Headaches can happen due to eye strain. Eyestrain happens when the eyes focus on near objects for prolonged hours which results in eye muscle fatigue. Glasses with corrective lenses help reducing eyestrain and subsequent headaches.

Our eyes behave like autofocus camera but only till age 40. After this age our eyes cannot focus at near objects as well as they did when we were young. Glasses help the eye focus at near objects. As our age increases, the near focusing capacity of our eyes decreases and the power of our glasses increases. The change in power of our glasses depends on our age, distance at which we work and duration of our work. Unfortunately, human genes and the shape of our eyeball decide whether or not a person will need corrective powered glasses or not.

A child’s eye is a growing eye and as the child grows certain dimensions of the eyes change. In the process of growth certain dimensions of the eyes change. In the process of growth certain eyes grow in length beyond normal resulting into myopia and myopia can increase till child becomes an adult (18-20 years of age), If a child has myopia, he needs to wear glasses throughout the day as he can see far off distance only with the help of glasses.

Some children’s eyes stop short of normal growth and eyeball size remains smaller than normal resulting into hypermetropia. These children have to strain their eye to see the blackboard in school and also for reading small print in the books. Some children with hypermetropia, as they grow can get freedom from glasses and some may not. Some children may suffer from a condition called astigmatism wherein the curvature of their eyes shows more than normal differences. These children do need to wear glasses or their eyes can become “lazy”.

Based on everyone’s need, different people are advised differently.

An eyedrop cannot cure any refractive errors like myopia, hypermetropia or astigmatism. Some eyedrops are used to relax the eyes in an attempt to prolong the incidence of increase in myopia. These drops are given while the child is kept under observation.

Types of lenses are monofocal or single vision (for only near vision or far vision) lenses, bifocal lenses ( for near as well as far vision). There are also progressive lenses where in one can see near, far and as well as intermediate distances. For people who are sensitive to light, one can wear photochromatic lenses where the lens becomes dark in sunlight and clear indoors. Nowadays due to common usage of electronic devices, many people experience eye strain due to exposure to blue light emitting from screens. For such people one may wear special lenses that protect the eyes from screens.

Generally progressive lenses offer better vision. They are especially useful while working on the computer. The dividing line present in bifocals is not there in progressives. However older people used to wearing bifocals may not prefer progressive as one needs to get adjusted to them.

Eyes need to be dilated when a detailed examination is necessary to look for evidence of cataract or status of cataract, diabetic retinopathy, other retina related conditions or to check the status of refraction.

A comprehensive examination may be longer as certain eye drops are put in the eye for dilation and the effect of dilation may take about 30 minutes. During a comprehensive check up, pupils need to be dilated i.e the size of the pupils increase by putting eye drops. The doctor can get a better view of the retina and back portion of the eye when pupils are dilated. The purpose of dilation is to rest the eye. The eyes do not strain to see far off or near objects. In this resting condition of the eye a patient’s refractive status is best judged.

There are options available such as contact lenses , LASIK surgery, Implantable Contact lens (ICL) & Clear Lens extraction.

Both have their sets of plus and minus points. Glasses are convenient to use as compared to contact lenses where one constantly needs to maintain hygiene while handling contact lenses. However contact lenses give better quality vision as they are on the eyes and give give better cosmetic effect.

Eyes having healthy cornea and a healthy retina are good candidates for LASIK surgery. People having very high myopia may not have enough corneal tissue to get rid of their power completely.

LASIK has evolved over many years and has proven to be safe provided certain criteria of the patient’s eyes have been evaluated satisfactorily.

Certain eyes are suitable for ICL. This procedure involves implanting a very thin contact lens inside the eye by a surgical procedure. People with very high myopia and a healthy retina and those who may not be good candidates for LASIK can be fitted with ICLs.

Surgery for cataract is most commonly necessary though there are some exceptions. Cataract makes the vision cloudy and the more it grows in the eyes, the more it affects quality vision, colour vision, night vision etc. A person’s confidence in dealing with day to day normal activities like going out in the dark or crossing the road may become low. Cataracts keep progressing until they become mature. This is when it becomes harder and vision is poorest. All these conditions can be easily dealt with surgery. A timely surgery upon cataract results in good quality vision.

No, until now the standard technique for cataract is surgery.

Recovery after cataract surgery is usually quick. There is mild discomfort or redness which disappears very fast as you start using eyedrops. Vision too improves day by day as the wound heals.

Personal Hygiene is of utmost importance in eyecare. Have a bath in the morning; preferably wash your head as well. Food intake should be light. One should take regular morning medications as usual. If you are on blood thinning tablets, you need to stop taking them atleast 3 days prior to surgery after consulting your physician or cardiologist. Bring all the blood test reports to show to the anesthetist as well as the strips of tablets you are on are essential. Putting eyedrops on the day of the surgery as prescribed and as informed to you is important. One of the eyedrops given to you is an antibiotic eyedrop which needs to be used once in the morning. The next eyedrop is to enlarge the pupil size and to be used every 15 mins for one hour before leaving home.

Maintaining personal hygiene is of utmost importance such as washing hands before putting eyedrops.

• Once you reach home, have a normal diet and a mild analgesic tablet if you feel discomfort.
• Take a clean vessel with water and boil it. Soak some surgical cotton in it for about 7-10 mins. Let the water come down to room temperature. Keep the vessel closed during cooling period. Use this boiled and cooled cotton to clean the operated eye. You can use this boiled and cooled cotton for one whole day. Use this cotton to wipe /dab the eye after putting eyedrops.
• Remove the eye patch the same day or early morning next day. Wash your hands and wipe the skin around the eye – the eyebrow region and the upper cheek area with the boiled and cooled cotton balls.
• Start using eyedrops after wiping the eye. Wash your hands and wipe them dry with a clean towel before and after putting eyedrops. Bend the neck backwards and pull the skin of the lower eyelid and put a single eyedrop. Keep the eyes closed for 3-4 mins. Wipe the spilled over eyedrop with the boiled and cooled cotton ball.
• Keep a minimum interval of 15-30 mins between any two eyedrops.
• Start using the dark or transparent protective glasses provided to you. It is recommended that these glasses should be used till the eyedrops course gets over.
• Your operated eye may have mild redness, watering , mild discomfort and a blurry vision. These will reduce as your eye starts healing. You can carry on with your routine activities at home.
• Do not rub or press your eyes at any time till the eyedrops course finishes. Avoid watering plants as there is a chance of catching fungal infection.
• Be careful while handling small babies as they have a very quick response action. They may pull your glasses and poke their fingers in your eyes out of curiosity!
• It is okay to go for morning/evening walk provided the area is not smoky or dusty. You can do gentle exercises.
• Avoid jerky movements, sneezing forcefully, coughing and constipation. For cold, cough and constipation visit your family physician.
• If possible, avoid long journey by bus or train until the eyes settle down and becomes normal.
• Take bath everyday shoulder downwards till you get instructions from the doctor for headbath.
• Wipe your face with a wet towel twice or thrice a day.
• Do not splash water in your eyes till the course of eyedrops gets over.
• Swimming is allowed only after 2-3 months.
• Follow up with the doctor as per the dates given to you.

There are varieties of lenses available and they are all of good quality. The basic quality of a lens implant is that it is made up of an inert material which is not recognized by the eye as a foreign object. The function of the lens is to focus the light on the retina. The thinner the lens, better is the quality of vision. Thinner lenses or aspheric lenses provide better quality vision than spherical lenses. One analogy is watching a Flat Screen HD TV Vs a Curved Screen Old TV.

Our eyes behave like an autofocus camera till age 40. After age 40, the near focusing capacity becomes less and this condition is called as presbyopia meaning thereby the person needs glasses for reading and computer work. The lens implants are monofocal, multifocal or trifocal. When the patient opts for a monofocal lens, either his distance vision or his near vision can be corrected depending upon his needs. If he opts for good distance vision, then he needs to wear glasses for near work only. A person with multifocal lens usually does not need glasses for distance or near vision. However, there is a mixed response by many patients who have a multifocal or a trifocal lens.