Tema, Dr Kwame Oben-Nyarko, member of the Ghana Optometric Association (GOA), says safety glasses or protective eyewear must meet the requirement of one’s occupations to protect the personality from environmental and occupational conditions or hazards.
He said the nature of one’s work must be the determining factor in the type of lenses and frame prescribed to improve visual efficiency in the performance of professional responsibilities.
Dr Oben-Nyarko, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Third Eye Care and Vision Center, gave the advice at the third series of Ghana News Agency- and the Ghana Optometric Association public sensitization initiative dubbed “GNA-GOA: My Eye! My Vision!
The initiative is a collaborative public education advocacy campaign to promote the need for people to access eye care and draw attention to vision health.
It also seeks to challenge the public and policymakers to focus on vision as a health issue, which forms a critical component of mankind’s wellbeing but is often neglected.
Speaking on: “Acquiring a pair of spectacles: What you need to know,” Dr Oben-Nyarko said one needed to go through several tests performed by the optometrist for a prescription.
He said optometrists would look at issues such as the visual acuity or vision of the eye, objective and subjective refraction, assessment of the external structures of the eyes, assessment of the internal structures of the eyes, assessment of the eye pressures, and other tests that may be necessary depending on the outcome of the initial tests.
“A proper eye examination will not only give the spectacle prescription but can also expose other conditions that could be present but showing no symptoms like glaucoma, hypertension and diabetes,” he said.
Dr Kingsley Hedornu, Optometrist at the Tema Christian Eye Center, in his contribution, indicated that people in sports usually needed spectacles that were impact-resistant and affixed with polycarbonate lenses.
Dr Hedornu added that workers in the mining field as well as welders require safety goggles that were durable with the polycarbonate lenses so that they could see well while working and being safe.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, the Tema Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency, said it was important to educate the public to reduce misconceptions about the eye.
He said the eye was the most sensitive organ of the body which when lost, reduced about 90 per cent performance of the entire body as the body parts depended on each other to function.
Mr Ameyibor said more public education was needed to raise people’s awareness of vision impairment.
Source: Ghana News Agency