2023-12-13 14:09:02
On the same day that the “Patron Saint of Sight” is venerated, Saint Lucia of Syracuse, which is praised by the Catholic and Lutheran Churches, World Ophthalmologist’s Day is celebrated every December 13.
The situation of ophthalmology in Argentina
It is estimated that in the country there are an average of six thousand ophthalmology doctors, which represents one specialist for every 7,500 inhabitants or 138 for every million people, according to data provided by the consulting professor of the ophthalmology chair of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires and of Clinics Hospital, Roberto Borrone.
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By way of comparison with the American and European region, Borrone specified that, in Brazil and Mexico, “there are 70 specialists per one million inhabitants; in Uruguay 56; in Chile 44 and in Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay, 32 doctors, and in Ecuador 23, under that proportion”.
“If we place this figure in terms of the number of doctors of all specialties, in the country there are 4.1 per thousand inhabitants, similar to Australia, with 4.1; Germany, 4.4; Norway, 5.2; Brazil, 2.3 (2019); Chile , 2.8 (2020); Spain, 4.4 (2019); United States, 2.6 (2018)”, said the doctor, following highlighting that the big local problem “is the irregular geographical distribution, with a high concentration of professionals in large urban centers “.
The actual president of the Argentine Council of Ophthalmology (CAO), ophthalmologist and surgeon, Juan Sebastian Rivero, He explained that Argentine ophthalmology was “historically recognized for the high academic level of professionals.”
Regarding the employment situation of the specialization, in line with Borrone’s opinion, Rivero stated that the quality of ophthalmological care “is threatened by the political-economic situation of our country, which affects all of medicine, and in particularly, to our specialty whose inputs are imported and are in short supply due to the difficulties of the outflow of dollars faced by distributors and importers of our machines and inputs.
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“Today, doctors get paid between 60 and 90 days following having carried out a practice, assuming the role of true financiers of the system, which makes it very difficult, if not impossible, to sustain that historical quality of Argentine ophthalmological medicine and of the entire medicine, which is at imminent risk of suffering irreparable and historic damage, along with the deterioration of people’s health,” he said.
Eye problems
The head of the ophthalmology service of the Garrahan Children’s Hospital, Viviana Abudi, He recalled that “the most common ophthalmological diseases in adults and school age are glasses problems, refraction defects; “There is an incidence of myopic astigmatism in those people who read, who use many screens and who have great near vision overload.”
After the age of 45, many cases of presbyopia appear, which is a physiological aging of the eye, for which close-up glasses must be used.
“That would be the most common condition; it is followed by cataract, which is the first cause of blindness, reversible through surgery,” the specialist clarified.
For his part, Borrone highlighted that the prevalence of myopia (difficulty in seeing distant objects clearly) is increasing noticeably in Argentina and worldwide, “to such an extent that there is already talk of a global epidemic of myopia,” he said. .
In the middle age of life, mainly from the age of 40, the prevalence of glaucoma increases, a condition of the optic nerve, whose main risk factor is ocular hypertension (the elevated pressure of a transparent fluid that circulates inside the eye. , called aqueous humor), a silent disease that does not cause symptoms and progressed significantly.
Both Borrone and Abudi highlighted the impact of a highly prevalent disease such as diabetes, which “can generate serious visual impairment by affecting the small blood vessels of the retina, called diabetic retinopathy, which in some can cause blindness, although 80 % of these cases are preventable.”
After the age of 60, cataract and macular degeneration are the two prevalent age-related conditions.
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Professionals remember the importance of early detection and monitoring of conditions and Abudi recalled that “if we correct conditions in childhood once development is completed, at 8 or 10 years, it is too late, there is no longer regression for that which they did not learn to see”.
In addition to controls in the first months of life, to rule out cataracts, it is also necessary to avoid the most common malignant tumor of childhood following leukemia, which is retinoblastoma.
In agreement with professionals, Abudi emphasized that families are recommended to reduce the amount of time they use screens, improve outdoor life, and improve nutrition.
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