What is the purpose of World Sight Day? Worldwide, the WHO (World Health Organization) and IAPB (International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness), launched the Vision 2020 program in 1999. Observed every year on the second Thursday of October, World Sight Day was established as part of Vision 2020. This program’s objective is to inform...
Halloween, or Hallowe’en (shortened from “All Hallows’ Eve”), is celebrated worldwide on October 31. The day honours faithfully departed souls, saints and martyrs. On Halloween, kids go “guising,” or trick-or-treating while wearing disguises, go to Halloween costume parties, carve pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, pull pranks, go to haunted places, share spooky stories, etc. The concept of...
WHAT IS PRESBYOPIA? Presbyopia is the medical term for the gradual loss of focusing power that occurs with aging. This is caused by either a decrease in the elasticity of the lens or a weakening of the ciliary muscles. It is a natural part of the aging process, and usually becomes noticeable in the early...
Diwali is a festival of light, and lighting fireworks is an important part of the celebration. Unfortunately, during Diwali, the risk of firecracker injury increases significantly in India. It is one of the causes of ocular trauma threatening vision. Children and young adults are at risk for irreversible blindness and ocular morbidity due to ocular...
What is squint in children? Strabismus is a medical term for cross eye or squint. Normally, our eyes look at things together. We refer to this as binocularity. Strabismus refers to the misalignment of the eyes, causing one to appear different from the other. The eye can be deviated inward, outward, upward, or downward. About...
What does the term “xanthelasma palpebrarum” mean? The term Xanthelasma comes from the Greek words “xanthos,” which means blond or yellow, and “elasma,” which means plate. The Latin word “palpebrarum” means “of the eyelid.” What is Xanthelasma palpebrarum (XP)? A benign skin condition called xanthelasma palpebrarum or XP causes soft, yellow, painless lesions to develop...
According to the WHO, at least 2.2 billion people worldwide suffer from vision impairment. Nearly half of these cases involved vision impairments that could have been avoided or were not addressed. Uncorrected refractive errors and cataracts are the main causes of vision loss and blindness, followed by Age-related Macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy (DR),...
FACTORS AFFECTING EYE COLOR Genes play a major role in determining eye colour. The inheritance is polygenetic, which means that numerous genes interact to determine how much melanin, in what proportions, and density of proteins your iris will contain. MELANIN The iris is the part of the eye that determines its colour. Melanin is the...
Fat-soluble vitamin A is consumed through diet and stored in the body as fat. As a result of insufficient dietary intake, vitamin A deficiency is most prevalent among the poor in developing nations and primarily affects children. In first-world, nutrient-rich countries, vitamin A deficiency is uncommon, but it can still affect people with inflammatory bowel...
1. Not all cases of pink eye ARE conjunctivitis The sclera(outer white part), and inner eyelids are covered in the thin, loose, translucent membrane called conjunctiva. Conjunctivitis is an infection or inflammation of the conjunctiva that is characterised by dilated conjunctival vessels (conjunctival injection) and redness. These blood vessels could also leak fluid, which would...
