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
   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25