Myopia Epidemic in Covid-19 pandemic: Dr. Gulani Interviewed in The NEWS!
#Myopia, #ShortSightedness #NearSightedness
Nearsightedness is a refractive error (Glasses Prescription/Contact lens prescription) that makes people blurry in the distance. This common vision refractive error is further detailed by Dr. Gulani and his advanced diagnostics to better study and then uniquely approach with a custom designed surgery for your individual eyes.
As one of the most prevalent vision errors, nearly 40 percent of the population in the United States is diagnosed with myopia (nearsightedness). Myopia is a refractive error that leads to problems with an inability to focus on objects or images that are not close to the eye. This means that far-away objects or focal points may appear blurry, or the person with myopia might lack the ability to perceive them at all. People who have myopia can generally see pretty well with near vision but have problems seeing far-away items, such as road signs while driving, chalkboards at work or in the classroom, or movie screens.
Dr. Gulani recently taught at the National conference for Eye surgeons and is scheduled to teach at the International conference in Asia-Pacific region on this very hot topic.
After advanced diagnostics and clinically evaluating your eyes, Dr. Gulani classifies Myopia into:
- Mild
- Moderate
- Extreme
Additionally, he looks for causative anatomy to further break it down to:
- Corneal (when shape of your cornea is very curved/ steep)
- Axial: When length of your eye is longer than normal
- Lenticular (when your natural crystalline lens contributes to it).
First and foremost, having nearsightedness is not the end of the world. It can be corrected.
Dr.Gulani has pioneered Next Generation Lasik techniques that are safer and there is no cutting or pain, this No-Blades LaZrPlastique surgery along with technological advances like ICL etc can fix nearsightedness of all severities.
Todays’ News was about how to prevent increase in incidence of Myopia.
Approximately 1.37 billion students which represents nearly 80% of the student population in over 130 countries globally are impacted. The prevalence of myopia is estimated to rise from 20% to 50% by the year 2050 if nothing is done to prevent this.
Increased screen time on gadgets including smart phones, laptops and TV screens along with near work and lack of exposure to sunlight have contributed to this increase.
Gulani Classification of Covid Pandemic Restrictions and Impact on Vision:
- DIRECT Impact
- INDIRECT Impact :
- Visual
- Physical
- Psychological
Direct impact is ocular inflammation and allergic reactions from the infection itself.
The indirect impact is from COVID restrictions like avoiding outdoors, increased Zoom meetings, lack of normal walking commute and emotional burden of being away from loved ones and unable to care for elderly parents etc.
Nearsightedness in children is on the rise due to increased screen time not only for mandatory school classes but lack of demarcation between scholastic and entertaining ventures online.
Prevention is the need of the hour as Dr.Gulani advise din this news segment that we must be vigilant and aware of this malady and hence decrease screen time from all gadgets including excessive TV and also remember to take frequent breaks. Take every opportunity we can to spend time in the Sun (of course within State mandates of COID-19 restrictions and precautions). Sunlight contains violet light which some research shows to decrease the incidence of Myopia.
And finally, if you do have nearsightedness, you can be helped. As a pioneer, having honed LASIK surgery over three decades to this non-cutting, micron-precise, laser-elegant procedure – LaZrPlastique®, Dr. Gulani has minimized potential downsides of Lasik surgery while maximizing vision outcomes – truly custom-designing the procedure then to each eye.
LaZrPlastique® is usually performed and completed within minutes in our elegant and advanced Laser Suite using the Excimer Laser with its micron-precise invisible laser beam which sculpts (shapes) the cornea without any pain with numbing drops and majority of patients notice vision improvement even while still under the Laser thus addressing all levels of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia (reading glasses ).