Page 20 - The Indian Optician Digital Edition September-October 2022
P. 20
CASE REPORT DIZZYDUCK’S VISUAL
ON VITAMIN A FIXATION SYSTEM
DEFICIENCY Optometrist and owner of DizzyDuck, Simon Berry has
introduced a new device to help optometrists treat patients
with learning disabilities.
A 60-year old lady who
recently presented to a hospital Berry’s practice specialises in providing eye care for adults
in Melbourne with corneal and children with learning disabilities. His vast experience in
perforations was later diagnosed the field enabled him to design the Visual Fixation System.
to be suffering from Vitamin A Through this innovative system, an optometrist can play a
video on a mobile phone to engage the patient, whilst still
deficiency. being able to see their eyes through a second clear screen.
The patient, whose case “People with Down’s syndrome have a particular condition,
was reported in BMJ Case called a cognitive lag, where they are not able to focus on close-
Reports, arrived at the hospital up things. I noticed that if I was measuring somebody when
with visual acuity of 6/180 in her they were focused on something that they weren’t interested
left eye, while it was limited to in, we would get a false result,” explained Simon Berry.
perception of hand movements “When you look at the studies of people with learning
in her right eye. disabilities, their biggest barrier to the services is accessing the
The treating doctors screened eye care and being able to wear glasses. People with Down’s
for autoimmune disease but syndrome tend to have a flat bridge to their nose and Western-
found that the infection was style frames don’t really fit them too well,” he clarified.
negative, even as a left corneal In addition to the Visual Fixation System, DizzyDuck, is also
scrape showed light mixed the distributor for Erin’s World Frames, specially designed to fit
organisms and a yeast colony. children with Down’s syndrome.
The case report authors
concluded that the
malnourished lady was suffering DIABETES & EYE DISEASES STUDY
from Vitamin A deficiency.
“This deficiency was likely due A new study by a team of researchers from the Anglia Ruskin
to a severely restricted diet, University notes that diabetic people who develop eating disorders
consisting of only bananas and are also prone to developing diabetic retinopathy.
yoghurt. The final diagnosis was According to the study report published in the Journal of Diabetes
corneal perforations secondary and Metabolic Disorders, the Anglia Ruskin University researchers
to bilateral fungal keratitis and looked at data from 1100 participants across several studies. They
hypovitaminosis,” the authors found that those with an eating disorder were 2.94 times more likely
shared in the report. to develop diabetic retinopathy than those without pathological
eating behaviours. The chief reason for this was attributed to poor
The patient had to get control of blood sugar levels due to inconsistent food intake.
tectonic corneal grafts to treat
the perforations. She received Study author, Mike Trott, further revealed that were some well-
oral and topical voriconazole to known risk factors that could either speed up or slow down the
treat bilateral fungal keratitis, progression of retinopathy in people living with diabetes. He also
and retinyl palmitate to tackle explained that physical activity was associated with a lower risk, while
the issue of Vitamin A deficiency. high blood pressure could increase the risk of developing eye disease
Over time, the patient’s visual among diabetics.
acuity improved, but her final “Practitioners working with people with diabetes should closely
visual acuity was limited to hand monitor eating behaviours so that any abnormal eating behaviour
movements in the right eye and can be addressed swiftly to reduce the risk of diabetic retinopathy
6/30 in the left eye. and consequent blindness if not treated,” said Trott.
16 | THE INDIAN OPTICIAN | SEPT-OCT 2022 OPTOMETRY NEWS
