The 7-year-old kid was full of life and loved sports. His favourite sport was badminton, and he always looked forward to evenings when he could go out and play games. 

One day, he grabbed his rackets and went out to play. 

“Bye, mom. I am going to the park to play. I will come back in a while.” Aryan said to her mother and left.

Like other days, Aryan played badminton with his friends Arjun and Ravi. When he looked for the shuttle in the air, he saw a blur vision, as if he saw two shuttles at once. He dropped the racket, closed and rubbed his eyes and resumed playing. 

As the sun went down, the park was lit with lights. As Aryan looked for the shuttle in the air again, he couldn’t open his eyes due to sharp lightning. His eyes became watery and red.

Next, Aryan returned to his house and told everything to his father. His father checked his eyes closely.

“Your eyes are red, Aryan. Do you feel any irritation or pain?” His father asked.

“Papa, I feel a little discomfort in both my eyes. I sometimes see two objects as if everything goes blurry before me.” Aryan said with concern.

Aryan’s family was concerned to see his symptoms. 

His father took him to a nearby eye clinic to see what was causing all these symptoms. 

The ophthalmologist did some eye tests and got surprised. He referred to his last eye test and realised that Aryan’s vision deteriorated in the previous few months, and these symptoms were due to an eye infection. 

“Prolonged exposure to pollutants can affect a cornea; the most delicate structure of the human body. Various indoor and outdoor air pollutants affect our eyes in various ways and can result in eye issues like cataracts, glaucoma, retinopathy, eye infections, etc.” the doctor said. 

“Moreover a study showed the relationship between air pollution and age-related eye diseases. They found a 5% increase in the risk to develop cataracts in the future if one is exposed to air pollutants around them” the doctor added.

Aryan and his family were devastated. The little boy couldn’t understand the issue, but his eyes hurt. 

Imagine if air pollution can affect our eyes at this level; what can it do to our internal organs if we inhale the same air? 

Soon, more tests and examinations were done to only found the conclusion that air pollution surrounding Aryan affected his eyes, due to which he lost some of his visibility. However, the doctor told the family that Aryan would recover his vision with some precautions.

“Aryan will be fine. Don’t worry, sir.” the doctor said to his father. 

Next, the doctor shared some tips and asked everyone in the family to follow them to keep their eyes safe from air pollution. Some of these tips include

1. Avoid going to construction sites.
2. Close your car windows in heavy traffic.
3. Wash your eyes with clean water twice a day.
4. Avoid rubbing your eyes.
5. Use prescribed lubricating eye drops for comfort.
6. Consume a healthy diet.
7. Wear sunglasses while going out.

Aryan’s family realised that it was too early to identify a serious issue and that they could work on it. The doctor was kind enough to share some informative videos, the Wingify Earth website, and pdfs with the family so that they can protect not just their eyes but also their lungs, skin, etc., from deadly air pollution.

Aryan was happy that his discomfort would disappear and he could play his game again. He told this incident to his friends and educated them about the effects of air pollution so they could stay ahead of it.

The family took the right step at the right time. However, in other cases, people may lose their visibility with air pollution. It's high time we understood the seriousness of the issue and protected ourselves.