When taking treatment for chronic problems, ‘come for examination after three months; Come back in six months’ your doctor would have said. Some will go for re-examination on their respective dates perfectly.
Others are fine, why delay now? Some others said, ‘Every time he goes, he checks and prescribes the same pills. That’s why I’ll show the slip in the shop and buy it. It is very important to re-examine most chronic diseases, especially eye diseases.
What is normal in the eyes of patients that they are looking at the already done test and giving the prescribed medicine may look different in the eyes of the doctor. For example, diabetics need an annual retinal examination.
10 years after the onset of diabetes, it is normal to have damage to the retinal blood vessels, no matter how well controlled. Bleeding may increase if blood sugar is not under control, along with high blood pressure, kidney damage, etc.
If you do not go in the period prescribed by the doctor, the situation can turn dire. There is also a chance that some permanent damage may have occurred if it was not noticed too late. Small needles can be used to ignore the initial condition, which can be corrected with laser therapy, leaving it to the point of surgery.
Glaucoma is the most important eye disease after diabetes in ophthalmology. Glaucoma is a silent killer that slowly destroys vision. It can only be discovered through a series of tests. Once discovered, eye pressure can be controlled in many people with initial eye drops.
Some people need more powerful medications. A series of tests will decide whether to do surgery, when to do it, and what kind of surgery to do. Many of the patients who come to me, if it is found that there is significant damage during the detection of eye pressure disease, I ask them to do an automated perimetry test every year and save that report in a file.
It will help us a lot to understand the extent to which the disease is amenable to our treatment and how it is progressing. At some point, laser treatment or surgery may be recommended if the medication is not compliant. In addition to long-term treatments, injuries are the most important thing that requires regular check-ups. Daily examination is very important, especially if the iris of the eye is injured.
Each time the depth and width of the wound is examined with a slit lamp biomicroscope. Swelling of the eyelids and redness of the whites of the eyes may also be observed. The Snellen’s chart will also check how much vision there is on a daily basis.
Let’s say that on the first day he was able to read only two lines due to injury. Over the next few days, if the treatment is going well, there should be an improvement in vision. From knowing two lines to three or four lines, progress should be seen. At least it should be at the same level, not worse. You may have noticed that some newborn babies are often taken by their parents for eye examination.
You will feel sad that you are going to the hospital at such a young age. Retinopathy of prematurity, most parents wait in hospitals with their babies to monitor the development of blood vessels in the retina of premature babies. It is only in the last few weeks of the fetus that the vessels of the retina reach their full development.
If due to any reason the child is born soon, it is very important to have a retinal examination once in 15 days from birth. If the blood vessels located at the edge of the retina are half developed during such an examination, it may need to be corrected by laser treatment. If left untreated, these underdeveloped blood vessels can destroy the entire eye sight.
‘My grandchildren are twins. You were born in eight months.. In this way, we will carry both children and wait for fifteen days.. Make the children cry and tell them that there is nothing. While I was visiting a large hospital for an internship, I heard this advice from a grandmother to another young mother.
It was then that a ruling by the Supreme Court gained national attention among doctors. A pediatrician failed to stress to parents the need for an eye exam for a preterm baby. Later, when the child lost his sight, the parents went to court. The doctor was fined a huge amount.
I showed the news to the grandmother and the young mother and I also told about the minors who have lost their sight completely due to this problem. Also, I explained to him how the laser is applied by saying, ‘Fortunately, your grandchildren have nothing.. If they had, they would have fixed it with a laser once or twice in the beginning.. That’s it.’ The young mother affirmed that ‘I will continue to check regardless of the movement and crying of the baby.
‘ In the last 2 years many things have been put on hold all over the world due to the covid pandemic. One of them is the annual special camps for differently abled children. They were held last month in all unions in our region. On a visit to a certain town there were more new patients than usual. The region was already notorious for its practice of intermarriage. All the 8 children seen that day were born to married couples.
More than that, 3 couples brought both their children blind. In a house already the brother does not know the eye; Now the brother had also come for the conversion certificate. Sister is visually impaired; My brother had the same problem.
I was the one who certified the couple’s first child four years ago. Have them undergo genetic testing before conceiving their next child; I was told that in the early stages of pregnancy, some tests can be done to find out if there is a defect. However, the second child was also born with many defects. Eye defect is one of them.
‘Why not pre-test?’ When asked, they said, ‘I didn’t go to the hospital because of Corona’. It is true that scientists have urged people not to go to hospitals for normal treatments now that the pandemic has started. But that was only for a few months.
Thereafter all conventional treatments were carried out in accordance with the guidelines. 99 percent of people who say they don’t get tested are putting off treatment out of some kind of laziness. I told a woman I met recently that three months ago she was at risk of retinal hemorrhage with pictures and video. However, he did not seek further treatment.
Yesterday he came with complete loss of vision in one eye. Another thing that needs to be mentioned like the need for regular check-ups is the securing of treatment related documents. Only one in ten patients I see bring back the test report they showed last time.
I can hear many reasons like I lost it, it got wet, I threw it away while washing it. It is very important to save referral slips and reports to know how much progress your health has made this time. Our neighboring countries are facing economic problems. In this context, it is not good for people to suffer health setbacks due to negligence.
Quality of human life is very important at all levels. Regular check-ups and regular adherence to medical advice can improve quality of life.