20-20 VISION

August 26, 2023 Opinion

Sight is one of the five senses that we all have aside from the senses of touch, hearing, smell, and
taste. Their functions are interconnected to the other such that when one malfunctions, it leads to an uneasy feeling. Vision is defined as the ability to plan the future with imagination or wisdom, or its basic definition, being able to see. Dr. Marcelino “Junn” Dizon Jr., an optometrist whose “addiction” is going to rural communities to provide eye check-ups and teach the value of caring for the eyes always reminds me of “practice”, and “20-20”.

His definition of 20-20— stand up from the office chair to compel the eyes to have a break from
looking at the computer screen or a gadget that strains the eyes. A break to rest the eyes can also mean simply closing the eyes for 20 seconds. Another technic which could loosen the eye muscles
caused by stress or strain is to point a finger to the bridge of the eyes, slowly move it closer
until the eyes feel “cross-eyed” and move back again, repeating the same exercise several times.

Do that regularly and any person will not need eyeglasses to help in seeing, kasla met lang muscle a saan nga maigargaraw, tumangken, agparigat. “Dizon Vision” managed by Doc Junn is frequented by clients who need to loosen the eye muscles, especially the “not so young anymore” who are developing presbyopia. Presbyopia Doc Junn tells me “umubing ta gaminen kabsat kaya masapul tanggapen and masapul mu ag 20-20 ta di ag progress dayta pag-ubing”.

Many of his patients are less privileged, making him want to reach the far-flung communities to teach eye care, what needs to be done to prevent eye problems and hopefully prevent the use of
eyeglasses. Doc Junn proudly said: “Kanayun ku gamin isuru ti 20- 20 isu nga makapractice ak.”
With just a few steps away from becoming a “dual citizen” (Filipino and senior), Doc Junn proudly says, he does not use an eyeglass because he does not only do the 20-20 once a day, but numerous times depending on the number of patients, like me, he needs to teach or remind how the 20-20 is
done.

Salamat Doc Junn…