Healthy Living: MYOPIA-SHORT SIGHTEDNESS

Eyes are the most precious gift bestowed by nature to man. It is only through eyes that we can see the wonders of the world. Barring few unfortunate people who have visual defects since birth or early childhood, majority of the people have a perfect pair of eyes and eye-sight since childhood. It is only through the improper use of eyes and neglecting their health, one tends to develop refractive errors, i.e. defects in the refraction of rays on the eyes leading to visual defects. Myopia or short sightedness is one such visual defect. Here the affected individual is unable to see far objects clearly. Light rays coming from objects located in distance tend to fall in front of retina, instead of on retina, the part of eye responsible for vision. Therefore one is able to see objects located near but image of far situated objects becomes blurred. Myopia can occur at any age but is becoming more common in young adults and adolescents. School children wearing thick eye glasses have become a common sight with increasing affluence. Typically a h school student will complain that if he sits towards the back benches he cannot see the black board clearly. Myopia can occur due to defects in the curvature of the eye ball. The eye ball may be oval or the axis may be slightly long. This prevents proper fixing of the light rays on the retina. It tends to be a hereditary problem and runs in families. Thus if one or both parents have myopia, the children tend to develop myopia at a young age. Myopia is also seen with skeleto-muscular problems in certain congenital disorders like Marfan’s syndrome, and Ehler- Danlos syndrome. In case of glaucoma (increase in the pressure of fluid within the eye), there is increase in size of eye ball leading to blurred near vision. Similarly in early cataract, due to the lens getting hardened, rays tend to focus in front of retina leading to blurred vision. Increasing prevalence of myopia in young adults is mainly due to life style factors. More involvement in indoor activities and lesser amount of time spent outdoors makes use of far sight less frequent. This is cited as a reason for myopia. Excess use of near vision as in watching videos or a computer screen for long time indoors is also said to be one of the reasons for development of myopia. Diet rich in saturated fats and carbohydrates, along with lack of exercise leads to insulin resistance and increase in length of eye ball causing myopia. Treatment of myopia involves correction of the visual defect by suitable power of concave glasses which help in proper fixation of the rays over the retina. Contact lenses of suitable number are also worn by many, in place of eye glasses for cosmetic reasons. But one has to be very careful in maintaining the cleanliness of the contact lenses to prevent infection or inflammation of the eyes. Surgery is yet another option for correction of myopia, where the excess curvature of the eye ball is cut, surgically or destroyed by laser rays. But the risk of relapse to some degree is not totally excluded. In case of myopia developing due to glaucoma or cataract, correction of the cause, corrects the visual problem also. If one has the tendency to develop myopia, it cannot be prevented totally. But adequate amount of outdoor activities like outdoor games and physical exercise can prevent it or avoid severe myopia.. Avoidance of high carbohydrate diet is also useful for the same. Certain eye exercises in yoga have also proved beneficial in correction of myopia. One has to do them correctly and regularly to get optimum results.People need to be educated about myopia or short sightedness so that at least the younger generation can have more healthy eyes. E-mail-rachna212002@yahoo.co.k

Lifestyle

Healthy Living: MYOPIA-SHORT SIGHTEDNESS