NU-VISION EYE CLINIC

16/01/2025

Hurray!!

Hopewell Healthcare Management Ltd now also on our list of HMOs.

08/01/2025

DIARY OF AN OPTOMETRIST

A Sugary Affair.

About two weeks ago, this young man in his early 40s walked into my Optometry practice looking visibly worried.

As he was ushered into the consulting room and sat down, I went into a customary chit chat with him, deliberately to get him relaxed.

After my 27 years of eye-care practice, I still can not understand why some people feel very nervous whenever they enter the consulting room. Maybe it's fear of the unknown.

Anyway, after a few minutes of chit chat, when I felt he was a bit more relaxed, I asked him, "so what's up with your eyes"?

He said he had been having blurry vision for up to 5days. I asked him if he could trace or link the onset of the blurry vision to any particular thing. He said no.

I asked him what other general symptoms he was experiencing aside his blurry vision. He hesitated for a moment, probably wondering what any other symptoms he had in the body had to do with his eyes.

Then, he told me that he had been feeling a bit more thirsty for some time and he noticed that he had been urinating a bit more frequently at night than usual and feeling a bit more tired in recent times.

I went ahead to check his Visual Acuity (VA). His VA was 6/18 on both eyes (normal VA is usually 6/6).

I looked into his eyes with an ophthalmoscope. Inside his eye was not as clear as it ought to be.

I then carried out a refraction to check for presence of a refractive error. The test showed that he had hyperopia and lenses improved his vision to the normal VA of 6/6, which made him happy that he could see better.

However the symptoms he presented with and what I observed made me suspect that he had a more serious issue beyond glasses.

I decided to refer him to a medical laboratory to have his blood sugar level tested.

He returned to my clinic the next day even more worried. The fasting blood sugar (FBS) test result showed that his blood sugar was significantly elevated above normal values.

This was consistent with his complaints of blurry vision, increased thirst, frequency of urination and tiredness.

I then referred him to see a GP (general practitioner) to manage his blood sugar with an instruction to return when the blood sugar had normalised.

He eventually returned to the clinic today, clearly less agitated than on the earlier times he came. He handed me a fresh Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) test result which was within normal range.

I asked him, how he was feeling today? He replied, "doctor, as you can see, I'm feeling better. Those complaints have stopped and my vision is no longer blurry". I smiled.

I repeated the refraction, and he had no Refractive Error. His VA was 6/6 (normal). He didn't need glasses.

What Happened?

Actually, his blurry vision was caused by the significant elevation of his blood sugar levels.

Having never checked his blood sugar before his first visit to my eye clinic, and never been diagnosed of Diabetes, he couldn't connect the blurry vision to the other symptoms he was having.

Sustained, elevated blood sugar levels could be a sign of diabetes.

Diabetes occurs when your body does not properly process food as energy. When you have diabetes, your body either does not respond to or does not produce (enough) insulin.

Insulin is a hormone that lowers the level of glucose (a type of sugar) in the blood. It is made by the beta cells of the pancreas and released into the blood when the glucose level goes up, such as after eating. Insulin helps glucose enter the body's cells, where it can be used for energy or stored for future use.

High levels of blood sugar changes the composition of the fluid in your eyes as well as the refractive index and causes the lens of the eye to swell, all of which affect your ability to see clearly, making your vision blurry.

To correct this kind of blurry vision, you need to get your blood sugar back within the normal range.

The expected (normal) range for fasting blood sugar (before meal) is between 70 mg/dL (3.9 mmol/L) and 100 mg/dL (5.6 mmol/L).

The expected value for random blood sugar (one to two hours after the start of a meal) is less than

02/01/2025

Credit: NU-VISION EYE CLINIC

EYE MISTAKES YOU MIGHT BE MAKING

📌 ARE YOU OVERLOOKING YOUR EYES?

Your eyes are easy to take for granted, but your vision is too important for that. It might be time to take a closer look at your eye-care routines to see if you’re doing more harm than good.

Here Are Some Ways You May Be Taking Your Eyes For Granted.

📌 YOU DO NOT GET ANNUAL EYE EXAMS
It's a good idea to see your eye doctor each year to make sure all is well, especially once you’re over 40.

They’ll check how well you can see, and they might put drops in your eyes to dilate, or widen, your pupils to help them to check for serious issues like glaucoma, diabetic eye disease, hypertensive retinopathy, cataract, macular degeneration, etc.

📍 How Often Should You Get Your Eyes Checked?
How often you’ll get checked depends on things like your:
• Age
• Overall health
• Family medical history

📌 YOU IGNORE IRRITATED EYES
Red, watery eyes that itch, ache or burn can be a telltale sign of allergies or presence of a refractive error.

But you may have a more serious issue or an infection if they also:

▪︎ Hurt (pain)
▪︎ Feel gritty (like sand in eyes)
▪︎ Are sensitive to light
▪︎ Have a thick or mucus-like discharge
▪︎ Have blurry vision that is new and not getting better

It’s important to see your eye doctor right away if you notice any of those symptoms. An untreated infection can damage your eyes. You can also spread it to people around you.

📌 YOU DONT PROTECT YOUR EYE FROM THE SUN
Ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun can make you more likely to have cataracts at a youinger age, macular degeneration, or a condition called pterygium (when tissue grows over the white part of your eye).

Look for sunglasses that block out at least 99% of both UVA and UVB rays or talk to your Optometrist about proper photochromic lenses.

📌 YOU RUB YOUR EYES
This can irritate them and damage blood vessels. It can also make whatever is troubling you worse.

Your hands constantly pick up germs that don’t need to be anywhere near your eyes. Make sure your hands are clean if you need to touch your eyes.

📌 YOU SPEND TOO MUCH TIME ON SCREENS
Using the computer, tablet, or even your smartphone strains your eye muscles. Long periods of screen time can make your eyes tired, red, teary and cause headaches.

📍 What Helps?

▪︎ The 20-20-20 rule is an easy way to keep that from happening: Look at something 20 feet (6 meters) away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes of using the computer.

▪︎ You should take a break from your computer every 5 - 10 minutes, or more often if possible. Short, frequent breaks are better than longer, less frequent breaks.

▪︎ Taking breaks can help reduce eye strain, increase blood flow, and avoid aches and pains.

▪︎ Blink often to keep your eyes moist or lubricated.

▪︎ Speak to your Optometrist about good quality anti-glare or anti blue light coated lenses for use with computers, phones and for night driving, too.

📌 YOU SKIP CONTACT LENS CARE (For Contact Lens Users)

To keep your eyes healthy, clean, disinfect and store your contact lenses with the solution your doctor recommends - never water or saliva - and store them in a proper case. Change the solution in the case regularly and replace the contact lens case every 3 months.

It’s also really important to take out your contact lenses before you go to bed.

Poor contact lens hygiene or improper contact lens use cause issues; from mild infection to corneal damage.

📍 YOU LEAVE MAKEUP ON
Leftover particles of mascara, eyeliner, or eye shadow can fall into your eyes and lead to infection. It’s important to take off eye makeup completely every night. If your eyes are red and start to hurt, see your eye doctor right away.

📌 YOU DO NOT WEAR SAFETY GLASSES
The right protection is key to prevent eye injuries when you’re working around the house, in the workplace or playing sports.

Depending on the activity, you might need:
▪︎ Safety glasses or goggles
▪︎ A safety shield
▪︎ Eye guards

Before you start a new activity, do a bit of homework to make sure you cover all the bases to keep your eyes safe.

📌 YOU DO NOT KNOW YOUR FAMILY HISTORY
It’s important for your eye doctor to know if any eye conditions run in your family.
That way, they'll check you for them regularly and start treatment right away if a problem comes up.

For example, two of the most common causes of blindness - Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration - are believed to be linked to the genes (hereditary).

📌 YOU DO NOT WEAR YOUR GLASSES
Your vision changes over time. Staying on top of those changes is key to keep your eyes healthy.

Make sure your lens (glasses) prescription is up to date by having an eye exam with a refraction to review your lens prescription at most every 18 months, especially if you're presbyopic or about 40 years.

📌 YOU SMOKE
This can be as bad for your eyes as it is for the rest of your body. It can make you more likely to:

• Get cataracts
• Damage your optic nerve
• Have macular degeneration

All of those can lead to Eye problems and vision loss.

Credit: Nu-vision Eye Clinic




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02/01/2025

The Silent Blinding Disease.

Dr Uche Diala, anchor, the brain behind Health Matters With Dr Diala is medical Director of Nu-vision Eye Clinic

LET'S TALK ABOUT GLAUCOMA

📌 WHAT IS GLAUCOMA

Glaucoma, also refered to as 'Silent Blinding Disease' or 'Thief Of Sight' is an eye disease condition that damages the eye’s optic nerve, ultimately leading to blindness, if not managed effectively.

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness for people over 60 years old. But blindness from glaucoma can often be prevented with early treatment

Blindness from glaucoma is irreversible.

📌 MECHANISM OF GLAUCOMA AND BLINDNESS

There is a fluid inside the eye called the aqueous humor. The eye constantly makes aqueous humor. This fluid contains oxygen and nutrients which nourish the eye.

The spent fluid needs to be constantly expelled and replaced by fresh ones in equal proportion, thereby maintaining a balance and a normal eye pressure (intraocular pressure or IOP). The normal range of IOP is 10 - 20 mmhg.

The spent fluid is expelled through a drainage angle or channel - a sponge like trabecular mesh work. If the channel is narrowed or blocked for any reason, fluid builds up inside the eye, increasing the eye pressure (intraocular pressure or IOP) and putting pressure on the optic nerve (the nerve of sight at the back of the eye).

If that pressure is not relieved, it slowly and gradually damages the optic nerve over time, leading to a reduction in vision and ultimately blindness.

📌 WHAT IS THE OPTIC NERVE?

The optic nerve is made of more than a million tiny nerve fibers. It is like an electric cable made up of many small wires. As these nerve fibers die from pressure, one will develop blind spots in one's vision. One may not notice these blind spots until most of the optic nerve fibers have died. If all of the fibers die, blindness occurs.

📌 TYPES OF GLAUCOMA

There are two major types of Glaucoma.

📍 OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA
This is the most common type of glaucoma. It happens gradually, where the eye does not drain fluid as well as it should (like a clogged kitchen sink drain pipe). As a result, eye pressure builds and starts to damage the optic nerve.

This type of glaucoma is painless and causes no vision changes at first. That is why it is called the 'silent blinding disease'.

⚠️ Normal Tension Glaucoma
Some people can have optic nerves that are sensitive to normal eye pressure. This means their risk of getting glaucoma is higher than normal. Regular eye exams are important to find early signs of damage to their optic nerve.

📌 ANGLE-CLOSURE GLAUCOMA
(Also called “closed-angle glaucoma” or “narrow-angle glaucoma”).

This type happens when someone’s iris is very close to the drainage angle in their eye. The iris can end up blocking the drainage angle.

You can think of it like a piece of paper sliding over a kitchen sink drain. When the drainage angle gets completely blocked, eye pressure rises very quickly.

This is called an acute attack. It is a true eye emergency, and you should see an eye doctor right away or you might go blind.

⚠️ Angle-closure glaucoma can cause blindness if not treated right away.

📌 SYMPTOMS OF GLAUCOMA

📍 Open-Angle Glaucoma Symptoms
With open-angle glaucoma, there are no warning signs or obvious symptoms in the early stages. As the disease progresses, blind spots develop in your peripheral (side) vision.

Some people might complain of needle like pain at the back of the eye as well as rainbows around light.

Most people with open-angle glaucoma do not notice any change in their vision until the damage is quite severe. This is why glaucoma is called the “silent thief of sight.”

⚠️ Having regular eye exams can help your eye doctor find this disease before you lose vision.

📍 Angle-Closure Glaucoma Symptoms
People at risk for angle-closure glaucoma usually show no symptoms before an attack.

Some early symptoms of an attack may include blurred vision, halos (or rainbows around light), mild headaches or eye pain.

People with these symptoms should be checked by their eye doctor as soon as possible.

💢 Signs Of An Acute Angle-closure Glaucoma Attack Include:

▪︎ Sudden blurry vision
▪︎ Severe eye pain
▪︎ Headache
▪︎ Nausea and vomiting
▪︎ Rainbow-colored rings or halos around lights

📍 Normal Tension Glaucoma Symptoms
People with "normal tension glaucoma" have eye pressure that is within normal ranges, but show signs of glaucoma, such as blind spots in their field of vision and optic nerve damage.

📌 RISK FACTORS FOR GLAUCOMA

These include:

▪︎ Increased eye pressure
▪︎ Refractive Errors (short-sightedness or longsighted)
▪︎ Eye injuries
▪︎ Long-term use of steroid containing medications. Some common example - Betnesol-N, Efemoline, Betadrone-N etc.
▪︎ Diabetes, Migraines, High blood pressure, poor blood circulation or other health problems affecting the whole body.
▪︎ Age: 40 years and above
▪︎ Heredity: Family history of glaucoma

People with more than one of these risk factors have an even higher risk of glaucoma. Talk with an eye doctor about your risk for getting glaucoma.

📌 GLAUCOMA DIAGNOSIS

The only sure way to diagnose glaucoma is with a complete eye examination.

📌 GLAUCOMA TREATMENT/MANAGEMENT

Glaucoma damage is permanent - it cannot be reversed. But medicine and surgery help to prevent or stop further damage.

Glaucoma eyedrops are usually used every day, for life, to lower eye pressure. Some do this by reducing the amount of aqueous fluid the eye makes. Others reduce pressure by helping fluid flow better through the drainage angle/channels.

⚠️ Talk with your eye doctor if you have or think you may have side effects from any glaucoma medicine.

⚠️ Never change or stop taking your glaucoma medications without talking to your eye doctor.

📌 CONCLUSION

▪︎ Glaucoma is a silent thief of sight.

▪︎ Glaucoma has no symptoms in its early stages. In fact, half the people with glaucoma do not know they have it!

▪︎ Vision loss from Glaucoma is not reversible but medication and surgery or a combination of both can be used to prevent damage.

▪︎ Having regular eye exams can help your eye doctor find this disease before damage is done or you lose vision.




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01/01/2025

WISHING YOU A VISION-ARY & PRODUCTIVE NEW YEAR.

From All Of Us NU-VISION EYE CLINIC

25/12/2024

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR IN ADVANCE

16/12/2024

DON'T MESS WITH YOUR EYES

A middle aged lady was referred to our eyecare practice.

When asked when her last eye exam was. She said she has never visited an eye clinic.

42 years old and she has never had an eye exam or visited an eye clinic.

Interestingly she's not the only one.

Many, including many reading this and older than her have never had an eye examination.

Hear This ...

▪︎ Routine and Regular eye examinations can uncover serious and hidden eye conditions like Cataract and Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is hereditary and can cause slow, gradual but permanent blindness.

▪︎ Routine and regular eye checks can also reveal the presence of other health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc.

This assists in the management of the condition, to forestall damages they can cause to the eye and vision, including blindness.

If you are one of those who have never visited an eye clinic or never had an eye examination before ...

You still have 15 days left this year to break that record.

Same goes for those who have been examining their eyes but haven't had an eye exam this year.

Give your eye a rare treat this end of year. It deserves it.

Visit an Eye Clinic or consult with an Optometrist before this year runs out.

Your time starts now!

A Test On Time Saves Sight!!

©️ Dr Uche Diala (OD)
Optometrist

Medical Director/CEO
Nu-vision Eye Clinic
Garki Abuja Nigeria

22/11/2024

NU-VISION EYE CLINIC

💢 END OF YEAR OFFER

💢 15% DISCOUNT ON FRAMES & LENSES

💢 NEW STOCK NOW AVAILABLE

📌 Offer Valid Until 23rd December 2024

☎️ 080 36 36 98 04

10/10/2024

HAPPY WORLD SIGHT DAY (WSD) 2024.

Theme: 'Children Love Your Eyes'.

“We all know that in children an uncorrected vision impairment can severely impact their education. Research tells us that children with access to, and being prescribed spectacles can reduce failing rates by 44%. It is knowledge like this that has led us to make World Sight Day 2024 one for children around the world.”

~ Peter Holland
CEO, International Agency For The Prevention of Blindness (IAPB)

▪︎ NU-VISION EYE CLINIC

01/10/2024

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION.

To Nigeria & All Our Nigerian Patients & Associates.

12/10/2023

HAPPY 'WORLD SIGHT DAY'

From All Of Us @ Nu-vision Eye Clinic

Nu-vision .. Since Year 2000 ... Still keeping an 👁 on your sight!!

Thank You Too AXA Mansard.

10/10/2023

WORLD SIGHT DAY (WSD) 2023

Theme: 'Love Your Eyes At Work'

Date: 12 October 2023

NU-VISION EYE CLINIC ...keeping an 👁 on your sight since 2000!!