2023-10-03 04:00:00
Money Today Reporter Jeong Sim-gyo | 2023.10.03 13:00
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Editor’s note | If you lose your health, you lose everything. Anyone can protect their precious health with just a little attention. Money Today introduces a collection of health articles that received a lot of attention from readers in the first half of this year.
Our ancestors valued things as follows: ‘If a body is worth a thousand nyang, an eye is worth nine hundred nyang.’ As such, the eyes are a very important organ in our body to maintain a healthy daily life. However, unlike in the past, modern people’s eyes are subjected to abuse in one way or another from the time they are born. This is because the eyes are the part of the body that is directly exposed to the fine dust that is rampant every day, and not many people touch their smartphones before going to sleep. It is common for children to be exposed to smartphone screens from an early age. There are certain eye diseases that are more common depending on age. Find out about eye health care rules for each life cycle and the tests you should take.
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0~2 years old… If you are late in holding and lifting objects, you should visit an ophthalmologist.
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Even if the eye structure of a newborn child is normal, the visual acuity of a newborn child is less than half that of an adult due to the underdeveloped optic nerve and brain. A newborn’s eyes easily move up and down and left and right, because the retina and visual center are immature. At 3 months of age, children should be able to follow moving objects such as mobiles, and at 4 months of age, they should be able to grasp objects. Also, by 6 months of age, your child should be able to hold and lift objects to play. By their first birthday (12 months old), they should be able to scribble or point to distant objects. If you cannot keep up with this development process, you should visit an ophthalmologist. Newborns may develop strabismus. Strabismus (斜視), as the name suggests, ‘seeing sideways’, is a disease in which the gaze of both eyes cannot be directed straight at a single object. When looking at an object, one eye’s gaze is directed toward that object, but the other eye is not. If strabismus symptoms persist after 5 months of age, it is necessary to see an ophthalmologist. Strabismus that occurs within 6 months of birth is classified as congenital ‘infantile strabismus’.
It is recommended to conduct a rough evaluation of visual function and a test to check for congenital serious diseases such as cataracts, retinal disease, and glaucoma around 6 months to 1 year of age.
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2~5 years old… If myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism are not corrected, the risk of amblyopia increases.
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By the age of 3 to 4, average visual acuity reaches 0.4 to 0.5. If your visual acuity is less than 0.4 at the age of 3 or 4, or if your visual acuity is less than 0.5 at the age of 5 or 6, you should see an ophthalmologist. At the age of 4, it is a good idea to check if there are any causes affecting the child’s vision development through an amblyopia test and a refractive error test.
Amblyopia literally means poor vision. Even though there is nothing wrong with the eyes with the naked eye, there is a vision problem, and even when wearing glasses, the vision is not corrected normally. When the difference in visual acuity between both eyes is more than two lines on the visual acuity chart, the eye with poorer visual acuity is called ‘amblyopia.’ If the vision in both eyes is not good even with correction, it is a candidate for treatment.
If myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism have severe refractive errors and are not corrected, they are diagnosed as ‘refractive amblyopia’ among amblyopia. If you continue to see blurry images without correcting the refractive error, you will get used to the blurry images and will not be able to achieve normal vision even after correction. In the case of amblyopia due to refractive error, there is a treatment that corrects the refractive error and encourages continued use of amblyopia by covering the eye with better vision. Continue this method until both eyesight becomes the same. If the amblyopic’s vision does not improve with ‘good eye’ occlusion treatment or if compliance is significantly poor, it is difficult to continue occlusion treatment. If amblyopia is discovered and treated before the age of 4, the treatment success rate reaches 95%, but if it is discovered and treated only after the child enters elementary school, it is virtually impossible to restore vision. If you have an eye exam before the age of 5 and any refractive error is found, you should quickly correct it with glasses. If refractive error is detected before the age of five and children are made to wear glasses, the progression to amblyopia due to refractive error such as myopia and astigmatism can be prevented in most cases. Glasses at this stage are worn for the purpose of vision development, so the child must always wear them.
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6 to 10 years old… Speed of myopia progression↑ Prone position
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During this period, the length of the eyeball rapidly increases, especially the anterior length. The length of the front and back of the eye can continue to grow, but if excessive growth occurs and the eye length becomes too long, myopia can progress rapidly. Although there are no exact statistics, academic circles estimate that more than 50% of adolescent students in Korea have myopia.
Myopia is believed to be caused by a combination of several causes, including genetic and environmental causes. Myopia is more likely to occur in people with a high level of education or who work close-up for long periods of time. This is why there is a possibility that myopia may progress further due to excessive close-range work. Therefore, if possible, it is advisable to avoid continuous close-range work.
There is also a hypothesis that the prone position increases the pressure on the vitreous body in the eye, changing the length of the eyes and causing myopia, so it is best to avoid reading a book while lying prone if possible. You should also avoid reading in places that are too dark or bright. Representative treatments to suppress the progression of myopia in pediatric myopia patients include instilling ‘atropine’ or wearing ‘dream lenses’. Both are effective when performed at ages 8 to 10, when myopia progression is most active.
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Teenagers… As the eyes continue to grow, the risk of high myopia increases.
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During adolescence, the use of electronic devices such as smartphones increases rapidly, and as eye size continues to grow, myopia also progresses. Therefore, one must be careful of the risk of developing high myopia. High myopia increases the risk of developing serious eye diseases such as macular degeneration, retinal detachment, and glaucoma as an adult. During this period, it is possible to wear both glasses and contact lenses to correct vision. In terms of safety, glasses are the best, but if you must wear contact lenses, you must follow the correct usage method to prevent eye redness and inflammation. Also, do not wear contact lenses alone; you should use glasses and contact lenses together. As eye power can change rapidly during the growth period, the rule is not to perform surgical treatments such as vision correction.
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20s to 30s… If dry eye does not improve, eyelid inflammation may be suspected.
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In the past, dry eyes were often caused by oil glands hardening due to aging. However, recently, it has become a trend that occurs regardless of age. In particular, dry eye syndrome occurs frequently in the 2030 generation as people in their 20s use electronic imaging devices freely without a guardian, and people in their 30s use them for work.
Usually, improvement is achieved simply by instilling artificial tears. However, if dry eye persists or causes great discomfort in daily life, it is likely to be accompanied by eyelid inflammation. In this case, the inflammation must be treated first after ophthalmology.
During this period, the eyes reach a plateau and, except in very exceptional cases, the eyes do not worsen. Unlike adolescence, vision correction at this time is possible not only by wearing glasses and contact lenses, but also through vision correction procedures such as LASIK and LASEK. When choosing vision correction surgery, rather than blindly prefer a specific procedure, get your condition checked and consult with an ophthalmologist to decide on the most effective method.
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40s to 50s… If you leave your eyes dry and bloodshot, your vision will decrease.
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The eyes are the first part of the body to begin to age. Eye aging begins in your 20s, and symptoms usually appear in your 40s. Eye diseases that are largely caused by aging include glaucoma, premature cataracts, and retinal detachment. For these diseases, prompt treatment is the key to a good prognosis. This is why regular checkups are recommended for early detection even if there are no special symptoms.
As one enters adulthood, the amount of tears becomes insufficient and dry eyes tend to dry out quickly. When you have dry eyes, symptoms can range from simple symptoms such as dry or bloodshot eyes to severe symptoms such as decreased vision. Therefore, if you feel symptoms, you should seek treatment as soon as possible.
Presbyopia, which causes difficulty in seeing close letters and objects, mainly occurs from the mid-40s to the late 50s. If you do not see nearby objects blurry, you should undergo a detailed vision test and find an appropriate correction method according to your presbyopia. Whenever you need to see a close object, wear a magnifying glass (convex lens) or use a bifocal lens or multifocal lens to correct it so that you can see both near and far objects. If you do not want to wear these glasses, presbyopia correction surgery may be performed.
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60s… If the light spreads and is dazzling, you may have a cataract.
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During this period, if your vision suddenly decreases and the light appears blurry and dazzling, you may suspect a cataract. The eye contains a transparent lens, like a pair of glasses, which focuses on objects when looking at them. When this transparent lens ages, becomes inflamed in the eye, or suffers trauma, objects appear foggy, which is a cataract.
Cataracts, which blur vision, occur in 70% of people over the age of 60 and in 90% of people over the age of 70. Senile cataracts occur naturally with age. It is not a disease that requires urgent treatment, but if it has progressed to the point where it causes inconvenience in daily life, it cannot be improved with medication and surgery must be considered. The surgery involves removing the clouded lens and inserting an artificial lens in its place. There is also a cataract surgery method that can correct presbyopia at the same time, so design a treatment plan that suits your lifestyle.
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70s to 80s… If symptoms of glaucoma or macular degeneration appear, the risk of blindness increases.
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The most common eye diseases that cause blindness in old age are glaucoma and macular degeneration. If your vision becomes blurred and distorted, or if your viewing angle narrows and there are parts you cannot see, these diseases may already be in progress, so you should visit the hospital quickly for a checkup. Glaucoma is an eye disease that occurs when the optic nerve, which transmits visual information received from the eye to the brain, changes shape and causes visual field defects. It is considered ‘the most important cause of irreversible blindness’ worldwide. In the past, increased intraocular pressure was the main cause of glaucoma, but recently, the rate of glaucoma occurring in Koreans has increased even though intraocular pressure is normal. Treatment methods vary depending on the type of glaucoma, but there are three main methods available: drug treatment, laser treatment, and surgery.
Macular degeneration is a degeneration that occurs in the macula, located in the center of the retina of the eye, and is the number one disease causing blindness in Koreans over the age of 65. Risk factors that cause macular degeneration include age (increasingly after age 75), genetic predisposition, cardiovascular disease, smoking, hypercholesterolemia, excessive exposure to ultraviolet rays, and low blood antioxidant concentration. The macula accounts for 90% of our vision, allowing us to recognize objects and distinguish colors.
In the early stages of macular degeneration, when this area degenerates, letters and straight lines appear shaky or curved. Eventually, vision deteriorates significantly, and an invisible area appears in the center of the field of vision. This does not mean that your entire field of vision becomes dark and you end up living in the dark, but the part you are trying to see appears dark or distorted, greatly reducing your quality of life. There are various treatments such as laser treatment and antibody injection therapy, but the prognosis is poor. Therefore, it is best to prevent or slow down the disease through prevention and early detection. Always take nutrients such as lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamins C, E, zinc, and copper, and wear sunglasses when going out during the day.
Help = Yoo Young-joo, ophthalmologist at Kim’s Eye Hospital (Retina Hospital), Asan Medical Center, Seoul, ‘Health Information’.
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
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