KATH screens journalists’ eyes

People with eye deficiencies like blurred vision have been sternly cautioned against purchasing glasses at optometric shops to help solve their eye problems without prior approval by a professionally trained optician.

Dr. Doreen Adebi Frimpong of the Eye Clinic of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Kumasi said the dangerous practice had been going on for some time and it was high time it was brought to a halt.

She warned that people with eye deficiencies might end up aggravating their eye conditions if they chose to go for any treated glasses in a shop without consulting an eye doctor first.

“Don’t think all blurred vision cases can be treated by the glasses you buy at the shop and put on,” she stated, adding, “Visit the hospital for proper medical care before you put on any spectacles.”

Dr. Frimpong therefore admonished the public to always seek medical advice from a professionally trained eye doctor whenever they detected any deficiency in their eyes and shun self medication.

She gave the advice when the KATH Eye Clinic organized a one-day free eye screening for media practitioners in Kumasi on Saturday. It was part of activities marking this year’s Glaucoma Day.

Dr. Frimpong stated that Glaucoma usually didn’t present symptoms, warning the disease could lead to irreversible blindness and asked the public to regularly visit the hospital to have their eyes screened.

She mentioned family history, age, refractive errors like short sightedness and far sightedness and the people from the black race as being prone to some type of Glaucoma.

Since the cause of the disease was not known, Dr. Frimpong emphasized the need for the public to continually visit the hospital to screen their eyes, stressing that early detection and prompt medication were the surest ways to fight Glaucoma.

She called for support from well-to-do individuals and corporate institutions to help her outfit to sustain the free eye screening outreach programmes, noting that support for their good works was not forthcoming.

Saturday’s free eye screening exercise was themed ‘The World is a Wonder to See Every Day-Don’t let Glaucoma Get in the Way,’ and it was sponsored by Nwabiagye Rural Bank.

All the media practitioners that benefitted from the free eye screening were first educated on Glaucoma, especially how dangerous it was and what they could do to avert being taken unawares by the disease.