Hello Scientists,
It is a beautiful day today here in Ghana and another wonderful opportunity to learn and share something regarding our ocular health. I know it is been a while since I got the opportunity to share with you, recently I have been more about the eye care series but today I wanted to use this opportunity to share something with us all.
So on the 1st of May which was an international holiday celebrating workers, The Hive Ghana project which I form as part of the team had a successful health screening exercise that was fully sponsored by Hive. I alongside a team of hivers and a team of Optometrists had a free eye screening for the locals of Agona-Bedomase here in the Ashanti Region and after the event, I noticed in the analysis report that more than 80% of the people that came around presented with either allergic or vernal conjunctivitis.
Again, more than half of the geriatrics that came for the exercise had some form of cataract in the eye, some due to trauma in their youth which they didn't really manage well, some trauma from the work on the farm during their old age and some due to the use of some herbal preparations on the eye. Thankfully everyone got a solution in one way or the other.
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Those whose issues could be solved with medication were given free drugs, those whose issues could be managed with spectacles were also given free glasses, all fully sponsored by Hive, and those who needed surgical intervention were referred to Westphalian Medical Center where I work so that some subsidiary for the management could be looked at.
Allergic/Vernal Conjunctivitis and Why?
And so just as the media station that covered the program asked me in an interview, "Why are most of these individuals presenting with this condition and what accounts for that", I am sure that the lot of us after reading about the prevalence would be wondering why too and how it could possibly be so and the answer is quite simple.
The majority of the human population tends to have some form of reaction to dust or sand, 9 out of 10 people will have their eyes itching if they come into contact with dust in the atmosphere, this would most likely spark some form of inflammatory reaction on the eye and with the conjunctiva (hence the term conjunctivitis which translates as inflammation of the conjunctiva) resulting in some form of discomfort which could be in the form of pain, redness, tearing, etc.
The more severe form of this condition which comes about after a prolonged rubbing of the eye due to itching is vernal conjunctivitis which is mostly seen in children. By this time the eye would have become brown and discolored with the corneal having limbal pigmentations, some even presenting with haziness. It could be disturbing and could affect the corneal integrity if not dealt with.
Now we realized that the town had more dusty parts as compared to the tarred roads and so the probability that there would be dust in the atmosphere when there is a mild wind is high, again, looking at the town, kids would have not where else to play than in the dust, the chances that kids would have access to video games is perhaps about 0.5% and so indoor activities will be a no here, which means that these kids would probably be rubbing their eyes more and daily and thus higher chances of escalating to vernal conjunctivitis.
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Again, we learned from the assemblyman (local representative of the government sort of) that they are now trying to put up a community health center which means that the nearest health facility is nowhere near the town and so kids would probably continue to rub the eyes than seek eye care, thus also escalating the situation or condition. And so our presence there was very much appreciated and a great time to educate and learn.
What we shared, What they learned
And so during the health talk before the program started, I got the opportunity to not only advise them on the importance of eyecare even if it means covering some distances to see a professional, it may save your sight and you will be grateful in the end. I also talk to them about the use of cold compress to ease itchiness when things get bad or unbearable and the need to restrict gaming in the dust or games that get dust into the atmosphere.
We talked about personal and ocular hygiene, frequent hand washing, washing of the face, the use of clean water to remove foreign bodies when things fall on or into the eye, and the need to avoid blowing air into the eyes of one another. We wrapped it up by talking about the avoidance of herbal preparations on the eye.
Learning is an everyday thing and so even if you do not find yourself in an area where these apply to you, it is knowledge that you can pass to your friend or neighbor, you never know where you may find yourself tomorrow. I do hope that this helps a dear reader learn a thing or two though and please do well reach out if you have any questions.
Conclusion
When in doubt always speak to a professional, and have regular health care examinations, whenever you hear of these free screening programs do well to take advantage of them because you never know the good that may come out of it.
Do well to avoid over-the-counter medication without a comprehensive examination or prescription from your healthcare provider, it is a form of drug abuse and you could damage your health by doing so. Once again, thanks for reading and for your time, I wish you a wonderful time.
Further Reading
Mueller A. (2022). Allergic Conjunctivitis: An Update. Handbook of experimental pharmacology, 268, 95–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/164_2021_491.
Villegas, B. V., & Benitez-Del-Castillo, J. M. (2021). Current Knowledge in Allergic Conjunctivitis. Turkish journal of ophthalmology, 51(1), 45–54. https://doi.org/10.4274/tjo.galenos.2020.11456.
Jun, J., Bielory, L., & Raizman, M. B. (2008). Vernal conjunctivitis. Immunology and allergy clinics of North America, 28(1), 59–vi. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iac.2007.12.007.
Singhal, D., Sahay, P., Maharana, P. K., Raj, N., Sharma, N., & Titiyal, J. S. (2019). Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis. Survey of ophthalmology, 64(3), 289–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.survophthal.2018.12.001
It's impressive to see the locals turn out this way, it indeed shows how much help is needed here, what you are doing is so spectacular. Kudos to you brother, as well as the team.
Thank you senior, the managers thus @mcsamm and @collinz are doing amazing, i have a great team to work with and i am happy to be part of them
Thank you for a great post.
Thank you too
Greetings Hivers! A hug from the other half of the world, from Venezuela!
The ophthalmological study from an early age is vital, as well as in adulthood. Allergic conjunctivitis is very common today, children play with a lot of dust, and adults are subjected to monoxide and carbon dioxide emitted by large industries, on a small scale by cars, burning garbage, etc.
Greetings bro, thanks for passing through, it is indeed true and we got to be careful out there.
Traducido con ChatGPT / Translated with ChatGPT via https://hivetranslator.onrender.com
Thank you
Personal hygiene is indeed important in prevention of viral conjunctivitis, blowing air into another's eye is also not good!
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for reading and for your time please
You are welcome
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