Master of Ceremonies Judith Edmonds welcomed everyone to
the Pattaya City Expats Club meeting on Sunday, January 31, at Henry J.
Beans. After the usual announcements, she introduced the guest speaker, Dr.
Maria Abalon, Doctor of Optometry and managing director of EuroOptic, and
thanked her for bringing staff and equipment to the meeting to give everyone
an opportunity for free eye tests. Dr. Maria, who is originally from the
Philippines, said her topic was Vision Screening with Aging Eyes.
MC
for the day, Judith Edmonds introduces Dr. Maria Abalon to tell PCEC members
about ‘Vision Screening with Aging Eyes’.
She started by noting that of the five senses, sight handles 87 percent of a
person’s sensory perception. She said that it is important to keep eyeglass
prescriptions current and to include eye examinations by an ophthalmologist
during regular physical checkups. Although optometrists are not
ophthalmologists, Dr. Maria said they are trained to look for signs of eye
disease as part of their examination. She also said that for a person’s
first eye examination, they should have it done by an ophthalmologist so
that eye disease can be ruled out as the reason for needing corrective
lenses.
The most common vision problem is Presbyopia. She said it is a part of the
aging process. As one gets older, it becomes more difficult to focus on near
objects. Dr. Maria then explained how corrective lenses are used. She noted
that single lenses are not always the best, especially if one needs
correction for both near and far distances. One can also get bifocal lenses,
which can also be inconvenient if you need to see something at an
intermediate distance; for example a computer screen. Currently, progressive
lenses are available to correct vision at any distance; all within a single
lens.
Dr. Maria then described three common age related diseases that a person
should be aware of. In describing these diseases, she showed pictures of how
a scene looks with normal vision when compared to one with the eye disease.
Cataracts was the first eye disease she talked about. It is a clouding that
develops in the crystalline lens of the eye or in its envelope. It varies in
degree from being slight to complete opacity and obstruction of the passage
of light. Cataracts progresses slowly to cause vision loss and is
potentially blinding if left untreated.
Dr
Maria gives a free eye test to a lucky PCEC member.
The second disease she discussed was diabetic retinopathy. This is damage to
the retina caused by complications with diabetes and can eventually lead to
blindness. Because of the diabetes, new blood vessels in the eye may bleed
and leave a few specks of blood or spots floating in a person’s field of
vision. The spots often go away after a few hours, but can be followed
within days or weeks by a greater leakage, which blurs vision. All people
with diabetes mellitus are at risk. The longer a person has diabetes, the
higher the risk of developing some ocular problem. Dr. Maria said that eye
care professionals will look at the retina for early signs of the disease.
Should it be suspected, there are treatments that can be applied so that one
does not go blind.
The third common disease is macular degeneration. It usually affects older
adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of a person’s field of
vision. It can make it difficult or impossible to read or recognize faces.
Usually enough peripheral vision remains to allow other activities of daily
life. She explained that macular degeneration can be either “dry” or “wet.”
Aided with pictures, she concluded her presentation by describing some
common eye diseases that are prevalent in a tropical climate. A pterygium is
a fleshy growth that invades the cornea and a pinguecula is a yellowish
patch or bump on the white of the eye, most often on the side closest to the
nose. These two conditions are most likely caused by prolonged exposure to
ultraviolet and infrared radiation from sunlight. Dr. Maria said that a
person should protect their eyes when in the sunlight by using sun glasses
that offer protection from this radiation. She pointed out that the cheap
sunglasses sold on the beach most likely will not have such protection, even
if so labeled.
Another condition is “dry eyes.” This can result when there is an imbalance
in the tear system that lubricates the eyes. Dr. Maria said that although
dry eyes can cause itching, one should not rub their eyes. They should use
eye drops or ointments designed to lubricate the eye.
She then answered several questions from the audience; many about adequate
eye protection from sunlight. Some of the audience said that they had tried
progressive lenses, but could not adjust to them. Dr. Maria said that most
people do adjust to using this type of lens, but agreed that a few may not
be able to do so.
Judith Edmonds then updated everyone on upcoming events and called on Harry
“Sig” Sigworth to conduct the often humorous Open Forum, which is always
informative as everyone has an opportunity to ask and answer questions about
living in Thailand and Pattaya in particular.
