THAT the eyes are considered a window to the soul can sound really nice and romantic but on another somewhat more useful level, the eyes are also a window to your general health.
It's not news that the state of your eyes can offer a clue to whether you are suffering from more serious health complications like glaucoma, diabetes or hypertension, but what's new is that you might be able to find that out the next time you buy a new pair of glasses.
With government plans to pass a law to register opticians and optometrists next year, some established optical retailers are taking the cue to offer side-by-side eyecare services besides the usual 'does this frame suit me?' sale of spectacle frames.
Capitol Optical, for one, seems to be bent on educating people about taking as much care of their eyes as they do in choosing the right frame for their face. It has just opened Specialist Eyecare Centre in Great World City, where you can literally walk in, buy a pair of glasses, undergo a complete eye screening and if you discover specific eye problems that require medical care, you can go next door to the Specialist Eyecare Clinic - which offers medical, laser or surgical treatment.
'I want to educate people on the importance of eye care,' says Francis Wong, managing director of Capitol Optical who last year opened Integrated Eyecare Centre in VivoCity, which had a more lifestyle approach to eyewear retailing. His focus now is on integrative retail and healthcare - in fact the 3000 sq ft shop premises is almost evenly split between its showcase of over 100 brands of spectacle frames and a consultation area where four optometrists and eight opticians do more than just check your prescription.
Of course, their services don't come free. Costing $80, a complete eye screening takes 45 minutes and involves meticulous checking with a wide range of machines that do everything from blow air in your eye to nearly blinding you while taking a polaroid photo of the back of your eye.
It sounds scary and to a certain extent, it is almost like going for a medical check up. You sit at a string of machines, and follow the optometrist's instructions to look up, down, at this red light or that green light, all with a view to checking the state of your cornea.
For example, a slit lamp biomicroscopy examines the front of the eye - that's where the optometrist can check for eye infections, scarring, and contact lens related problems like neovascularisation, which is caused by a lack of oxygen to the eye from prolonged contact lens wear.
Another machine - an opthalmoscope - shines a light through the pupil to examine the back of the eye. This test is used to check for glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and hypertensive retinopath. But a more precise machine would be the fundus camera, where a polaroid shot is taken of the back of your eye - it shows more detail and it can check if you have early stages of glaucoma, diabetes or hypertension.
'The thing about glaucoma is that it has no symptoms and you may not even know you have it until it's too late,' says Mr Wong. While you could always make it part of your annual medical screening, not all company-paid screenings include such comprehensive eye screening. At Specialist Eyecare Centre, your $80 also includes keeping your results on file so that they can be checked against each previous year's results. 'These screenings can act as an early warning,' adds Mr Wong. 'If you can catch glaucoma early enough, there is medication to treat it to save your vision.' Indeed, several people who have undergone the screenings found early symptoms of glaucoma and cataract - which would have gone unnoticed otherwise.
Mr Wong reckons that it's a new trend that retailers will not be able to ignore. 'After all, you can buy a pair of sunglasses anywhere', he says.
It's an opinion shared by Philip D Izaac, one of the pioneer optometrists in Singapore who has been running his eponymous Optometrist and Contact Lens clinic at Paragon shopping centre since 1988. With the recently launched Eye Couture retail outlet in the same building specialising in high end eyewear, the idea is to build up awareness about eyecare while customers choose from the latest Alain Mikli frames that the store specialises in.
Mr Izaac notes that Singaporeans 'have little knowledge about what professional eyecare should involve and therefore are left in no position to demand if the person doing eye assessment for them is a certified optometrist, and receive a pair of well-fitted spectacles for themselves'. Mr Izaac's clinic offers lenses prescription, glaucoma testing and eye screening, as well as aftercare services to monitor patients' eye conditions.
As many eye diseases show no symptoms in the early stage, by the time they manifest, it could be too late. 'That is why an eye health screening must accompany your prescription measurement when you make a pair of spectacles,' he adds. That way, you can have healthy eyes as well as a cool pair of frames, all from the same place.
That seems to be the way to go for optical shops, ie, to go beyond simple dispensing of glasses to total healthcare for the eyes.
Mr Izaac concludes: 'They need to have a constant mindset that eyecare is equally important to help people not just by solving their problems, but also to detect potential eye problems which people are not even aware of; and if undetected early, might lead to the reduced vision and blindness and reduce quality of life.'
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Specialist Eyecare Centre, #02-20 Great World City. Tel: 6733-5665.
Philip D Izaac Optometrist, Contact Lens Clinic,#18-02 Paragon Office Tower. Tel: 6734 8018
