JOHANNESBURG: Eye care awareness month falls every year between September 23 and October 20 in South Africa, and the majority of South African citizens know little, or nothing about this.
In celebrating eye care awareness month, we want to inform you on all you need to know about your eyesight and how to keep it healthy and beneficial to you for as long as possible.
You could be walking around with a serious eye disease and not even realise it. An eye disease such as Conjunctivitis (pink eye) is contagious, therefore, in some cases, you cannot prevent getting it.
Although, it is reported that once the disease has been contracted and has been detected, it can be treated. Some eye diseases, such as Glaucoma, have no early warning signs, but once discovered, they can be treated and permanent impairment can be avoided.
Institute of the Blind SA informs us that 80 per cent of blindness is in fact avoidable if it is diagnosed and treated at an early stage, which is why it is vital to go for regular check-ups and eye tests. Besides having your eyes checked regularly, take practical precautions to ensure the safety of your eyesight.
Eye care experts recommend these practical precautions which include; regularly exercising and relaxing your eyes, wearing UV protection sunglasses, not looking directly into bright lights, reading in well-lit spaces, making sure your hands are clean when putting in contact lenses and wearing protective eye gear when necessary.
Eyesight is a problem for people of all ages and one should not be led to think that it is a problem only for the elderly. Worldwide, women make up more than half of the total number of visually impaired people and 23 per cent of visually impaired people are between the ages of 15 and 36 years.
For every blind person in South Africa, there are four people that are visually impaired, and of those people, 96 per cent of impairments are caused by diseases, such as Cataracts and uncorrected refractive errors while only the remaining four per cent are from accidents or unfortunate events.
