By Olatunji Gbenga

Two Nigerian companies, Niteo Limited and Optima Limited, have joined the rest of the world to celebrate World Sight Day, with the theme ‘Love Your Eyes,’ in Lagos recently.

As part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), the companies used the occasion to do free eye screening, distribute eyeglasses and medication to over 200 residents.

Dayo Afolabi, one of the managing partners at Niteo Limited and Optima Limited, said the eyes are really an important aspect of life, the gateway to the external world and it is very important to take care of our eyes and that is why the world dedicated a day to talk about peoples’ sight.

“We enjoined residents in Oregun, Ikeja, to come for free screening of their eyes and hopefully some people have good eye sight and they may not need glasses or medications to use but peradventure that is not the case, it will be good for people to know and prevent it on time.”

He disclosed some of the common problems associated with the eyes include refractive errors such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. Other issues related to age is age-related macular degeneration, and when people grow older, they cannot read small prints, which happen with old age, cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma etc.

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He enjoins people to take care of their eyes by observing the following steps, people should do eye screening and with that they will be able to know what the problem is and the right solutions can also be applied.

“They should maintain their blood sugar so that they don’t become diabetic as diabetics leads to other issues such as high blood sugar will also affects their eyes. People can maintain their blood sugar by stop drinking alcohol or reduce their alcohol intake. They should stay away from starchy food as they grow older and they should eat a lot of vegetables, fruits to be able to maintain their blood sugar.

“If your family in the time past, someone has glaucoma, the likelihood that somebody in that lineage will have glaucoma may be high. People should do screening which will help them detect these issues with their eyes early enough and they can correct it.” 

Afolabi advised people to give their eyes some rest if they are always on the computer, phone or television for too long. “People should wash their hands regularly to avoid germs or bacteria from affecting your eyes.”

One of the health personnel that screened residents advised people to do regular eye checks; “check their blood pressure, sugar level as all these things have a relationship with their vision.  As we celebrate World Sight Day, we should also help ourselves by having knowledge and awareness of the eyes that will better our vision. 

Also, a beneficiaries, Mrs Felicia Ubani, who received eye glasses after the screening said, “I feel very good for the opportunity of participating in this free eye screening. I was taught a lot of things which I didn’t know initially. I am going to use the eye glasses given to me, as it will correct my sight. I commend the organisers for this kind of programme as it will help the less privilege have the opportunity of benefiting from these gestures.”