Making the right investment for your vision

AS an eye doctor specialising in cataract and refractive surgery, I deal with two leading causes of loss of vision in Singapore and worldwide. Treatment for cataract and refractive errors (that is, short-, long- or old-sight) can be tremendously effective by way of surgery involving lens and laser. Hence, I have many grateful patients. This is in contrast to other ailments of the eye, such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

Glaucoma is the classic "thief of sight", killing our eye nerve cells and robbing our field of view from periphery inwards, asymptomatically. Divided broadly into narrow or open angles based on eye anatomy, the end-result is irreversible blindness. Reducing eye pressure is the only way to control the disease. Age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy both affect the back of our eyes, the former causing loss of central vision while the latter is related to diabetes, a common endocrine disease that is on the rise in incidence worldwide.

These and other rarer eye diseases are more likely to be diagnosed in the advanced stages. Sometimes these eye conditions are only diagnosed when vision loss is already irreversible. Therefore, the outcome of treatment may be sadly suboptimal despite the often high cost of treatment. However, if detected early and managed in a timely manner, they often have a much-better course of outcome.