World Optometry Day -

The Professional Board for Optometry and Dispensing Opticians (PBODO), under the ambit of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), is committed to upholding Council’s mandate of protecting the public and guiding the professions. This mandate is also carried out through education and creating awareness on the importance of the optometry profession.

In commemoration of World Optometry Day, which is celebrated on Saturday, 23 March 2024, the Board would like to highlight and appreciate the ongoing exceptional work that is being carried out by optometrists countrywide to improve equitable access to eye care. Optometry as a profession is embracing the need to address the large burden of preventable vision impairment. This year’s theme is “Advancing Optometry’s Commitment to Global Eye Care.”

Vision is our most prominent sense and plays an important role in many aspects of life. Regular eye examinations are important to detect eye diseases early and help prevent vision loss. Many people think that they have good eyesight until they have their first eye test and are fitted with their first pair of spectacles.

A thorough eye examination will help to identify the cause of vision loss in addition to conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. Early diagnosis and timeous treatment can help to prevent permanent vision impairment.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that approximately 1 billion people have preventable or treatable vision impairment. The main conditions leading to distance vision impairment and blindness are refractive errors and cataracts. Amongst the 1 billion people with vision impairment, nearly 90 million have distance vision impairment due to refractive errors and 826 million have near vision impairment due to presbyopia. Uncorrected refractive errors are the leading cause of vision impairment among children and adults in all countries around the world.

What are refractive errors?

The normal eye:

Refractive errors occur when the shape of your eye prevents light from properly focusing on your retina, which is a light-sensitive layer of tissue located at the back of your eye. These errors can be caused by changes in the corneal shape, length of the eyeball and aging of the lens.

There are four main common types of refractive errors:

1. Myopia

Also referred to as nearsightedness – this condition affects the clarity of vision at a distance, where objects that are far are not clear and objects that are near appear clear. The light focuses in front of the retina in myopia. One of the risk factors associated with high myopia is retinal detachment. It is therefore important to have regular eye examinations when diagnosed with myopia.

Diagram of a Myopic Eye:

2. Hypermetropia

Also referred to as “hyperopia” or “farsightedness” may affect the clarity of vision at both distance and near, although in many patients the vision at distance is not blurred. High hyperopia affects vision at both distance and near. The light focuses behind the retina in the in hyperopia. In some patients, the eye’s focussing mechanism called the accommodative system helps to make the vision clearer but may also cause eyestrain.

Diagram of the Hyperopic Eye:

3. Astigmatism

Astigmatism occurs when there is a difference in curvature on the cornea or lens of the eye, this results in distorted images. It can occur in combination with either myopia or hyperopia. The shape of the eye is often compared to being similar to a rugby ball in astigmatism. Patients with astigmatism experience more sensitivity to glare and often report seeing ‘flares’ or ‘starbursts’ around lights at night.

Astigmatic Eye:

4. Presbyopia

Presbyopia is an age-related condition that makes the ability to focus vision on near work such as reading, difficult. It is a natural, gradual loss of the near focussing ability of the eyes. And usually affects people from the age of 40 years onwards.

Presbyopic Eye:

Correction of Refractive errors

Refractive errors can be corrected by eyeglasses/spectacles, contact lenses, and sometimes refractive surgery.

Eyeglasses offer simple and safe correction of refractive errors to give good, clear vision at distance and near.

Contact lenses provide good vision at distance and near with a wider field of view than spectacles. Good hygiene and cleanliness are of utmost importance to ensure the safe and comfortable use of contact lenses.

Refractive surgery, such as LASEK offer a surgical option to correct certain refractive errors. The goal of refractive surgery is to alter the shape of the eye to allow light ray to focus directly on the retina resulting in clearer vision.

It is important to ensure that a comprehensive eye examination is performed, an accurate diagnosis is made and all the risks are considered before deciding on how to correct your vision.

Benefits of wearing eyeglasses/spectacles

Spectacles help to correct vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive errors. Spectacles are often easier to obtain and less costly than contact lenses or surgical methods of treating refractive errors.
Tints and Coatings on spectacle lenses help to enhance vision and provide protection against UV rays from the sun.
Spectacle lenses can offer physical protection from environmental irritants such as dust and wind.
Spectacles are also used to provide physical protection in contact sports such as cricket and squash.
Spectacles are easy and convenient to use.
Coatings on lenses can assist with visual disturbances caused by lights from oncoming vehicles during night driving and reflections from electronic devices such as cellphones and computers.
Spectacle frames can be trendy and fashionable.

An annual eye examination is an important component of having a general annual health assessment done.

References:

Last Updated on 22 March 2024 by HPCSA Corporate Affairs