Health education tool

1. Blindness
Daisy Dharmaraj MD
Dpt of Community Medicine
ACS Medical college

2. WHO definition
• Partial Blindness: Visual acuity of less
than 3/60 (Snellen) or its equivalent
(inabilty to count fingers in daylight at a
distance of 3 meters)
• Total blindness

3. Indian scenario
Source: Vision 2020 India.org
CAUSE FOR BLINDNESS
PERCENTAGE OF
CONTRIBUTION
Cataract 62.6%
Refraction Error 19.7%
Glaucoma 5.8%
Corneal pathologies 0.9%
Other Causes 11.00%

5. The commonest causes of visual
impairment are
• uncorrected refractive errors,
• cataract and
• glaucoma.
• Age related macular degeneration.

6. Epidemiological determinants
• Age
• Malnutrition
• Occupation
• Awareness
• Access to healthcare

7. Prevention of avoidable blindness
• Nutrition
• Treatment
• Control infections
• Improving safety conditions

8. Proper waste disposal
• Street waste –leaves,
paper, straw, animal
dropping
• Market waste –putrid veg
and animal matter
• Stable litter –animal
droppings and animal
feeds
• Domestic waste - ash,
rubbish, garbage
Personal Hygiene
• Wash hands often
• Daily baths
• Treatment of people with
eye infections
• Eye hygiene

9. Eye injuries
• Eye can be injured by sharp objects or
chemicals. This happens usually in
factories or homes.
• The eye gets inflamed and the other eye
can also show a similar reaction

10. Prevention and treatment
Protective equipment has to be used if
injuries are anticipated.
The injured person has to be immediately
examined by the eye doctor to see the
extent of injury. The foreign body has to be
removed.
Inflammation has to be treated carefully. The
person has to be under medical care till
s/he is absolutely safe.

11. Eye injuries

12. Cataract

13. Cataract
the lens of the eye becomes thick and less transparent.
This means that the rays of light defining the object
cannot pass through the lens as before.
Thus eyesight becomes dim. As the lens thickens further it
can burst and cause permanent damage to the eye.
The lens can easily be removed by surgery. An artificial
lens is inserted, which restores the sight.
As they don’t know about cataract or because they cannot
get medical services, thousands become blind due to
cataract

14. Glaucoma
There is constant flow of fluid in the eyes.
The fluid is secreted by glands and removed
through a duct. If there is any obstruction to
this flow, the pressure in the eye increases.
This is the commonest type of glaucoma.
This causes headache, haloes around object,
hazy vision, sudden loss of vision, nausea or
vomiting. It can cause permanent damage to
the nerves of the eyes.
The condition can arise suddenly or over the
years.(acute/ chronic)

15. Prevention and treatment
If these symptoms are experienced you
need to consult an ophthalmologist. If you
are above 50, check your eyes annually .
If discovered early, glaucoma can be treated
by medicines and/ or surgery.

16. Refractive errors
Vision is affected if the curvature of the lens in the
eye changes
SHORT SIGHT – you can clearly see only nearby
objects. As distance increases your vision is
blurred.
LONG SIGHT- you can clearly see only distant
objects. As distance decreases your vision is
blurred.
ASTIGMATISM.- Though you can see near and
far, the images are blurred

17. Correcting Refractive errors
• These can be corrected by testing your eyes at
an eye clinic and wearing appropriate glasses

18. Components for action
Primary eye care- acute conjunctivitis , trachoma,,
superficial foreign bodies, xerophthalmia)-
Promotion of personal hygiene, Sanitation etc
Secondary care – management of common blinding
conditions such as cataract, trichiasis, entropion,
ocular trauma, glaucoma etc (PHC, district hospitals,
mobile eye clinics)
Tertiary care -retinal detachment surgery, corneal
grafting,, eye banks,, rehabilitation of the blind
(In medical colleges and institutes of medicine-)

19. Other causes of blindness are
• Vit A deficiency
• Measles
• Onchocerciasis-parasitic
• Severe Conjunctivitis
• Tumours and other diseases of the eye