Health Articles
Festival Eye Hazards In India
Festival season is round the corner. And so are associated and 'compulsory' but easily preventable eye hazards peculiar to our country that invariably lead to potentially serious blinding conditions.
That thought and state of affairs makes Dr. Rajan Chugh - the region's well known specialist Eye Surgeon and Paediatric Ophthalmologist - sad. "I am not at all happy treating young and innocent children with serious and grievous eye injuries - often resulting in permanent loss of vision and disfigurement - sustained during the Ramlila and Dussehera period, year after year".
A few years back when the popular T. V. serials, 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' were on air, the incidence of such mishaps increased many-fold and cases were also seen during the 'off-season' as well. This is no child's play, albeit it starts as just a game - children taking to bows and arrows, enacting the Ramlila with 'Ramas', 'Ravanas' and others; and here it's not certain that only 'Ravanas' get defeated and hurt in the eye. Whomsoever it is, the loss is real and our own! Children, intelligent as they are, might try to be as accurate as 'Arjunas'( which here is not so good; although personally I don't recommend the mixing of the Ramayana and Mahabharata!. Onlookers and passers-by, and adults are no exception; they might be caught unawares by an arrow.
The 'pointed' cane (arrow) can damage the delicate eye tissues immensely and as such the injury expected during this 'heavenly' play is rarely mild. Other weaponry used in play, like the card-board sword etc. can also contribute to the injury. An arrow can injure the Cornea, the transparent front of the eye and fungus infection, thereafter can lead to serious cloudiness, or more seriously and commonly, it (the arrow) can 'puncture' the globe of the eye, the eye-ball that is, resulting in a penetrating or perforating injury that puts the eye-sight at great risk. This is heralded by severe pain, irritation, watering, bleeding and a black-out.
The injured eye should not be pressed or rubbed and also not splashed with water. The child should not be given water or something to eat because he might require anaesthesia for an emergency eye surgery which needs him to have an empty stomach. No eye drops should be put in the eye and nor should one try and open the eyes in an attempt to assess the damage. The injured should be rushed to an eye specialist immediately, even in the dead of night, for expert treatment.
The operation of the injured eye, depending upon the damage is often complicated with far - reaching and long-term implications of visual recovery; although with the latest treatment modalities, new machines and equipment and modern medicines and expertise the outcome of treatment has improved.
The child needs to be in constant touch with the eye surgeon over a long period to assess visual recovery, especially 'lazy eye' and general eye health. Injury to one eye can threaten visual loss in the fellow (sound) eye by a natural body mechanism called 'sympathetic ophthalmitis' which is a more serious condition than it might appear and should be borne in mind. This can happen during varying intervals after the injury, when everybody has forgotten about it and the child has become father of a child !! The other eye, without any fault, can go blind because of this phenomenon, which is really a tragedy should it occur. Imagine one eye blind due to the injury, and the other one due to this! However, proper, early treatment of either eye can save it from damage through this serious process.
As in other spheres, the most important thing in these injuries is prevention and the parents can play an important role in teaching the seriousness of these toys and to be firm and not 'bow' to their loved-ones' demands. T.V. Media can play a big role in the education of children and their parents. The teachers at school should spend five minutes daily during this period to tell their wards to shun such games. Plain spectacles can provide protection. Prevention is certainly better than cure, and it can be easily done. No half measures help.
I hope I don't have to treat even a single child, this time with tears in my eyes; although we at Fortis have the latest operation equipment to tackle such tragedies.
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