Episode #109 - Adult eye care

VGS Did you know that 70% of the people around the world who need eyeglasses do not have access to them? What are the leading causes of blindness around the world? Who is at risk? And how can you protect your eyesight? Here to answer these questions is Dr. Stuart Keel. 

Welcome, Stuart. Let's start with the leading causes of blindness around the world.

SK Thank you. So one of the leading causes of blindness is cataract, which is a cloudiness of the lens inside the eye that leads to increasingly blurred vision over time. The second leading cause of vision impairment and blindness is what we call refractive error. The most common types are short sightedness or the inability to see in the distance or long sightedness, which is the inability to see up close. And this is caused due to an abnormal shape or length of the eyeball, which means the light entering the eye doesn't focus correctly on the back of the eye, which is called the retina.

The other leading causes of blindness globally are a result of damage to the back of the eye, and one of those is glaucoma, where there's progressive damage to the nerve at the back of the eye that leads to distortion in your peripheral vision and in more severe cases can also impact on your central vision. 

Then we have age related macular degeneration, which is a degeneration of the cells in the center of your retina, which is called the macula, which leads to distortion of your central vision, issues with color vision and other issues as well.

And then we have diabetic eye disease, which in diabetic patients we often see leakage of the vessels at the back of the eye that can cause some swelling, some bleeding and also scarring that can also impact on your vision.

VGS So Stewart, we all know someone who has these eye problems. Who is at risk of these diseases?

SK Firstly, I’ll say that anybody in the population is at risk, but there are certain segments of the population who are at greater risk than other segments of the population. And the first segment is older people and eye conditions such as cataract, glaucoma, age related macular degeneration really increase in their risk sharply with age to the point where about 80% of vision impairment occurs in the population aged 50 years and over.

There's also a strong family history component to these eye diseases. If you have a family member in particular a mother or a father with some of these eye conditions, such as glaucoma and refractive error or short sightedness or long sightedness, you are more likely to have these eye diseases.

Then there are certain lifestyle factors. For instance, like many other health conditions, smoking is a risk factor for cataract and also macular degeneration.

And then there are also some underlying health conditions and medications that also can increase your risk of developing an eye disease, such as diabetes, such as multiple sclerosis and prolonged use of steroids are also linked to the development of eye diseases, such as cataract and also glaucoma.

VGS Stuart talk to us about how we can protect our vision.

SK Yes. So the good news is that the majority of vision impairment from these diseases that I've just mentioned is avoidable through early detection or identification and access to treatment. So the most important thing is to have regular eye examinations that we recommend every couple of years, at least, particularly as we get older, and particularly in those population groups that are at higher risk who may need eye examinations more frequently.

Secondly, there's a number of actions that we can take to protect our vision and protect our eyes from the development of these diseases. And one of those is limiting UV exposure by using sunglasses and wide brimmed hat when we are outside. Of course, wearing protective eyewear, when we're using chemicals and tools to protect our eyes from injuries as well. 

And taking regular breaks from near work activities, using screens, using computers, reading - to avoid dry eye and eye strain as well. And we have a simple rule to follow. And that is called the 20-20-20 rule, which means for every 20 minutes that you use a computer or a device or a looking up close, you should look into the distance at something at least 20 feet away or six meters for at least 20 seconds.

VGS So WHO has recently launched a new application called WHOEyes, which enables anyone with a smart device or phone to be able to test their near and distance vision and learn about how they can protect their eyes. So I encourage you all to download this and take advantage of this app. So the 20-20-20 rule- I'm going to try that.

Thank you, Stuart.

That was Science in 5 today. Until next time then. Stay safe, stay healthy and stick with science.