Beware of eye damaging sunglasses!

[LahoreEstate]

Friday, May 15, 2009
by Noor Aftab

Islamabad

Sunglasses made of substandard plastic and other material, which can cause complete blindness or severely impair a person’s vision, are openly being sold by vendors in the twin cities. These are also available in some outlets.

Two types of sunglasses are generally being sold in markets, including knock-off and replica items, at affordable prices. They look so genuine that they can easily pass for the real ones.

Market sources told ‘The News’ that most shopkeepers prefer to import fake or knock-off sunglasses from neighbouring countries that enable them to earn huge profits out of small investments.

Some shopkeepers, selling branded sunglasses at designated outlets, revealed that the companies themselves are providing them replica items, keeping in view the diminishing buying power of customers. The majority of customers do not have any idea that the sunglasses being sold between the price range of Rs3,000-5,000 are only replica items because the original branded sunglasses cost two to three times more money.

Dr. Farooq Afzal, an eye specialist at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), told ‘The News’ that a person has to stress on his or her nerves while looking through fake sunglasses that could cause severe damage to the retina of the eye. “The retina of the eye spreads to its maximum extent when a person tries to thoroughly see through the plastic lenses. It also causes opening of the inner shutter of the eye, which is highly sensitive to ultraviolet rays,” he said.

Given the fact that such sunglasses could not prevent ultraviolet rays, he said their consistent use could impair the vision and even cause complete blindness in some cases.

Conversely, vendors with the advent of summer are nowadays seen in markets, trying their utmost to make an impact on their customers while displaying fake sunglasses along roads and on footpaths. The quality of frames used in these glasses is inferior, with mostly rock-hard plastic used instead of lenses, and they do not have any resistance to ultraviolet radiations of the sun. These sunglasses are available at a price as low as Rs100, which attracts those who cannot afford to spend much in this respect. But it seems that most of the customers just want to wear apparently good looking sunglasses, without taking into account the anticipated hazardous effects of fake ones on their eyes.

Hammad Butt, a customer in Saddar, said one could effectively avoid air pressure and prevent dust particles from entering into the eyes with the use of sunglasses during outdoor activities. “At a time when various road projects are underway in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, riding a motorcycle is really a tough task. So I use sunglasses to protect the eyes from dust particles and plastic lenses can also serve this purpose effectively,” he added.



http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=177732