Eye hospitals in Chennai and elsewhere have been seeing fewer cases of eye injuries during the lockdown but some patients with serious injuries come late for treatment putting their eye sight at risk.
Among the commonest injuries is foreign body in the eye, which sticks to the cornea and can be removed only by an ophthalmologist. The foreign body could penetrate the eye and get lodged either in the lens, vitreous or the retina, requiring surgery.
Mohan Rajan, medical director of Rajan Eye Care Hospital, said all eye injuries should be referred to an ophthalmologist immediately. Almost 50% of the injuries occur at home and an estimated 90% of injuries are preventable, he said.
Amar Agarwal, chairman, Agarwal’s Eye Hospitals, said patients did not seek treatment fearing infection. He said he had treated a youth who came with a wooden piece lodged in his eye. It needed a major surgical correction due to the delay in seeking treatment. He had also treated a woman who had been injured in her eye during a domestic quarrel. Dr. Agarwal said patients need not worry about contracting infection as hospitals took utmost care to prevent spread of infection.
These doctors said they treated children being injured after playing with bow and arrows, possibly influenced by certain TV serials.
Tertiary care hospitals like Sankara Nethralaya and Aravind Eye Hospital in the city too had seen a major dip in the number of patients seeking treatment.
T.S. Surendran, vice-chairman of Sankara Nethralaya said the trauma cases were fewer during the four months of lockdown. The hospital attended to regular emergencies like retinal detachment, vitreous haemorrhage and conjunctivitis. According to him the hospital had been treating at least 10 corneal ulcers daily.
Doctors at Aravind Eye Hospital said lack of transport had prevented people from seeking treatment immediately. As a result they were sometimes unable to save the eye. “We had at least two or three such cases.”
These tertiary care hospitals which also do corneal grafts regularly are faced with a dearth of cornea as there are no guidelines for harvesting corneas from cadavers. “It is a desperate situation as we don’t have a clear guidelines on whether we can harvest cornea from cadavers. Injuries causing corneal ulceration and need corneal grafts have been difficult,” said Seema Ramakrishnan, medical consultant, cornea and refractive surgery, Aravind Eye Hospital, Chennai.
The hospital has been treating patients with eye injuries caused due to exposure to ultraviolet rays. Dr. Seema said the injury is similar to what the ophthalmologists see in welders. The new gadgets being manufactured to disinfect gadgets using ultraviolet rays are affecting the eyes of people making them, she said. “We usually see welding mechanics who come with the injury due to looking at the flame. It is called photokeratitis. Now we find it more in electricians and people who are making these units. They are not aware of how the UV rays can harm their eyes,” she said. A common problem among those infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus is conjunctivitis. But this condition is often treated as part of the infection and people do not present at eye hospitals, she added.
