Taking Care of Your Eye

Q) In Nepal the rate of pollution is increasing what kind of eye related diseases and problems can come from it?
In Nepal we can see a lot of construction going on due to which dust, smoke has engulfed the city and our eyes are directly impacted from it. Pollution leads to problems like irritation, redness, itching, watery eyes, foreign body sensation and others in the eyes. This has caused eye diseases like ocular allergy, dry eyes, conjunctivitis and many others. These kinds of problems are mostly seen in school going children and college students.

Q) What is the statistical data of eye disease in Nepal?
Recent studies have found that about 0.35% of the people in Nepal are blind, the most common is from cataract. This has caused great economic burden. Because of change in lifestyles and increasing life expectancy the problem like Diabetic Retinopathy (which is the changes in retina due to diabetes), Age related Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma has been increasing. Then comes childhood blindness that are caused because of trauma and corneal opacities. Most common cause of visual impairment has been uncorrected refractive error. This condition is easily corrected with spectacles. Some children may have very high power in their eyes which if not diagnosed in time leads to lazy eye also known as amblyopia.

Q) What precaution should be taken for eye health?
Trauma in eyes sometimes causes loss of vision. So, even small amount of trauma in eyes shouldn’t be neglected. These days with increasing pollution we can prevent our eyes by wearing sunglasses in outdoor environment and washing eyes regularly. These days there is very high use of mobile and other gadgets especially by children. With very high use can develop different eye problems like eye strain, headache, refractive error and dry eyes. So, I suggest the parent to prevent the children from getting lots of exposed to digital devices. Regular eye checkup at least once a year can lead to timely prevention of eye disease.

Q) What kind of diet and health routine help to improve eye vision?
It is important that you eat well balanced diet. Lots of green leafy vegetables, fish like salmons, tuna rich in Omega3 fatty acids and Vitamins A, C and E rich diet help to improve vision related problems. Stopping smoking and a healthy lifestyle will help to have improved eye vision.

Q) What services and innovative technology has Drishti Eye Care adopted over the years?
Drishti eye care system has been innovative in the field of eye treatment and diagnosis in Nepal. There are various latest technologies adopted by Drishti Eye Care System. One of the main is Vision Therapy System-4 (VTS-4) which has been adopted by many developed countries for the treatment of lazy eye. We have adopted this treatment modality first time in Nepal which has helped a lot of children from being visually disabled from amblyopia. Also, other innovations like IOL master 700 (for calculating accurate power of the lens that is place in eye after cataract surgery), Angio OCT (taking retinal photographs without injection). We have also adopted latest cataract surgical techniques i.e. cataract surgery by phacoemulsification under topical anesthesia (surgery without injection). With this patient can regain their vision immediately after the surgery and can resume his normal work.

I have been heading Cornea and External Eye Disease Department at Drishti Eye Care System. We have also started performing corneal transplantation at our center. Within just a period of 3 years from its inception, we have been able to extendour services through three tertiary eye hospitals at Birtamode, Jhapa(Eastern Part of Nepal), Birgunj (Central Terai Region) and at Kalanki, Kathmandu; three primary eye care centers at Bhadrapur, Jhapa;Kalaiya, Bara and Tokha, Kathmandu; two sophisticated eye clinics and optical at Chabahil Chowk and Vishwojyoti Mall, Jamal, Kathmandu.

Interview with:
Dr. Bhai Raja Shrestha
MBBS (Kathmandu Medical College, Kathmandu)
MD (Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University)
Fellowship in Cornea (Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, USA)

Dr. Shrestha is a meticulous topical phacoemulsification surgeon and has already performed more than 18000 of cataract surgeries. He has special interest in cornea and now heads the cornea department in Drishti Eye Hospital Birtamode and Birgunj and Kalanki.