DR. FELIX OLAFISOYE
Knowledge is power. Knowledge is wealth. Knowledge seems to be everything. Little wonder we pay so much to achieve knowledge. No wonder we spend so much to send our children to the best of schools. We so much seek after knowledge but how many of us have enough knowledge?
People say knowledge is power and wealth. This I quite agree with but I must add that knowledge is also health. Infact, knowledge is life. Lack of knowledge could have so disastrous consequences. It could lead to death.
The profound need to maintain vision has drawn me into publishing magazines on visual care. I am very passionate about the eye and I treasure my patients' eyes. I am particularly pained when I see people going blind due to ignorance. Ignorance is no crime they say, but ignorance is no excuse under law. The blame lies on our faulty health care system in Nigeria. The fault lies on our eye care professionals including me, who have done little or nothing to educate the public. Our professionals thrive and feed fat on public ignorance.
SUPREME VISION EYE MAGAZINE was launched 2years ago. The first edition was released same year. This is the second edition. This second edition is quite loaded. The topics were drawn from professional experiences and encounters with patients over the years. This is an avenue to provide some answers to those mind bugling questions on eye health.
Today, Computer technology and other innovations are the best things that have ever happened to human race. The computer age has come to stay in our lives. Everything we do today is computer based. Our offices, homes and schools are loaded with various types of computer and some people work on them for hours. Majority of computer users complain of one eye problem or the other after working on computer. This problem is called Computer Vision Syndrome. This edition will assist computer users on ways to solve this syndrome.
Right and adequate nutrition can have direct impact upon vision. It can prevent and reverse visual problems. Good nutrition has general impact on the body. Many people do not eat good food not because of poverty but due to lack of awareness on the proper nutrition. Most diseases, including that of the eye, could be prevented simply by eating the right food. We have addressed this in our first and maiden edition but was not exhaustive. We have decided to continue on this topic in this second edition.
You are a shepherd of your body and the guardian of your vision. Most diseases are self-afflicted. Our social habits, belief and ignorance are basis for most diseases suffered by people. Social habits like smoking and drinking have become a menace that no country in the world could find solution yet. Today, we just have to live with them and their accompanying damages to our health. Thousands have died from smoking and alcohol consumption. This menace has impoverished many homes around the world.
We know the factual truth. The truth is; they are dangerous to our health but we just have to live with this addiction. But how many of these facts are you aware of? How dangerous are these two social vices to our eyes? The Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria warns that smokers are liable to die young: But how serious is this slogan? This edition deals decisively with effects of alcohol and cigarette on our eyes.
In Ayurvedic medicine, Light or sun is regarded as fire because it damages eye tissues. The eyes have to neutralize fire, that is, the sun and in doing this, so much damage is done to the eyes. Actually, nature did not intend for humans to be exposed to so much UV light. The sun is the enemy the eye cannot live with or live without. The eye needs light for proper vision and excess of it can damage the eye. We wander daily under the sun without knowing the danger the sun pose to our health particularly the eye and skin. People living in the tropics are particularly exposed to so much Ultraviolet radiations from the sun. It is possible to control or eliminate many of the factors that contribute to the development of serious eye diseases. One of those factors is the sun. Cataracts are partly caused by damage from excessive exposure to sunlight. The free radicals produced by sunlight UV radiation cause the proteins in the eye's lens to deteriorate, clump together and harden into a cataract. Wearing sun lenses that protect your eyes against UV light therefore, is one step you can take to help avoid developing cataracts. This is why we have dedicated a full topic to sunshade in this particular edition. This edition has also thrown so much light on the dangers pose by the sun to our eye and how these dangers can be averted.
To many Nigerians, health is of secondary importance. This is far worse among the elites. Car, food, expensive personal effects and businesses have taken precedence over health. People go to doctor only when they are really sick and dying. This has made medical treatment so difficult in Nigeria and reduced life expectancy. Illness does not develop overnight. Most diseases develop gradually with its accompanying symptoms. Symptoms are signs of warning that all is not well with our body. Therefore, the importance of yearly routine eye test and general medical check up cannot be overemphasized. It saves time, money, pains and life.
This edition will throw much light on the importance of yearly routine eye check up. Why do you need regular eye check? What are the body diseases that can be detected by mere routine eye check up? Your eye-care specialist can pick up various body diseases by mere looking into your eyes. They can tell you what is going on in the body that you are not aware of. That yearly eye check ups have saved so many lives that would have been lost unexpectedly. That diabetes and hypertension you have could make you lose your sight irreversibly.
But quick diagnosis and intervention could save your sight and even life. Each part of the eye can provide a different type of information about the patient's health and even life style too. A good eye care practitioner should be able to look into your eyes and understand the patient's state of health.
Majority of patients go to doctors not knowing the truth. They go to consultants to seek the truth about their problems. But most patients sometimes end up still not knowing the truth, even after consultation. Most of our doctors do not practice what I could best describe as interactive medicine. Most of our doctors are in an undue haste and do not communicate with their patients enough. Most of us have forgotten that healing a patient requires both drugs and patients cooperation (psychology). The patient and the doctor must share a common believe on the patient's illness. This is the only way a cure could be made possible. Doctor and patient need to dialogue. In medicine, this is regarded as Complementary or while in some quarters, it is called Integrative medicine. However, whatever it is called, healing I know requires the doctor and the patient: a dialogue. I advise every patient who goes out there to consult doctors for one reason or the other to dialogue and insist on knowing the root cause of their problem, treatment plan and future prevention if any.
Most people go for eye examination without knowing what to expect. Some eye doctor only perform sight test and not eye examination. Today, in Nigeria, some hungry eye doctors go about under the impression of providing eye screening to the public. Their targets are mostly government establishments or rich private companies that can afford their glasses. Eye examinations cannot be carried out outside an eye clinic set up and it cannot be done in a jiffy. The eye is a delicate organ that cannot be handled in a hurry. The public should be wary of these clinics or money-making quacks. This edition will enlighten you on what to expect when you go for an eye examination in a professional eye clinic.
It is also time for you to start eyeing your child’s future sight. Your child having a perfect future vision starts right from today, now that they still have flexible vision. This edition provide you with some knowledge that will assist you in helping your child develop good eye sight and also teach you how to handle emergencies.
As an eye care practitioner, my job is to treat your eye when there is a problem but I desire for more than this. I desire to see your vision protected and maintained. Good eyesight plays an important role in your mobility and the enjoyment of life. So the importance of this magazine to your sight cannot be underestimated.
Supreme Vision magazine is not just another magazine selling on the street. It is a magazine designed for public enlightenment on visual health. It is all about vision. All medical terms have been simplified or carefully avoided to provide an easy understanding for the layman. In-order to make your reading fun, a glossary of terms is attached for those medical jargons that are unavoidable.
Reading, they say, is fun. Nevertheless, the importance of this magazine to you is not just for the reading but also to digest, assimilate and implement the content religiously. The magazine is to empower you to become the custodian of your eye. You don't have to go blind because of ignorance. But mind you, this magazine is not a substitute for medical consultation and advice. Please, contact your eye doctor for consultation and professional advice on regular basis.
Till next edition, enjoy your reading!
Dr. Felix Olafisoye
Editor
Supreme Vision Eye Magazine
Abuja
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