THE preacher asked the audience, “What do you do with your eyes?” The young boy sitting by my side whispered to no one in particular, “Isn’t he daft? What else does anyone do with his eyes if not seeing?” I looked at him and smiled to myself. The little boy was right but the preacher was speaking metaphorically. From the context in which he was speaking, the question could be rephrased, “Do we see the things we should see?”
A 44-year-old man walked into my office seemingly pleased with himself. Just as I was about to ask him what his problem was, he blurted out, “I am fine. I have no problems with my eyes; I see everything I am supposed to see in the distance and can read the smallest of prints even in poor light. I have only come to collect a medical report so that I can apply for a licence for firearms”.
From his body language, he didn’t expect me to do any examination, he just wanted me to write a report and hand it over to him! “Sit on the examination chair yonder,” I told him. Then I presented him with a chart containing a series of letters of different sizes to read.
We call this the Snellen’s chart. He read every letter, even the last two lines which were smaller than what a normal eye was supposed to read. Then I gave him a near vision reading book. He could not read the smaller prints until the book was almost at arms’ length.
His excuse, “Doctor, isn’t these letters too small? I have no problem reading my Bible and novels. And you won’t believe, I read at least one book per week.” “I will answer your questions later”, I said trying to save valuable time because there was a crowd of patients competing for my attention.
After a cursory examination of the external part of his eyes, I took a peep inside the eyes with an ophthalmoscope. First the right eye and then left. I froze! A disturbing view of the last clinic session in the outgoing year! And for the patient bad news!
“You need to be careful doc,” I cautioned myself. “Are you sure that you are seeing well yourself?” It suddenly occurred to me that I haven’t had my comprehensive medical examination for over one year! I told myself, “You must do this today. You must practice what you preach and preach what you practise.”
Now back to the self-assured man, I put some drops into his eyes to dilate the pupils so that I could have a better look at the inside of his eyes. “Oga, you have to wait a little while to give the drops sometime to work before I continue with your examination.” He was a bit disturbed; his self-confidence had evaporated because he knew something was amiss.
While I was still wondering how best to break the news to him, my mind wandered to a patient I had seen on the first day of the year. An old lady had come to see me about her glasses. There wasn’t any problem with her eyes. I asked my optician to fix her glasses.
But then she made a request, “My driver has a problem seeing at night. Could you help me have a quick look at his eyes?” The driver was standing right by her side and with her disarming smile, I knew I had to oblige. One eye was completely blind. It could not even see light! The other could read nearly everything on the chart but the field of vision was severely compromised.
“Your driver has no business being on the road even in the daytime!” I told her point blank. I sat the driver down and explained to him that he was risking his life, his boss’s and the lives of other road users. He was commenced on treatment to prevent him from going completely blind.
What do you see with your eyes? Do you see the things you should see? No matter how much you try, you cannot answer that question without the help of an ophthalmologist and only after a comprehensive eye examination. You need your eyes to have the best the world can give you. Pay a visit to your eye medical doctor today and stay sighted and happy throughout the New Year!
May I seize this opportunity to thank all my readers, including His Royal Majesty, the Alaafin of Oyo, who gave a royal blessing when he told me this was the first page he visited in the Tribune visited every Thursday. And for all who have supported eye care in Nigeria with their donations, time, talents and treasure, I am very grateful.
Nearly all the donors and friends would prefer to remain anonymous whilst still respecting their wish, the mask will be partially removed from the faces of a few. Uzoma pays to restore sight to one cataract blind every month.
On December 5, Victoria’s friends and associates restored sight to 150 cataract blind to mark her 70th birthday anniversary. The Alake of Abeokuta and the Egba Traditional Council have won my heart with their coordinated support for eye care throughout the year while Professor Gboyega Ketiku deserves a gold medal for his consistent advocacy as a Partner for Sight.
Finally, my immense appreciation to the African Newspapers of Nigeria and the editors who have supported eye care with this page. The Tribune will be 70 years old in 2019. You and Eye is getting set for the year-long celebrations.
Wishing you all the joys of Christmas and a wonderful 2019.
and then