Myopia or short sightedness is becoming a growing concern all over the world.Clinically, it is defined as spherical equivalent refraction less than or equal to -0.5 Diopter. But for common to understand we could say myopia as a condition where one couldnot clearly see things at far while there is no issue in seeing objects near to eye.Today nearly20% of global population suffers from myopia.Globally there is an expected increase in people suffering from myopiai.e, to rise upto 50% of entire world population by 2050. Currently refractive errors hold the reason for 1/5th of total blindness in the world,amongst it myopia leads the list.
It is understood that myopia
affect the quality of life of the individual, but the intensity varies
according to the age of the individual,magnitude of the disease,geographical
setting (i.e. rural or urban) as well as political commitment of the country.
Regarding the age, for a young child inorder to pursue education the
audiovisual spatial integration plays an important role, while for an old aged
individual the consequence of such a disease is comparatively low. When in
comes to geographical setting, urban areas has tertiary level healthcare
facilities which provides quality intervention while primary level healthcare
is being the only option for rural residents. Adding to it, there is a huge
economic divide between rural and urban population in India.
If myopia is causing learning
disabilities for children at one end, the adults suffer with inability to work
with maximum potential at the middle while old aged find it difficult to do the
activities of daily living at the other extreme.But there are associated
symptoms like headache which bother everyone irrespective of age group they
belong to. Irritation in the eyes followed by rubbing, frequent blinking of
eyes, blurred vision, eye straining are some of the concomitants of myopia
which are often left unnoticed. Apart from these symptoms dry eyes, foreign
body sensation are also found to be reported by patients. Rarely some patients also
presents with squinting.
Proper maintanence of eye health
is essential for preventing myopia though it cannot not completely help to
attain it. Studies suggest there is a genetical background that could be traced
back to the cause of myopia atleast in some cases. Consanginous marriage, X
linked chromosomal disease pattern etc are being reported as causes for myopia
in some regions of the country. There are some eye diseases which found to be
associated with myopia such as glaucoma,retino-choroidal diseases etc.Syndromic
relationship with thalassemia also seen with myopia.
Though these kind of genetic
influence are there for myopia, more common risk factors are environment
related. People who stay indoor regularly found to have more chance for having
the disease. On the other side people who stay outdoor often presents with
myopia less in number. Researchers suggest this is due to indirect relationship
i.e, people who stay indoor use near sight frequently more than people at
outdoors. Near work is another main reason contributing to refraction errors
like myopia. People engaged in tailoring, gold smith and similar jobs which
require frequent involvement of near sight increase the burden of myopia. When
it comes to computer or screen based jobs too, continous near sight being
regarded as the main reason.
An interesting finding related to
myopia is that of with education. The higher a person getting educated, the
chances that individual become myopic increases. The other important risk
factor for myopia is increased screen time. In this digital era, people use
screen for education as well as entertainment. This will make an upshoot in the
number of people becoming myopic unless properly eye health is maintained.
Preventive measures regarding
myopia is far easy to follow yet frequently neglected. There are measures like
Bates excercises, Periodic Near to far shifting , palming , solarization , eye
squeezing ,eye circling , eye massaging etc . Apart from that traditional measures
like Trataka Yoga Kriya are also found to be useful in preventing myopia. These
measures help in muscles relaxation in and around eye. Once diagnosed with
myopia too, people could follow these measures inorder to control rapid
prognosis of the disease.
Another challenge to decrease the
rapidity of myopic eye is the stigma towards spectacles. Often people believe
wearing glass has got cosmetic disfigurement. Though government provides
spectacles through national health programme to prevent blindness, this act as
a barrier to achieve the goal of preventing blindness. Poor people cannot
afford switching to contact lens as an alternative to spectacles while rich
people do so. In case of contact lens too, measures should be taken to keep the
hygiene as well as to be distant from inflammable environment.
There are measures like Photo
Refractive Keratectomy (PRK), Laser InsituKeratomilensis (LASIK) and
Femtosecond laser assisted small incision lenticular extractions which are used
for avoiding spectacle usage. Though these procedures wont cure per se rather
help to focus light by manipulating lens structure.
The rate at which people presents
with short sightedness would be very rapid in this digital era , if proper eye
health is taught at schools, home and offices. There should be regulations from
the side of parents regarding screen usage of small kids, as increased screen
time not only causes refractive errors, but psychological conditions like
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Addiction tendency too. With
organized efforts greater public action could be initiated in order to control
the rapid increase in the number of myopia patients of the country. On Regular
basis HEEALS organize Eye Care Campaign in schools. Where Volunteer and Interns
show how to protect eyes and eye care importance.
DR THAREEKH BASHEER
MPH SCHOLAR
UNIVERSITY OF HYDERBAD
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