HEALTH It may be time to check your eyes again

Did you skip your annual eye exam in 2020 because of the pandemic?

If you’re among the ones who cancelled an appointment with the eye doctor this year, you should plan on scheduling a new examination. And you won’t be the only one needing to catch up on their checkups.

A recent national study revealed that during the initial months of the coronavirus pandemic, of all medical service lines, ophthalmology had the greatest loss of patient volume.

Judith L.

In an analysis of more than 2 million patient visits and encounters from 228 hospitals in 40 states, the study showed eye doctors lost 81 percent of patient volume (year-over-year) when compared to two-week volumes in March and April 2020 (versus the same period in 2019).

January, designated National Glaucoma Awareness Month, provides a perfect time to think about the importance of your next eye exam. Remember, a simple eyechart test won’t do. To evaluate vision loss from this disease, both eyes need to be dilated so your ophthalmologist or optometrist may evaluate your eyes for lost vision and a myriad of other abnormalities.

Regular eye exams are recommended because certain eye diseases, such as glaucoma, can “sneak up” on unsuspecting adults. In fact, glaucoma’s ‘other’ name is the "the sneak thief of sight."

Last year, glaucoma procedures actually dropped by 88 percent for inpatient and outpatient practices. But glaucoma is the leading c ause of irreversible blindness. More than 3 million people have glaucoma

More than 3 million people in the United States suffer from glaucoma and the number is expected to reach 4.2 million by 2030, the National Eye Institute said in a recent report. Experts say that half of these people do not yet realize they have the disease and that as much as 40 percent of a person’s vision may be lost without the person noticing their sight is failing.

“Glaucoma is a disease where the nerve cells that connect your eyeball to the brain degenerate over time. Glaucoma leads to optic nerve injury, neurodegeneration and, ultimately, vision loss,”

Dr. Derek Welsbie, an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University Wilmer Eye Institute, said in February in connection with a research project called “Catalyst for a Cure,” which sought a novel strategy to replace injured nerve cells and reconnect them to the brain.

“You have about a million of these nerve cells in each eye and as they're lost, you lose vision as a patient. Now, everything we do is aimed at slowing that degeneration, but for those patients who have already lost nerve cells and who've already lost vision, there's nothing that we have to offer.”

High risk groups

According to the Centers for Di sease Control and Prevention, “Some people are at higher risk for glaucoma and should have a comprehensive dilated eye exam every two years [and every year, if they are diabetic].”

Glaucoma is more prevalent among African American and Latino populations. In fact, glaucoma is six to eight times more common in African Americans than Whites. Although the most common forms primarily affect middleaged and elderly people, glaucoma can affect people of all ages.

Are you in one of these groups?

■ African Americans 40 years and older

■ All adults older than 60, especially Mexican Americans

■ People with a family history of glaucoma

■ People who have been diagnosed with diabetes

New findings suggest vision loss in people with glaucoma can be caused by an immune response to early exposure to bacteria, which can elevate eye pressure and trigger heat shock proteins, according to www. glaucoma.org.

How a patient sees glaucoma

“Be aware that a diagnosis of glaucoma can be a very frightening experience,” Dr. Ralph M. Sanchez said in an article for the Review of Ophthalmology in 2016 in which he shared his experiences as both a physician and a glaucoma patient.

“Essentially, you’re being told that you could lose your sight, which is many people’s greatest fear. The initial diagnosis is very unsettling and can be profoundly life-changing. I’ve had patients cry upon hearing the news, and I totally understand that reaction.”

Sanchez also tells his patients that glaucoma is unlikely to lead to blindness when treated appropriately, but it takes a lot of patient responsibility, too. “Sometimes it’s the challenges we face in life that really make us who we are,” Sanchez wrote.

Sanchez, who is now in his 60s, was in his 20s when he received his diagnosis. “It may sound kind of crazy, but getting that diagnosis led me to change my career and make a serious life commitment, which I hadn’t been motivated to make until then,” he wrote.

“So although I wouldn’t wish glaucoma on anybody, in some ways that diagnosis was a blessing in disguise.”

There still is no cure for glaucoma. However, there is hope that certain medications or surgery may slow or prevent further vision loss. Early detection is vital to stopping the progress of this disease.

So remember to have that eye exam as soon as you feel comfortable going back to the eye doctor.

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It seems like it has been well over a year, yet we have not yet reached the unofficial anniversary of the Covid-19 virus or the widespread use of the current media shock word “pandemic.” I realize this column is part of the media but I chose to go with “virus” instead, mostly since it has less syllables.

To make matters worse, we are approaching February, which is one of four Nielson “sweeps” months meaning the major networks will do anything to dramatize any news they can get their hands on.

So, it’s conceivable that when you take your sweetheart flowers on Valentine’s Day, and her cute little Bichon nips you on the ankles, given that’s all the little fella can reach, don’t put it on social media. If you do, the following day the lead story will read: “Lovelorn Man Mauled by Unknown Fuzzy Beast!”

Whether a pandemic or virus, it seems like the scientific community is closing in on a vaccine that I certainly hope will show a steady rate of progress with those who desperately need it, such as front-line medical staff and free-lance writers.

The joke around the newsroom -- in other words, my home office where I talk to myself -- is that we, or I, want to be in the second grouping of vaccine recipients, after studying the first group intently. I just want to be sure that the third eye or hand growing from one’s head was preexisting.

Things being what they are, the hope of a vaccine is, well, hope. Hope makes us feel better about lousy things. Unfortunately, hope also brings the potential for frauds. We do not need to go all in yet, at least until we do a little homework on the facts. Double-check your information until legitimate facts present themselves is a solid fundamental rule. In other words, check it out, check it again, and then check it again!

The FDA said proper safeguards and brand protection might not be available until the second generation of the vaccine because everything is currently operating on an emergency basis. This invites the opportunity for those slimy little fraudsters to cook up fake information, offered for a price, to the unwitting public.

If you remember, when Covid-19 cases spiked dramatically, masks, gloves, and other gear were in short supply. Scams soon surfaced, raking in thousands of dollars for protective goods never received. Crooks looking for an emotional response from potential victims offered home test kits months before they were legitimately available.

Since the virus reared its ugly head, Homeland Security analyzed more than 70,000 suspicious Covid-19 related websites. They seized more than 1,600 products valued at over $27 million dollars and arrested more than. Enforcement, however, is a reaction to crime and usually a step behind at the start of the race, meaning some crooks were successful early on.

And incarceration of some does not mean crooks are done being crooks, even in prison

According to an NBC online article, thousands of inmates, reportedly including convicted killer Scott Peterson, bilked the state of California out of $140 million in fraudulent pandemic unemployment benefits between March and August 2020. The total number of fake claims topped 35,000. Well, that makes sense given they have nothing to do.

To rub even more salt in the wound, some of the names used to file benefits were John Doe, John Adams, and in one case, “Poopy Britches.” Seriously, Poopy Britches. Not one midlevel supervisor read the claim and said, “Uh, wait a minute.”

Sad news, the art of bureaucracy is alive and well folks. Grab it from the inbox, stamp it, and move it along without reading it. The article said California lacks the system to cross-reference inmate information with unemployment claims. That makes no sense.

Let’s hope 2021 brings us a surge in good stuff. What is good stuff? Take 2020 and hope for the opposite. We will happily start with that.