Member of the Council of British Ophthalmologists and director of Abdulhadi Eye Hospital in Jordan and Dubai, Dr Samer Abdulhadi, has warned that UAE is witnessing an increase in patients suffering from retina failure, mainly caused by diabetes.

He attributed the high incidence of retina failures to diabetic patients visiting ophthalmologists at a very late stage.

“In general, diabetic patients will, at one stage, suffer from retina failure but patients are never considering the significance of regular checkups. As a matter of fact, bleeding in the vitreous, macular swelling, retinal hemorrhage, retinal exudates and retinal detachment will cause at some stage blindness,” he said.

“Some cases might face doubled vision due to nerve damage and paralysis of muscles that make the eyes move upwards, sideways and obliquely. Many other symptoms can lead, at a later stage, to blindness. Take for example, when partial or complete opacity of the lens of the eye initially causes blurred vision,” Abdulhadi added.

 Dr Abdulhadi said that 7 per cent of diabetes patients in the UAE are exposed to complete retina failure.

“Most patients visit us nearly eight months after the start of their sight problems and this is a stage when we would not be able to restore the damaged parts of the retina. We therefore stress on the importance of regular eye checkups, especially for diabetics,” he said.

New technologies are being brought to the UAE, and now being implemented in Abdulhadi Eye Hospital in Dubai.

In 2011, the Abdulhadi Eye Hospital served more than 7,000 patients from the GCC region, 3,500 of whom travel regularly to Jordan for checkups from the UAE.

The new center in Dubai is manned by medical consultants, providing treatment of retinal disorders and vitreous surgery, cataract removal and vision correction, in addition to plastic surgery around the eye and treatment of various diseases related to eyes. – TradeArabia News Service