Eye health issues El Pasoans face

May is Healthy Vision Month and a local optometrist shares issues many El Pasoans face when it comes to eye health and treating it.

Dr. Samuel Favela sees about 70 patients a day between two clinics — one of them is Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe.

Favela says it’s a clinic that helps patients who are economically disadvantaged.

"Unfortunately, a lot of these patients do not get the care that they need, not only systemically, whether practitioner, general practitioner, but especially in their eye care," explains Favela. "And usually when I see them, there are issues that have developed."

Because of the large Hispanic population in El Paso, one of the main issues he sees is diabetes, which can lead to eye diseases such as cataracts and glaucoma.

But Favela says patients report care being unaffordable, leading them to not getting it taken care of in time or getting necessary medications.

Another issue he treats patients for is dry eyes — something Favela says could advance and should be taken seriously.

"You have to be careful with those patients because a lot of people think 'Well, it's just dry.' Well, if you have severe dry eye, you can cause, corneal problems, corneal scarring, things like that," he says.

Favela recommends people get their eyes checked yearly to detect any problems early on.