The Johannesburg calendar has turned to spring, and the season brings back those stretched-out, sunlit afternoons that pull families outdoors onto sports grounds, patios, walking routes and the roads between them. Dr. T Fletcher’s Bryanston practice is treating this seasonal shift as a chance to make a point that usually slips from mind the moment the winter jackets go into storage, namely that eyes deserve sun protection in the same way skin does, and that the ultraviolet light arriving with the warmer weather contributes to several of the eye conditions most frequently encountered across South Africa.
There is a good reason to raise it in September. Highveld skies open up, the hours spent outside rise steeply, and whatever routines take hold now generally last the length of summer. Ultraviolet damage builds up quietly instead of announcing itself, which is precisely why it slips under the radar. Nothing on the eye’s surface stings the way sunburned skin does, so the toll of years without protection only shows up much further down the line, as changes in the lens and on the eye’s surface that a specialist can spot during an examination.
Why Ultraviolet Light Matters to the Eye
South Africa lies in a region where the sun is intense and the outdoor calendar runs long. That location shapes the range of eye conditions that ophthalmologists encounter in local rooms, and it explains why sun protection belongs to daily health rather than to holidays alone. The practice website counts ultraviolet radiation among the acknowledged risk factors for cataracts, together with age, family history, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, smoking, alcohol, certain medications, eye inflammation or trauma, prior eye surgery and high myopia. Ultraviolet exposure also heads the list of risks for pterygium, a growth on the surface of the eye that turns up more frequently in sunny regions and nearer the equator.
None of that argues for staying indoors. It argues that the attention paid to sunscreen, hats and shade should reach the eyes too, and that sunglasses make more sense as protective gear than as a fashion choice. The website is precise here, calling for sunglasses that block out one hundred percent of ultraviolet rays. How dark the tint looks is not the deciding factor. A dark lens with no ultraviolet filter simply lets the pupil widen in comfort, which is exactly the wrong outcome.
Pterygium and the Outdoor Season
Few conditions show as plainly as pterygium how sun, wind and dust act on the eye’s surface across the years. The practice characterises it as a noncancerous lesion that tends to grow slowly over a lifetime, listing prolonged ultraviolet exposure, dry eye, and irritants such as dust and wind among its causes. It frequently shows up in adults between twenty and forty, catching people at the most demanding phase of work and family life, when eye complaints are the easiest to brush aside.
Among the symptoms the site records are burning, a gritty feeling, itching, the sense of something lodged in the eye, and blurred vision. Certain cases show up chiefly as redness and inflammation and little more. When the growth spreads onto the cornea it can warp that surface, bringing on astigmatism and the visual disturbance that follows. Treatment might rely on lubricants or steroid containing drops to ease symptoms, while surgery becomes an option once the growth advances and stops responding to medication. Spring is a sound moment to have lasting redness or irritation checked instead of masking it endlessly with over-the-counter drops, since it is the pattern of symptoms that points to the cause beneath.
Cataracts, Glare and the Longer View
The practice website names cataracts as the leading cause of visual loss. They develop in the eye’s natural lens, sitting behind the iris and pupil, and they blunt vision while frequently throwing off glare by day or by night. Glare is usually the first thing people register as the days grow longer, be it a windscreen that abruptly seems tougher to see through in the late-afternoon sun, or headlights that scatter more on the drive home than they once did.
The site lays out the recognised types, among them nuclear sclerosis at the lens centre, cortical cataracts forming in a spoke-like pattern at the edge, and posterior subcapsular cataracts on the lens’s back surface. It also addresses what is known about prevention, highlighting foods rich in antioxidants such as omega-3 fatty acids, lutein and zeaxanthin from vegetables, and vitamins E and C, alongside proper ultraviolet protection. When surgery is called for, the practice describes cataract surgery as a minor procedure and the most common elective procedure, in which the clouded lens is taken out and swapped for an intraocular lens.
A Practice Built Around Specialised Care
Dr. Taryn Fletcher is an ophthalmic surgeon whose practice concentrates on microincision cataract surgery, glaucoma and medical retinal disease, with aesthetic work available as well. The conditions detailed on the practice website run to cataracts, flashes and floaters, pterygium, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, which between them make up much of why adults end up referred to an ophthalmologist in Johannesburg.
Her path started with a Bachelor degree of Medicine and Surgery from the University of the Witwatersrand in 2005. She served as a medical officer at St John Eye in 2008, qualified as an ophthalmologist in 2013, held an honorary consultancy at Helen Joseph Hospital, and worked in private practice as a locum before launching her own rooms in 2014. Her memberships take in the South African Medical Association, the Ophthalmological Society of South Africa, the European Glaucoma Society and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, and she is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
Practical Steps for the Months Ahead
What actually helps through spring and summer is thoroughly ordinary, which is part of why it gets left out. Put on sunglasses that carry full ultraviolet protection, and keep them on in the car as much as on the field. Add a wide brimmed hat to cut the light reaching the eye from overhead and from the sides. Extend the same protection to children, because the outdoor hours of childhood add to a lifetime’s exposure. Keep the eyes lubricated in the dry, windy Highveld air. Pay attention to fresh glare, shifts in night vision, redness that lingers, or a gritty feeling that will not settle, and have them looked at rather than waiting for things to deteriorate.
Scheduling an examination while nothing feels pressing is also when a specialist has the most to go on. Glaucoma especially tends to advance with no early warning, which is why an eye examination reaches past the complaint that brought the patient in. Selecting an opthalmologist for that check means the assessment is done by a doctor trained in both the medical and the surgical care of eye disease.
Readers can find full details of the conditions treated and the services offered on the Dr. T Fletcher website at https://drtfletcher.co.za/.
About Dr. T Fletcher
Dr. T Fletcher is an ophthalmology practice based in Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa, led by ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Taryn Fletcher. The practice specialises in microincision cataract surgery, glaucoma and medical retinal disease, and also offers aesthetic ophthalmology. Conditions covered include cataracts, flashes and floaters, pterygium, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma. Dr. Fletcher qualified in medicine at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2005, graduated as an ophthalmologist in 2013, and established her Bryanston practice in 2014. She is a member of the South African Medical Association, the Ophthalmological Society of South Africa, the European Glaucoma Society and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons, and is registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.
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Dr. T Fletcher
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +27 11 463 2958
Website: https://drtfletcher.co.za/
