The 'eyes' have it

Pardon the pun, but the phrase “the ayes have it” becomes the “eyes have it!”

It is because the eye, as they say, is the “mirror of the soul.” Someone even called it “the jewel of the body.”

There is no doubt that the eye is an all important organ of the body. The light goes out when you lose your vision. There is a great contrast between one who has the gift of sight and the one who is sightless - or blind.

No wonder the miracles of Jesus as recorded in the Scriptures consistently began with the phrase: “and the blind can see, then the lame can walk!”

Many years ago, well-to-do Filipinos who had eye problems sought the help of eye doctors abroad.

And in the old days, Doña Teodora Alonzo Rizal relied on her son, national hero Dr. Jose Rizal to treat her eye defect.

Today, a high-technology eye surgery is making waves in the Philippines.

This is the LASIK surgery. It’s the acronym for Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomilieusis, a blade-less surgical procedure that corrects hyperopia (farsightedness), myopia (nearsightedness) and astigmatism.

It does this by reshaping the cornea with the use of laser. Bloodless and painless, the procedure is finished in just a few minutes. More importantly, recovery is almost instantaneous. Patients can usually go back to their normal routine the very next day.

This is done on their eyes so they can stop wearing glasses or contact lenses and lead normal, more active lives.

 You no longer have to go abroad to undergo this revolutionary refractive procedure. There is now a modern, well-equipped eye care center in the country that does LASIK surgery as well as the best US eye hospitals at just about half the cost! The American Eye Center (AEC) immediately comes to mind. Its team of doctors has performed 30,000 LASIK procedures already, and they are still counting.

This Center opened its second branch in Makati’s Greenbelt 5 recently. The first is in Shangri-La Mall.

Dr. Jack Arroyo, the Center’s chief executive officer, performed the first LASIK surgery in the Philippines in 1995. Having done over 20,000 LASIK surgeries since then, he is undeniably the most experienced refractive expert in the country. By the way, Dr. Arroyo is an esteemed nephew of Sen. Joker Arroyo.

“There is no need for anyone in the country to go to the United States for refractive surgery,” he says. “Our ophthalmologists at AEC can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the best in the world.”

Helping Dr. Arroyo run AEC are three other senior partners: Dr. Benjamin Cabrera, the Center’s COO; Dr. Cesar Espiritu, AEC’s chief medical officer and president of the Cornea Club of the Philippines; and Dr. Victor Caparas, AEC’s chief finance officer and chairman of Medical City’s ophthalmology department. They lead a team of 14 other specialists who provide medical and surgical services at the Center. Aside from their AEC practice, these doctors also teach at the University of the Philippines, Ateneo and other residency programs.

The Center was established in 1995 at the old Medical City in Pasig. Then the doctors and their modern facilities moved to Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong in 2000 where it grew from a LASIK-refractive facility to a fully operational stand-alone diagnostic, therapeutic and ambulatory surgical center capable of performing cataract, glaucoma, retina, muscle, corneal transplant and oculoplastic surgeries.   

Complementing the Center is SPEX, a modern optical shop that is owned and managed by the father-and-son tandem of Dr. Gil Divinagracia and Dr. Timothy John Divinagracia. SPEX offers a wide range of lenses and spectacles, including top-of-the-line signature brands. Call it a one stop for the most reliable and the best eye care in the country — and you can clearly see that you are right.

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On another front, the 7th National Nutrition Survey (2008) of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology shows that a significant number of Filipinos suffer from hunger and malnutrition. As the World Food Summit defines food security — that of a country’s population having access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet the dietary needs and food preferences of a healthy and active lifestyle — the Philippines is food insecure. This is why the government is constantly seeking and striving to meet the global standard of the food sector. Helping achieve this is the Accelerated Hunger-Mitigation Program (AHMP) and the Medium-Term Philippine Plan of Action for Nutrition (MTPPAN), a lead program of the Arroyo Administration that is overseen by the National Nutrition Council (NNC), whose board chair is the health secretary.

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On still another front, your child may win the chance of a lifetime to experience the 2010 FIFA World Cup live on the pitch in South Africa. This is made possible by your child’s joining a Sony Ericsson video competition; if he wins, he will be the country’s first FIFA flag bearer to a FIFA World Cup match in July. This will be the first time the country will participate in the global sports event.

The competition is open to Filipino children aged 10-16 years old to creatively answer in a 30-60 second video, “Why I deserve to win the Sony Ericsson Search for the FIFA World Cup flag bearer.” The contestant may act, dance, illustrate, sing, recite something from Shakespeare, or perform a special talent, or antic, with friends and relatives joining in the fun, into a video. The video is sent to www.clickthecity.com/sonyericssonfifa. Deadline is March 25, 2010.

Starting March 28, 2010, five videos will be shortlisted for a new and final round of voting. The five finalists will each win the Sony Ericsson Kita, the gesture gaming phone wonder with 5-megapixel camera, photo geo-tagging, Net access, high quality media player and stereo speakers.

Sony Ericsson will let the public decide which child should carry the FIFA flag before thousands of spectators around the world in one of international sports’ most exciting events.

“Sony Ericsson was designated an official FIFA World Cup partner in 2008, allowing us this tremendous opportunity to participate in this unique way. This will be the first time for the Philippines to participate in a FIFA World Cup event so we are inviting Filipino children to try out and give it their best,” said Dennis Manzano, Sony Ericsson general manager.

The winner, together with his parent or guardian, will fly to South Africa complete with hotel accommodations and pocket money. At the semi-finals, the winner will walk the pitch with other young flag bearers and watch a thrilling FIFA World Cup semi-finals match firsthand.

Visit www.clickthecity.com/sonyerics-sonfifa to learn more. Registered voters on the site also get a chance to win the exclusive Sony Ericsson Team Pilipinas shirts. The winner will be announced on April 20.

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