Our aging eyes

"There is no escape from this reality. Once you are 40, the natural tendency is for the eyes to need special care like the use of eyeglasses for reading. Then, there is surgery for cases that require immediate medical attention. If you have an aging body, then you also have aging eyes," says Dr Noel Chua, director of St. Luke’s International Eye Institute, which has done more than 40,000 procedures since the 90s.

In the early 40s, ophthalmology was a mere section in what was then known as the EENT (eye, ear, nose and throat) department but due to the various diagnostic and technological advances in eye care, it has become a full grown institute in 1990, staffed by a multi-disciplinary team of specialists who have trained in the best eye centers in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.

Aside from treating patients with vision problems, together with the Department of Health, the International Eye Institute aims to educate the Filipinos on proper eye care.

In much more developed countries, a complete eye examination is given to every pre-school child. Much more has to be done in a country like the Philippines where there are only 1,400 eye specialists with 70 to 80 percent of them in urban centers.

The most common eye diseases in the country today are cataracts, corneal diseases, macular degeneration, glaucoma and conjunctivitis, which can be caused by viral or bacterial infections. But the eye disorder that will eventually affect almost 100 percent of the population is called presbyopia.

Dr. Ruben Lim Bon Siong, head of St. Luke’s Vision Laser Center, defines presbyopia as an ocular condition characterized by the progressive, age-related loss of accommodative amplitude. Accommodation is greater when one is young but decreases as one grows older.

There is the dioptric change in the power of the eye and this occurs when the curvature of the anterior and posterior lens surface increases, thus causing an increase in lens thickness. The progression starts early in life and culminates in a loss of accommodation by the age of 50.

Presently, there are several ways of managing presbyopia. First, there is the use of eyeglasses or spectacles and contact lenses. Then there are the so-called alternatives, which are conductive keratoplasty, excimer laser, and intraocular Lens.

For those having a difficult time wearing reading glasses, there is the NearVision Conductive Keratoplasty, which is the first non-laser vision procedure for the correction of presbyopia.

Controlled radio frequency energy is used to reshape the curvature of the cornea. When the shape is changed, light can be refocused on the correct part of the eye.

A "blended vision" is created, improving a person’s ability to focus on near objects without sacrificing distance vision in the treated eye. This makes it easier for the eye to adjust to two separate images. Only the non-dominant eye is treated with CK, which makes it slightly near-sighted.

One does not have to check into the hospital to have the procedure done. The whole process takes about three to five minutes and does not involve any cutting. An eyedrop anesthesia is applied to the eye to be treated and is virtually pain-free. The results are immediate and the patient need not wear a patch.

However, not everyone is eligible to have the procedure. A rigid pre-operative screening of candidates is done. One should be over the age of 40, wearing reading glasses, have refractive error between -0.50 and +1.0D, no significant change in vision for one year, and has no chronic eye disorders. For women, they should not be pregnant nor are they nursing mothers.

"It’s not too late to practice proper eye care," says Chua. For starters, one should not buy reading glasses off the shelf. Then, if one uses the computer extensively, have five- to 10-minute intervals for the eyes to rest. One should work in an adequately lighted room, not too strong that will cause glare.

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For more information, call the St. Luke’s International Eye Institute at 723-9517, 727-5422 or 727-5459.