UTAR Division of Community and International Networking (DCInterNet) in collaboration with LEC Eye Centre organised a webinar titled “Vision care during Covid-19 Pandemic – Impact of Covid-19 on Vision, Digital Eye Strain, Myopia, Cataract” on 26 January 2021 via Zoom. The webinar recorded a total of 142 participants in Zoom Meeting and 249 views on Facebook Live.

The invited speaker to deliver the talk was Dr Lee Mun Wai. He is a comprehensive ophthalmologist vitreoretinal surgeon. He underwent ophthalmic training in the University of Manchester, United Kingdom (UK) and National Eye Centre, Singapore. In addition, he also received the Retinal Fellowship from Lions Eye Institute from Western Australia. He is currently a medical director at LEC Eye Centre at Ipoh, Perak. 

Dr Lee started the webinar session by describing the airborne particles in the transmission of Covid-19 and explained that the infected droplets can enter our body through our eyes. Apart from that, he also said that the Covid-19 particles could cause our eyes to suffer from redness, irritation, tearing, and discharge and according to him the term is known as conjunctivitis or “pink eye”.

Dr Lee then continued by stating the symptoms of Myopia and their impact which is also known as nearsightedness and shortsightedness symptom. “Myopia is a common vision condition where you can see the objects near you clearly, but the objects that are far would seem blurry. High myopia could cause serious, sight-threatening retinal damage, and patients with complications from myopia should consult the eye-care services. Myopic choroidal neovascularization is one of the consequences of high myopia that causes vision impairment. It increases the risk of glaucoma, retinal detachment and cataract. Vision impairment cannot be corrected unless the patient consults an eye doctor for vision rehabilitation or eye surgery,” he said.

Furthermore, Dr Lee also explained the available eye corrective surgical procedures to cure myopia, namely Lasek and Lasik. According to him, the Lasek surgical treatment utilises surface ablation approach, while the Lasik surgical treatment opt for bladeless, precise and faster procedures. He also stated that the Lasik treatment can help reduce a patient’s dependence on glasses or contact lenses and only patients over 18 years old and above are recommended for this treatment.

The movement control order had people switching their physical routine to online routine which caused most of the students and working employees to spend more time working and attending online learning at home. This has also caused most of the users to experience digital eye strain due to being exposed to the blue light on screen for a long time.

Although eye strain can be overwhelming and disrupts our new working and learning norms, Dr Lee assured the participants by sharing simple tips and lifestyles that we can adapt to help protect our eyes from the negative effects of screen time. He advised to use the correct eyeglasses or medically prescribed daily contact lenses. He also encouraged to purchase the daily contact lens from a licensed and valid eye care centre instead of purchasing it from an online store. He then instructed participants to pay attention to the positioning of the digital device by adjusting the image parameters with good resolutions as well as using appropriate text size, adjusting the brightness level and many more. He also recommended taking breaks from sitting in front of the computer screen or smartphone for too long. Moreover, he stated that sitting too long while working/learning might create muscle tension in your back and shoulder which restricts the blood flow to your eyes, causing vision problem. He reminded the participants to always wash and disinfect their hands, glasses, and phone, as well as reducing the tendency of touching their eyes when it is itchy. Finally, he recommended the computer users to use artificial tears or eye drops to help reduce eye discomfort when working/learning in front of the computer for a long period.

The interactive webinar ended with a Q&A and group photograph session.