Advanced eye centre to open soon

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25: The state-of-the-art four-storeyed centrally airconditioned building of Advanced Eye Centre is likely to be opened s...

CHANDIGARH, Sept 25: The state-of-the-art four-storeyed centrally airconditioned building of Advanced Eye Centre is likely to be opened soon and the proposal is under active consideration of the government, which has decided to provide advanced eye care facilities to the people of this region.

This was stated by Director, PGI, Dr B.K.Sharma, while inaugurating the National Symposium on quot;Contact Lens and Vision Correction Alternativesquot;.

The symposium dealt with the complications, solutions and precautions related with usage of contact lenses. Describing the hazards that contact lenses could pose, Dr S.K. Chopra from Christian Medical College, Ludhiana, while talking to the Newsline, said,quot; The eye8217;s cornea takes nutrition directly from air and if lens is used it cuts off the supply to the cornea.

That is the reason why no lenses should be used overnight, they should be absolutely clean or else they can lead to ulcers in the eyes and result in intense irritation.quot;

Discussing the nature of lenses, Dr E.Vaithilingam, principal of Elite School of Optometry, Madras, said, quot;When the user approaches a doctor, he should always ask for oxygen permeable lenses which allow air to enter and do not pose as a barrier. Wearing these for overnight is also not a problem, if it doesn8217;t exceed a couple of nights. It is far more safe and medically advisable although a little uncomfortable at first.quot;

Dr Aashish Bansal, from Hyderabad, told Newsline,quot; The contact lenses of the future will be placed surgically under the epithelium layer of the cornea. These synthetic cornea or lays as these are called will be permanent solution to vision problems.quot;

Talking about other methods of vision correctness, Dr Bansal said,quot;One has to be educated on Refractive surgery or lasik surgery since there are certain conditions the candidate must fulfil for this for it to be successful. For instance the age of the candidate should not be less than 20 years, thickness of cornea has to be kept in mind. Many a time unscrupulous doctors might not divulge this information.quot;

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In the post-tea session, Dr Ashok Sharma detailed procedures that the practitioners should follow in investigating the decrease in contact lens wear time. Monica Chaudhary from AIIMS, New Delhi, also discussed the procedure, nature and advantages of rigid gas permeable lenses. Towards the end of the day, the hands on workshop was conducted by Dr J.S.Saini from PGI along with B. Ramesh and Ashutosh.