Dr Sameera Irfan

Eid holidays finally ended but taught me an important lesson:

God has created a huge universe with our world just a tiny spec in it, occupied by a diverse population. Each person in it is different and is given a very important role by our Creator, which no one else can replace.

In every society, sweepers that clean our toilets, houses, gardens , roads, parks, streets, shopping malls, work places, schools are simply taken for granted, even looked down upon and treated with disgust.
My cleaning lady took a week’s vacation to celebrate Eid without even informing me. It was her right too to celebrate, but I was extremely angry at her that firstly, she left without informing me for how lone she’s going and when will she be back, and secondly, I had to do all her chores.
Whole one week I had to clean the house as guests were expected.

I was exhausted by all the hard manual labour for whole one week and realised :

Imagine one day I wake up and all cleaners / sweepers have vanished from this world. What will be the result ? Piles of trash everywhere, which will rot eventually as no one will be there to remove it; the whole environment will be full of stench, mice will be seen running around feasting on the trash and so will be stray animals.

Who will clean up all this mess.????

So next time you think of being harsh with your maid, your sweeper, car cleaner, gardener. Or any person providing you with any kind of service, just stop for a moment, and think, ” What if he quits, what if they all quit, go on strike, or VANISH???????”

So my friends, for a clean peaceful environment and to save all your precious time and energy, look after all your workers, all service providers. Treat them with kindness, respect and reward them for their hard work !!!!!!

Remember, the role of each person in society, this world, UNIVERSE, is very important. Every person is like a minute piece in a clock (made up of million pieces fit together) and they make the clock work……..RESPECT THE WHOLE CREATION!

In a recent Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan,s annual meeting at Bhurban, May, 2014, Dr. Sameera Irfan has been given a Gold Medal award for academic and professional excellence in the field of Pediatric Ophthalmology in Pakistan for the year 2014.

This is in lieu of her major research on successful Amblyopia (lazy eye) therapy for children and adults as well as for writing 3 books on ophthalmic sub-specialties: Amblyopia, Strabismus, Oculoplastic surgery and numerous publications in national & international peer reviewed journals.

This is her third Gold Medal award; the first one was for distinction in Ophthalmology in MBBS final exam,  the second one was for best paper presentation as a junior ophthalmologist at the annual meeting of Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan’s meeting, 2000.

She has established the department of Pediatric Ophthalmology & Oculoplastics at the Mughal Eye Trust Hospital, Lahore which has been offering free clinical services to patients being referred from all over Pakistan and abroad. This is the first free, charity centre of its kind providing quality service to its patients.

Because of her successful work on Amblyopia (lazy eye)  management for patients of all ages, she has made an amazing contribution and difference in the field of pediatric ophthalmology. Patients presenting with squint usually have a poor vision in the squinting eye (lazy eye).  Her latest research on amblyopia management not only restores good vision in the squinting eye but also corrects the squint with glasses only;  such patients do not have to undergo squint surgery.

Dr. Sameera promises to keep up the good work and her efforts to make a difference in the field of pediatric ophthalmology and oculoplastic surgery.

The management of a patient with strabismus / squint is one of the most challenging asks for trainee as well as general ophthalmologists. This book is clinically oriented and describes the management of all kinds of strabismus in a most comprehensive and a concise manner which is easy to grasp.

You can order it from the publishers: Jaypee Brothers or send me a mail and I shall post it to you.

My e. mail: sam.irfan48@gmail.com.

Fever is a sign that there is an infection somewhere in the body. Similarly, squinting of eyes also indicates that something is wrong with the child’s eyes and it is mandatory to find the cause of the squint rather than having it corrected surgically.
Remember “SURGERY IS NOT THE TREATMENT OF A SQUINTING EYE BUT A LAST RESORT”.
Human eye is like a camera. It gathers light impulses from the objects and transmits that information to the brain which then analyzes the details of that image. Remember there are two cameras (eyes) operating side by side. If the information transmitted by one eye is hazy or blurred, the brain gets confused. It blocks the faulty information from the problematic eye and that eye starts to squint i.e. turns inwards or outwards. The eye conditions that lead to a squint are:
1) Droopy upper eyelids.
2) Clouding or haziness of the cornea or lens of the eye.
3) Gross short-sightedness or far-sightedness.
4) Retinal or optic nerve malformation.
The most common cause of a squinting eye in children is far-sightedness. The child needs glasses to see clearly. Failure to recognize and rectify this problem with correcting glasses makes the child squeeze his eye muscles which then turn the eye inwards.
Whenever this problem is noticed, the help of a pediatric ophthalmologist should be sought urgently before that eye loses its sight permanently.
Surgery for such an eye is not the answer as it can only straighten the eye for a short while but cannot restore the sight. An eye with poor vision will soon deviate again.

Young children usually cannot understand or complain that they cannot see clearly. If this problem is not diagnosed early and correcting glasses are not given timely, a child starts neglecting his work at school, his writing becomes bad and his performance in class drops. Gross near-sightedness reduces a child’s horizon as he can see clearly only up till a meter or a two meter distance hence he starts losing interest in outdoor activities which demand a good distant vision; he becomes more inclined towards indoor activities and becomes a loner.
As a parent, we can diagnose that the child needs glasses by keeping a look out for the following symptoms:
1) Frequent blinking or rubbing the eyes.
2) Squeezing both eyes to see at a distance object.
3) Closing one eye while a photograph is being taken or outdoors.
4) Watching T.V standing close to it.
5) Worsening of hand writing and performance at school.
6) Squinting of one eye while reading or looking at a distance.
7) Watering of eyes while watching T.V or outdoors.
If you notice any of these symptoms, please see a pediatric ophthalmologist who is especially trained to recognize this problem and rectify it. Longstanding neglect of a child’s poor vision results in a “lazy eye” which is difficult to treat.