eye condition associated with aging that results in damaging the central vision. Central vision is needed for seeing objects clearly, recognising face and facial features and for common daily tasks such as driving and reading.
Macula is the central part the retina that helps eye to see fine details. There are many blood vessels behind macula. When these blood vessels behind the macula starts growing or ruptures due to age related causes or trauma then blood and fluid leak to cause damage to the macula and retina overall.
Best way to detect AMD is by testing your eyes with Amsler Chart. If the lines appear wavy or if they appear the way a typical AMD does then you should visit physicians without delay. So grab an Amsler Chart from internet and get your vision tested.
Glaucoma – Glaucoma damages the optic nerve, the health of which is vital for proper vision. Often caused by an abnormally high pressure in your eye, this disease can progressively damage your optic nerve which carries visual signals to your brain. Though Glaucoma is the leading cause of age related blindness over the age of 60 but it can also occur in younger adults. Anyone who has received a trauma to his/her eyes should get it glaucoma tested.
Strabismus – Famous people having this condition are the philosopher Jean Paul Sartre and the beauty pageant Penelope De Cruz. This condition that causes the eyes to look in different directions is called Strabismus. It is both congenital and acquired. But it is more common among people who had it in early childhood. If not detected and treated early, it can have a detrimental effect on vision that can become permanent. Though it doesn’t cause permanent vision loss, it makes everyday life challenging as focussing the vision on objects become difficult.
Amblyopia – This condition causes reduced vision in one eye because of abnormal visual development early in life. The weaker — or lazy — eye often wanders making it hard to focus and move. This condition develops from birth up to age 7 years and is currently the leading cause of decreased vision among children. Though it cannot cause blindness straightaway but if the condition is left untreated then the vision will be too weak to be corrected by any other means like refractive aids and therapy.
If these diseases are preventable then how can we do it?
First we need to know the reason why India is home to so many people who have eye related conditions. Reasons that causes to get late treatment hence causing vision loss are – Lack of knowledge and ignorance, Lack of immediate facilities, Lack of financial aid, and Taboo and superstition. Being a responsible individual people should encourage regular eye check-up that can prevent a plethora of eye conditions. At TRC we encourage our patients to get a yearly eye check-up as we believe that this habit can prevent and cure many eye conditions.