Our eyes are the windows to the world

We should take care of them especially those of our children

I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines certain concerns relating to the increase in cases seen by the Ophthalmology Department of the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital (MCMH). These cases are a result of serious trauma to our children’s eyes with very unfavorable prognosis in the majority of the times leading to irreversible damage and even blindness.{{more}}

Today we will concentrate on the necessity of elevating the awareness of parents, guardians, grandparents, teachers and friends of taking care of our children’s eyes. Until our children reach adulthood they have the right and necessity to enjoy a wide variety of games in order to liberate a bit of the excess energy that they possess. We, on the other hand, are obliged to warn them and protect them from the possible danger of playing with sticks, stones, pencils, balls and even PELLET GUNS!! which are capable of accidentally producing irreversible damage.

I could mention some cases seen by us in children between the ages of two to six years in a time frame of less than one year with serious injuries to the cornea, traumatic cataracts, retinal detachment and irreparable ocular damage, whilst the vision of others has been miraculously saved due to our prompt and expert attention, However I will limit myself to just expressing my deepest concerns as we try to win this battle.

It is indeed a sad situation to watch a child grow accompanied by visual limitations due to accidents that are in most cases easily preventable; how about if we all strive to do our best to prevent such from occurring?

All of the traumas suffered by our eyes caused by different substances whether physical, chemical or mechanical are potentially dangerous to our vision, an indispensable organ for our development and incorporation into an active society.

Dr Pedro Suarez

Consultant Ophthalmologist MCMH