Public urged to take care of their eyes

Its plan for the month includes conducting surgeries to remove cataracts at local health facilities. It will conduct
50 operations at Themba Hospital and 60 at Witbank Hospital.

About 200 patients from Matibidi Hospital were recently screened and 40 of those have been selected for operations by the Bureau to Prevent Future Blindness.

The department will also provide optometry services and reading glasses to the elderly at Casteel Clinic on October 30.

“We want to urge people who have symptoms such as sore or red eyes, not to ignore it. They must visit our health-care facilities for eye screening and other optometry services,” said Gillion Mashego, the MEC for health.

Tips to keep eyes healthy:

• Eat well
• Do not smoke, as it makes you more vulnerable to diseases such as cataract (clouding of the natural lens), macular degeneration (blurry or blind spot in center of vision), optic-nerve damage (central vision loss which makes reading difficult) or peripheral vision loss
• Wear sunglasses
• Use safety wear depending on hazards in a work place
• Computer screens cause uncomfortable eye-related symptoms such as eye strain, dry eyes, headache, fatigue, difficulty focusing, blurred vision, and shoulder and neck pain.

Symptoms of eye infection:

• Pain in the eye
• Photophobia – increase sensitivity to light
• Yellow, green, blood or watery discharge from the eye
• Red eye
• Change in vision.