14 October 2021 World Sight Day: Take Care of Your Eyes

14 October 2021 World Sight Day: Love Your Eyes! Turkish Ophthalmological Association President Prof. Dr. İzzet Can underlined that the eyes of all family members, particularly children, have become strained during the pandemic period spent indoors at home, stating: "Let us love our eyes, give them the care and rest they deserve, and make efforts to strain them less." Organized under the leadership of the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, World Sight Day is being celebrated in its second year of the ongoing pandemic with the theme "Love Your Eyes" to draw attention to the negative effects the pandemic has brought to eyesight. Due to COVID-19, social isolation, working from home or remotely, and online education have caused the eyes of all family members to become highly strained due to prolonged and intensive screen use.

Love Is Not Enough—We Must Protect

Turkish Ophthalmological Association President Prof. Dr. İzzet Can cautioned: "We are straining our eyes more than ever. Loving our eyes is not enough—we must protect them," and drew attention to the fact that more than 1 billion people worldwide have preventable or as-yet unaddressed near or far vision disorders. İzzet Can continued: "Globally, 312 million myopic individuals are under 19 years of age. 277 million people have high myopia. The rate of high myopia among myopes was 2.7 percent in 2000, 4 percent in 2010, and 5.2 percent in 2020. Remote education, which has increased with the pandemic, working from home, and lockdown restrictions are risk factors for myopia. Spending 20 hours per week outdoors contributes to addressing vitamin D deficiency and is a valuable protective measure that also reduces the development of myopia. We also recommend that parents, especially of children starting school, have their children's eyes examined, as this is quite important for their school performance," he said.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration and Eye Hypertension

Drawing attention to prominent eye diseases in society, the Turkish Ophthalmological Association President stated that 196 million people live with age-related macular degeneration (yellow spot disease), which increases progressively as life expectancy rises. İzzet Can said: "Eye hypertension (glaucoma) is a disease that 76 million people live with. Since the stage of vision loss and loss of visual field that the patient experiences is a late stage due to irreversible damage, it is important that those with a family history of glaucoma have eye examinations once every 1-2 years starting from age 35, and those without a family history starting from age 45," he said.

What Should We Do to Protect Our Eye Health?

Turkish Ophthalmological Association President Prof. Dr. İzzet Can offered the following recommendations to protect our eye health:

• Eye examinations must be performed before school for newborns and children aged 1.5-3 years, and regular eye examinations should be conducted at 1- or 2-year intervals.
• Starting from age 35, regular eye examinations at 1- or 2-year intervals must absolutely not be neglected.
• With consideration for pandemic conditions, time must definitely be spent outdoors and physical exercise must be prioritized.
• While working at the computer, eyes should blink frequently to keep the eye surface moisturized.
• If much time is spent in front of screens, the focus should be changed frequently in accordance with the globally accepted 20-20-20 rule. That is, every 20 minutes, for 20 seconds, the eyes should be rested by looking 20 feet or 6 meters or further away.
• Attention should be paid to a low-carbohydrate Mediterranean-style diet rich in Omega-3.
• Smoking should be avoided.