Vision & Eye Care for Shanghai Expats

Did you know that your eyes contain the largest number of active muscles in your entire body? Even when you’re asleep, your eyes are constantly moving. With more than two million moving parts, your eyes are capable of processing 36,000 bits of information an hour! As one of our most essential senses, it’s important to protect our eyesight from an early age. Start by using sunglasses to shield from UV rays and safety eyewear in certain sports or hazardous jobs, and remember to take regular breaks from the computer screen.

Shanghai eye care can become a serious concern for expats during their stay. Fortunately there are English speaking service providers in Shanghai who can help you with all your eye care needs.

Let’s take a look at one of the most common Shanghai eye care issues for expats; dry eye.

Dealing with Dry Eye in Shanghai

Living in Shanghai has its ups and downs and, like residents in many of the world’s biggest cities, pollution will inevitably become something that you have to deal with on a regular basis. If you also spend the majority of your waking hours in front of a computer screen, air pollution’s effect on your eyes may be even more noticeable.

Dry eye is one of the nagging health conditions that many people in Shanghai suffer from on a daily basis. But, unless you’re planning to either leave the city or to leave your job, you need to be proactive in finding ways to deal with dry eye effectively.

Fortunately, there are several international hospitals and clinics in Shanghai for expatriates where you can get medical advice on dealing with dry eye.

What is Dry Eye

Dry eye is a condition characterized either by a decrease in the amount of tears you produce, or an increase in the evaporation of the layer (or film) of tears that coat your eye.

Dry eye can result in a feeling of general discomfort in the eye, and may create visual disturbances. It can also cause damage to the ocular surface, or the surface of the eye.

Dry eye is by no means an unusual condition in China. A study conducted in northern China indicated that 21% of the country’s adult population experienced symptoms associated with dry eye.

Just as wearing air pollution masks has become the norm in China’s most cosmopolitan city, dealing with dry eye in Shanghai can easily become just another everyday way of adapting to your environment.

What Does Dry Eye Feel Like

The sense that your eyes feel dry is just one of the symptoms of dry eye.

If you suffer from dry eye, you may also experience discomfort or pain, a burning or stinging sensation in the eyes, or itchiness. Some people feel as if there is something gritty stuck in their eye, scratching the eyeball.

Others experience blurred vision or light sensitivity. Tiredness or strain after reading for normal periods of time is also common. If your work or study routine involves reading or staring at a computer screen for several hours every day, dry eye can make your life rather unpleasant indeed.

Some people who suffer from dry eye will experience what seems like the opposite: their eyes won’t feel dry at all, and they will notice an excess of tears streaming from their eyes.

These, however, are not high quality tears with the ability to lubricate the eye properly. They are mostly composed of water and, while they will wash debris away, they do not coat the ocular surface well enough.

What Causes Dry Eye

Dry eye can be caused by:

The natural aging process
Certain eye surgeries
Being a smoker, or being regularly exposed to smokers’ second-hand smoke
Exposure to Air pollution
Long-term computer/smart-phone use
A dry environment (such as places with excessive air conditioning, heat, or wind)

The connection between dry eye syndrome and living in big, often polluted, cities was confirmed in a study by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The study found that a dry eye diagnosis was three to four times more likely among residents of New York City and Chicago, compared to residents of less urban, less-polluted areas of the United States.

How Do I Know if I Have Dry Eye

Although the symptoms described above will provide clues as to whether you are suffering from dry eye, the condition needs to be diagnosed by an ophthalmologist in order to be properly treated.

Your Shanghai eye care doctor will conduct one or more of the following types of eye exams:

A tear breakup time (TBUT) test
A measurement of the rate of tear production
A visual acuity test
A slit-lamp exam

Shanghai Eye Care – Treating Dry Eye

Like you, your eyes are unique. The treatments for dealing with dry eye syndrome that work best for you will not necessarily be effective for somebody else. Your ophthalmologist will discuss all your treatment options, which may include one or more of the following:

Nutrition

Nutrition can play a large role in alleviating the symptoms of dry eye, which goes to show how dealing with dry eye is very much in your hands. Increase your intake of fish oil, either by eating larger quantities of oily fish, or by taking supplements such as salmon or krill oil, which are rich in omega-3.

Environment

Just as your environment can aggravate or lead to dry eye, so it can help you to deal with dry eye’s symptoms. Research by the American Academy of Ophthalmology showed that maintaining a comfortable level of humidity in your home or workplace and using a high-quality air filter are both helpful to patients suffering from dry eye syndrome.

Artificial Teardrops

This is the most common treatment for dry eye. There are several types of artificial teardrops on the market, and you may need to try a few before finding the eye drops that work best for you.

For some people, keeping a small bottle of artificial teardrops with them at all times makes the world of difference. If your eyes tend to become dry while you sleep, you can use a variety of more viscous eye drops before you go to bed.

Anti-inflammatory Eye Drops

Sometimes dry eye is caused by inflammation of the eye, in which case anti-inflammatory medications can help you to manage the symptoms. Clinical improvements have been noted in the use of corticosteroids, tacrolimus, and cyclosporine A. As always, be sure to discuss your suitability for specific medications with your Shanghai eye care doctor first.

Punctal Occlusion – Tear Drainage Duct Occlusion

This is a procedure that ophthalmologists use to temporarily close the lacrimal punctum (or tear duct), from where tears drain out of the eye. A dissolving plug is initially inserted into the tear duct to establish whether or a permanent plug can provide a long-term solution for supplying the eye with sufficient tears.

Shanghai New Vision Eye Clinic

Shanghai Eye Care Clinic

New Vision Eye Clinic’s staff of leading Shanghai eye care doctors and ophthalmologists provide personalized eye care at three clinics in Shanghai. New Vision Eye Clinic is a pioneer in ophthalmology, and is proud to have surgeons who were among the first to perform laser eye surgery in both China and North America as part of the team.

Since opening in 1996, New Vision Eye Clinic has remained at the forefront of cutting-edge Shanghai eye care research. New Vision Eye Clinic’s headquarters are at a specialist medical facility in downtown Shanghai, where you can meet their team of English-speaking eye doctors and ophthalmologists.

Where to go in Shanghai for eye examinations?

Ophthalmologist Dr Chun Ho Lau of Western Eye Center in Shanghai, recommends annual eye examinations, and in Shanghai, there are plenty of options for eye care. However, Dr Lau cautions against eye testing at optical markets in China, as the stalls may not be staffed by appropriately trained opticians. “Optometry education is in its infancy in China and many in the glasses industry do not have proper training. High quality glasses always take time to make, and good lenses need to be ordered,” stresses Dr Lau. ”Do not trust same-day service! If you do not get the correct glasses for your condition, your vision will be negatively affected.”

What’s the difference among vision professionals?

It’s important to know the differences in expertise among eye care professionals to ensure you receive the level of service you want:

Ophthalmologist

An ophthalmologist is a medical doctor licensed to practice medicine and surgery for eye and vision care.

Optometrist

An optometrist is a healthcare professional, but not a medical doctor, who provides primary vision care, sight testing, care and management of vision changes.

Optician

An optician is trained to design, verify and fit eyeglasses, frames and contact lenses, but does not test vision or write prescriptions.

Keeping your eyes healthy is one of the most important aspects of health care. It’s easy to forget about getting regular eye tests when you’re living abroad, but you should be going to the optometrist at least once every two years to rule out optical problems like glaucoma and to check that your prescription hasn’t changed (if you already wear glasses or contact lenses). If you have children, opticians recommend that you get their eyes tested every two years from the age of three.

Eye doctors in Shanghai

Most of Shanghai’s Western medical clinics offer optometry and ophthalmology services. ParkwayHealth has three ophthalmologists on staff–two at the Tomorrow Square branch and one at the Jinqiao clinic.

They perform routine eye exams for sight and visual field, as well as performing surgery. WorldPath in Pudong has an eye clinic run by a team of experienced doctors. As well as general optometry and ophthalmology, they offer laser vision correction (using LASIK techniques), and children’s eyecare.

The clinic has a doctor who specializes in diabetic eye problems, such as retinopathy. New Vision Eye Clinic, an outpost of an American company founded 1996, uses the latest techniques and equipment.

Clean and professional, New Vision offers general eye tests, laser surgery, glaucoma treatments and surgery for cataracts and eyelid injuries.

Once you’ve had your eyes tested, the optician will write your prescription out for you. Take this to a spectacles shop or market to have your glasses made or your contact lenses selected.

Glasses market at Shanghai

The 3 Yeh glasses market at Shanghai Railway Station is a great place to score good deals on eyewear. Follow the signs inside the Metro exit for Lines 3 and 4. Once you’ve found it, the hardest thing is deciding which of the booths to visit. They’re all pretty much the same when it comes to choice and price. If you have your prescription, it’s as easy as handing it to the staff, choosing your frames and waiting while they measure you up and make your glasses. Last time we went, we got a decent pair of black plastic rimmed frames with prescription lenses for RMB140. If you have your current spectacles with you but no prescription, they can copy your lenses and put them in new frames. Most booths also offer eye tests on site.

Contact Lenses

Your best (and cheapest) bet when it comes to buying contact lens solution is your local optician. Almost all neighborhood glasses shops carry a selection of brands. The shop on the ground floor of the Shanghai Book Mall stocks renu (ranging from RMB25 for 25ml to RMB350 for 500ml) and even the elusive AoSept cleaning solution with its hydrogen peroxide reactor basket (RMB50 for 350ml). There’s also the Chinese brand Weikang (卫康), which tends to be around 10 kuai cheaper than the Western varieties. As for the chain pharmacies, Mannings doesn’t carry contact lens paraphernalia, but you’ll find a limited selection at Watson’s larger branches.

Shades

While it can be tempting to snap up copies of the latest designer shades for cheap at the fake market, wearing fake sunglasses is dangerous for your eyes. They might look like top-of-the-range Guccis, but it’s unlikely that your fakes have been tested as rigorously as the originals. Even if they block out some of the sun’s harmful ultraviolent rays, the most dangerous UVB ones will still get through, leading to loss of vision. What’s more, many of the dark lenses on the fake pairs get their color from dye, so they’re protecting your eyes from absolutely nothing. It’s worth paying a hundred kuai more for a decent pair.