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From Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar
In a stark warning to millions, an optometrist, Dr. Ejitu Isong has revealed that lifestyle, nutrition, health challenges predispose multiples of people to eye challenges.
She disclosed this in Calabar during a vision screening exercise for civil servants organized by the Cross River State Optometric Association in collaboration with the Office of the Head of Service to mark the World Optometric Week.
According to her “We are doing more sedentary work now which was not so in the past and the environment is more polluted than before.
“So there are so many things in our current environment and lifestyle and nutrition that are affecting people. In our climate, eye injuries are also prevalent during the farming season, especially in the local communities.
“The phone has become a big problem. For everybody; the phone has become a big problem. The rays from digital surfaces are damaging parts of the eye.
“And so, it’s important that people know that when you use the phone, don’t put too much on it. And if you have to, you also need to do what we call 20-20-20. You use the phone for like 20 minutes. Look away for like 20 seconds. Far away, like 20 feet away,” she said.
She insisted that a regular annual examination by the Optometrist is the right way to preserve your vision.
Isong said the World Optometry Week is a time to let the world know the great role Optometrists play in preserving people’s vision and improving the world.
She also stressed the need for policy’ driven changes saying that having Optometrists employed in all local health centres and at the grassroots in Nigeria will go a long way to reducing blindness from avoidable causes as more than 85 per cent of blindness are avoidable.
As part of the vision screening, over 250 free reading glasses and eye drops were given out while others were referred to the clinics for comprehensive eye examination. This year’s World Optometric Week had as theme “A Shared Vision: Collaboration in Global Eye Care.”
