Academic Publications

Listening  at the debate around the 2022 matric results for public schools in South Africa it is very obvious that we are faced with major challenges in our school system. Add to this the drive to introduce electronic devices in the Foundation Phase, like elsewhere in the world, and the situation can become catastrophic. Sadly, it seems that everybody is talking about this, but nobody is listening. I talk to parents almost on a daily basis and in the majority of cases they admit that they have very little control over their children, even those under 5 years of age.

Vision and the Foundation phase. Download and view here: Vison and the Foundation Phase article

Like in many other spheres of life we are finding that our current mode of practice is getting challenged as technology and the explosion of knowledge provide far better insights on some very old concepts. In many aspects, a clear rift is beginning to develop between past and present. Medical research and clinical science however, have been advancing steadily and have been finding the answers that many optometrists have not quite caught up to. There is predominantly the current prescription practice, which dates to the 16th century and has mostly gone completely unchanged since. It may require a paradigm shift away from the mainstream establishment if we wish to remain meaningful and survive as a profession in this global village of ours. These may seem hard words, but let us look at a simple example: more and more patients are now asking for their number – meaning their script. Then, will take this and order their glasses over the internet and may even get it sooner and cheaper than what your own laboratory can provide In certain countries “over the counter” myopic glasses are selling far more than readymade readers. If have no doubt that practices focusing on retail aspects and even willing to do free eye examinations will face an uncertain future.

Vision in the 21st Century. Download and view here: Vision in the 21st Century (3)

Abstract

This article attempts to outline the role of hardware and software skills in athletes’ performance. It further relates the importance of both systems. The hardware system includes all non-task related skills that each individual being an athlete or not can perform. These skills are equally important in performance as the software skills. Hardware skills allow good performance of software skills. However, the software skills are improvable and can make a difference between the expert athletes and novice athletes. Further it is believed that superior athletes normally have superior software skills than novice athletes. There has not been any evidence to conclude the difference in hardware skills between novice and experts athletes.

The role of hardware and software visual skills on athlete. Download and view here: The role of hardware and software visual skills on athlete

On 18 February 1999 the World Health Organization together with more than 20 international non-governmental organisations launched VISION 2020. The aim was to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. The project is driven by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB). So we just arrived in the year 2020 and I am sure we shall soon see reports evaluating the success of this global initiative.

The prevention and control of myopia in the year 2020 with references. Download and view here: The prevention and control of myopia in the year 2020 with references

Introduction:

The COVID 19 pandemic is causing some major challenges in our everyday activities and certainly changed our world for the foreseeable future and maybe even over the long term. To reduce physical contact and create some social distancing children and adults were encouraged and even forced to stay at home. The whole working environment has changed. People are now working from home spending long hours on digital devices. Most of my patients report that they are spending far more time on these devices than what would have been the case if they were working from their offices. It is also common practice not to get in your car or even on an aeroplane to go and attend meetings or seminars but rather sit at home attend virtual meetings or webinars. One year ago, most of us did not even now about Zoom meetings or webinars.

The Lock Down Syndrome. Download and view here: The LOCK DOWN SYNDROME CPD ARTICLE

Hierdie onderwerp het onlangs baie aandag getrek in die media en almal wil weet of dit n goeie of n slegte ding is om my kind aan hierdie tegnologie bloot te stel. In die VSA is daar selfs kenners wat ’n algehele verbod op die gebruik van tegnologie by kinders onder die ouderdom van 12 jaar bepleit omdat hulle voel dit benadeel die breinontwikkeling by die jong kind. Ek is egter van mening dat dít is ’n onhaalbare doelwit is  en een wat nie die nuwe geslag van kinders – ook bekend as generasie Z – ’n guns sal betoon nie.

Daar is geen manier wat jy hulle van tegnologie af gaan weghou nie. Die uitdaging is gewoon hoe hanteer ’n mens dit? Hierdie kinders is digitale boorlinge. Hulle is digitaal gedrewe, hulle doen meer as een ding op ’n slag, hul aandagspan is kort en alles moet onmiddellik gebeur. Dit nie die gebruik van rekenaars, tablette en selfone per sy wat wat die probleme skep nie maar eerder die oormatige en onoordeelkundige gebruik daarvan wat aanleiding gee tot n wye reeks van ander probleme of frustrasies.

TEGNOLOGIE EN DIE HEDENDAAGSE KIND .Download and view here: TEGNOLOGIE EN DIE HEDENDAAGSE KIND

The changing face of sports from the old conservative amateur approach to a dynamic professional business has created many opportunities. The unprecedented interest of the media and the globalization of television and the internet have made sports a major marketing tool. Like elsewhere in the world athletes and coaches are investigating all the different legal (and sometimes illegal) options available to them to enhance performance and give them that edge over their competitors. This resulted in organisations identifying what is called key performance indicators. Sports vision is regarded as one of these indicators (Ferreira 2014, 2018).

The role of vision in sports performance is a topic that has always attracted considerable attention and has been studied quite extensively over the years. Quite recently statements and announcements made by a number of high profile professional sporting organizations and individuals on the contribution of sports vision to their success certainly resulted in even more public awareness.

In 1986 the following definition was formulated: Sports vision encompasses performance orientated comprehensive vision care programs involving the education, evaluation, correction protection and enhancement of the athlete. Each of these areas should be addressed in a performance oriented manner. This means that the practitioner should consider all his or her services from a performance standpoint. Improved visual performance resulting in enhanced athletic performance must be the ultimate goal of sports vision regimens (Reichow and Stern, 1986). Judging from all the enquiries I am receiving from optometrists there is indeed a keen interest to be involved in this discipline with the biggest market being the recreational athlete and children.

Sports vision: What and how to prescribe ophthalmic products.. Download and view here: sports vision What and how to prescribe ophthalmic products

It is now more than 80 years since the first publication on sports I Ivision appeared in literature. The early studies all originated vIision in the disciplines of sports science and sport psychology and it was only during the 1970’s that optometry and ophthalmology really became involved in sports vision. It was Garner1 who presented a study; done with some 3000 athletes that stimulated a major awareness of the role that optometry could play in sport performance and this opened the floodgates for optometric publications on sports vision. In 1980, Sherman2 published a literature overview that supports the role of vision in sports, particularly aspects such as static visual acuity, dynamic visual acuity, depth perception, stereopsis, accurate triangulation, eye movement and speed, peripheral vision and visualisation. He concluded, “All these visual abilities are trainable and enhanceable by optometric visual training”. Sherman2 also referred to the unique role that optometry can play in providing sports vision. He stated that the optometrist routinely provides vision care to athletes at different levels and this care should include corrective eyewear, protective eyewear and visual training to reinforce the role of optometry in enhancing sports performance.

THE STATUS OF SPORTS VISION IN SOUTH AFRICA. Download and view here: sport visie artikel

Ons leef in ’n tegnologiese eeu en kinders moet met al die ontwikkelings byhou. Maar maak baie seker jy bestuur die gebruik van al die skerms reg, anders kan jou kind op ander vlakke in die hek duik.

Die twee- of driejarige op haar ma se skoot by die tafel langsaan huil droewig. Die ma sug, neem haar slimfoon by die ouer sussie en druk dit in die kleintjie se handjies. Sy stop in die middel van ’n hartverskeurende snik. Ek kyk verstom hoe sy behendig oor die skerm vee en druk om by haar speletjie uit te kom. Tye het verander en hedendaagse kinders se tegnologiese verwysingsraamwerk verskil hemelsbreed van dié van kinders van selfs ’n dekade gelede. Prof. Jannie Ferreira, voormalige hoof van die departement optometrie aan die Universiteit van Johannesburg, noem dié kinders die Z-generasie: kinders wat ná 2000 gebore is en heel gepas die tegnologieboorlinge genoem word.

TEGNOLOGIE: JOU KIND SE REDDING OF ONDERGANG?. Download and view here: rooi rose artikel kind en tegnologie

There is no shortage on publications on myopia and it remains one of the most researched areas in the eye care world. Notwithstanding this plethora of articles, researchers all over the world are still debating the possible aetiologies and mechanisms behind myopia development and progression. The debate on prevention and or control of myopia is filled with even more conflicting evidence. According to Global Burden of Disease estimates, uncorrected distance refractive error is the second largest cause of blindness and the leading cause of moderate and severe vision impairment in the world [1] and I believe it is for this reason that it is important to find general and acceptable ways of dealing with the threat of myopia. According to a document released by the WHO in 2017, the direct and in direct loss of world productivity due to uncorrected refractive error, amounts several hundred billions US Dollars and is still increasing [2]. Published estimates based on epidemiological studies indicate that myopia affects 1.89 billion people worldwide, and, if the current prevalence rates do not change, projections show that it will affect 2.56 billion people by 2020 [3].

Myopia with the focus on the prevention and management thereof. Download and view here: Myopia – the prevention and management thereof