Eye Problems

Good Habits

· Never use Kajal or any such thing on your eyes. They can cause trachoma
· Never apply any eye drops yourself without doctor’s advice
· Avoid watching TV. If you can’t avoid, watch it from a good distance
· If you are using a computer, take a break of 10 minutes after every one hour
· If you are after 40, have a periodical check up including for glaucoma
· If you are under going any operation, never have it for both the eyes together

Home Medicines

We would now see some of our eye related problems and home medicines for the same. Don’t put anything into your eye, even if I say it. Eyes are a very delicate organ and we should do anything only in consultation with an eye specialist.

Burning eyes

1 Mash ripe banana with a little curd and water and take twice a day

2 Take equal quantities of fenugreek powder and shikakai powder
Wash hair frequently

3 Grind an onion with 1 tsp black pepper and ½ cup khuskhus in milk
Apply this paste on the head
Allow it to dry for 20 minutes and wash in warm water

4 Take juice of bottle gourd and mix with sesame oil at 4:1 ratio
Heat till the moisture is evaporated completely
Once cool, use it for massing the head

5 Apply castor oil on the eye lashes before going to sleep

Cataract

As we get old, our eye lens gradually thickens and loses its ability to focus.

1 In early stages of cataract, soak 10 almonds overnight in 1 cup water
In morning, remove the skin, grind with 10 pepper corns in 1 cup water
Drink after adding sugar to taste, once a day

2 Have two glasses of carrot juice daily

3 Take every morning a mixture - 1/3 cup each of carrot juice, onionjuice and dahi added with ¼ tsp of powdered pepper

Glaucoma

Our eye balls have a pressure which ranges from 10 to 20 mm of Hg. If this increases and goes beyond 24 mm, the condition is called glaucoma. Such increase in pressure is accompanied by terrible head ache around the temple.

Glaucoma causes gradual reduction in vision. Initially the patient may have difficulty in detecting road signals and would need to frequently change his head position. There would be frequent change of lens number for reading, seeing haloes around light, pain and redness in eyes and diminition of vision in evening hours. Gradually the vision may be reduced to making sight similar to seeing through tubes. Since it occurs very gradually over five to ten years, by the time the symptoms appear the patient might have already lost half the eye sight in one eye and half of it in the other eye. After the age of forty, it is better that every person periodically undergoes the ‘field test’ in eye sight for checking on glaucoma.

Many people believe that drinking huge amount of water in the morning is good for cleansing one’s body. One opinion is that more of water taken so suddenly in the morning raises eye pressure and could result in glaucoma in people.


The Home medicine for glaucoma is “Mix equal quantities of juice of carrot and arugampl and drink once a day.”

Other eye problems

In case of children, have their first eye check up done when they are 3 to 4 years. And thereafter have the have eye check up repeated every two years. In case you find the following symptoms, then too have their eyes checked up:

ü The child does not evince keen interest in outdoor games
ü The child is not interested to interact with people socially
ü An otherwise normal child, performs poorly at school
ü The child’s grades in the school are coming down
ü Child shows poor interest in work where visual concentration is needed
ü Child complains of head ache, blurred vision, eye strain, not being able to see black board, etc
ü The child has problems of watering of the eyes or of identifying colors

If your house has a television, make sure it is at the eye level and that the viewers have a good distance of say more than 3 meters from the television and that there is adequate light in the viewing area. Also make sure that none of you watch the television for long hours.

Eye Tests

Following are the Home Eye Test methods.

Eye Test No. 1

Look at the picture eye 1 E Chart from a distance of 3 meters
You can look at it with your specs on or with plain eyes
Don’t tilt your head or squint
Cover one eye with your other palm or a paper card
Read the letters as E, M, W, Reverse E
Continue reading till last line
If you can read line 4 or lower, you are OK
Do the same with the other eye, keeping the formerly tested eye covered
If you can’t, see your eye doctor

Eye Test No. 2

Look at the grid picture eye 2 from a comfortable reading distance
You can look at it with your specs on or with plain eyes
Don’t tilt your head or squint
Cover one eye with your other palm or a paper card
Focus on the center dot
1. See whether you can see all four corners without removing your focus on the dot
2. Do all the lines appear straight and continuous?
If yes, you have passed
If the lines appear wavy or distorted, see your eye doctor
Do the test for the other also, closing the formerly tested eye


Computer diseases

The infotech industry has virtually taken over many towns and villages and use of computer in homes has already become the norm. Now lots of people sit bunched up before their computers and work or play long hours at the computer. With this sustained and prolonged sitting before computers, instances abound of such people developing physical problems as under:

· backache
· neck and shoulder problems
· pain in wrists and hands
· sometimes stiffness and cramps
· severe eye problems

People who use computers should maintain neutral posture free from awkward positions and postures and avoid bending. The precautions to be taken to avoid eye problems are as under:

· The display screen should be slightly below eye level and be 18 to 24 inches away from your face
· The character on the screen should be clearly visible. The screen should be cleared of dust frequently
· The colors selected should be easy to the eye
· Brightness and contrast should suit lighting conditions in the room
· No reflections of light should be seen on the terminal
· The users should get their vision tested periodically