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An exceptional and passionate Optometrist, Abhinav Maharwal. He graduated with 4 Gold Medals, specializing in Dispensing Optics, Clinical Optometry, Research Methodology, and Ocular Physiology which quickly earned recognition as the best student.
He wants to spread awareness about eye health and extends his expertise through seminars, talk shows, Social Media platforms. His aim is to make content about eye awareness in as easy a language as he can, so that it reaches a broader audience.
IcyTales is in a conversation with Abhinav Maharwal to discover his commitment to spreading eye awareness and empowering individuals with knowledge.
“I Saw How We Can bring Positive changes into People’s lives through Optometry” – Abhinav Maharwal
We all want to become something and when for some reason we couldn’t reach there, we feel demotivated or think that this is the end and we can’t do anything else.
Abhinav Maharwal gave the CTMT final exam but fortunately or unfortunately he couldn’t clear it. But his father was supportive and showed him that he still has a lot of options to make a career out of.
“When we talk about science MBBS and Engineering used to be the only two options back then. Somehow, luckily or unluckily, I couldn’t clear the CTMT final exam. We had this family eyewear and eye glasses and my dad encouraged me to do something in the field of optometry.”
Abhinav never wanted to waste his year. So, he took his dad’s advice and went into the field of optometry.
He entered into Optometry and after joining he went into Sankara Nethralaya, and witnessed how he can actually bring a positive change into so many patients’ lives.
“Through special devices, training etc, curing people from different ages made me feel special and that’s how it became my passion.”
“My aim is to Spread Eye Health Awareness Through Various Platforms” – Abhinav Maharwal
Abhinav Maharwal has been an independent practitioner since 2009. No wonder, doing something independently brings a lot of challenges. People aren’t aware about their eye health even in 2023, just imagine back then when he started.
“When I started my practice, nobody knew about Optometry or vision therapy. Even today not a lot of people are aware about their eye health. But back then, for people paying for eye checkup also was a task. Because people used to come to us with a mind set that it is a free test. I think that was the biggest roadblock.”
It’s not about money but we all have to agree until we don’t pay for anything, we don’t take it seriously. In 2009 Abhinav faced a lot of challenges like this but he didn’t take his step back and overcome them with his fighting spirit.
“I overcome these challenges by doing a lot of awareness programmes, talk sessions, and interviews. By doing so, thankfully, we were able to convince people that eye health is also a major part of our overall health.”
“When a Child is Born, 80% Learning Happens Through the Vision” – Abhinav Maharwal
No doubt, India is not just the country with largest population but also is one of the most active country across the globe. As Abhinav Maharwal believes that we are hard-working and passionate, but in all these, sometimes, we forget to take care of ourselves.
“We as Indians, being one of the most active and dedicated population in terms of work. Still, we are the least aware about our eyes. When a child is born, 80% of the learning happens through vision. Not a lot of people know about this. We need our eyes to do everything we do in our daily lives, I think this should be enough to understand the importance of them”
I myself will include in this, that we don’t go to Optometrist or eye checkup until we face any problem. When we think we need an eye checkup we just go to a local optical store.
“What people think is that until they have no problem with their eyes, they will not go to an eye doctor for an eye checkup. Even if they go for an eye checkup, they would go to a local optical store where they don’t even know whether a qualified person is checking them or not.”
“Eye Test isn’t just about getting to know your number” – Abhinav Maharwal
Sadly, in this also, Abhinav Maharwal includes himself. “When we face any problem in our eyes, we think we’ll just go to an optical store, get our eye tested by knowing the number and ask them to make glasses according to that.” But while having a conversation with us, Abhinav broke this myth.
He believes that people think just getting their number tested isn’t the eye test. But the fact is that it is just the one step out of many steps of a proper eye test. Eye test basically talks about your overall eye health not only talks about quantity of vision, but your quality of vision.
The optometrist is of the opinion that even if your quantity of vision is fine but quality of vision isn’t, you will still face problems. So, all the things should be checked properly and taken care of.
We all wear sunglasses as it is something fashionable. But that should not be the case according to Abhinav Maharwal.
“In India, we use sunglasses not as protective glasses but more as a fashion device. Many people are getting cataract because of the so much UV exposure. At very young we tend to get cataract compared to the developed nations like, Australia, US, Europe, etc.”
Abhinav Maharwal explains that though Australia has more UV exposure because of the ozone whole they have in their atmosphere area. Still, their average cataract age is far better than India. The reason is because here we are not using sunglasses.
Abhinav Maharwal is one of the few neuro optometric rehabilitation certified practitioners in India from the US. He has done many fellowships from the US. From Master’s to PhD, the entire purpose of all this is to spread awareness about eye health.
He shares content related to eye health and eye awareness on his Instagram and YouTube on a daily basis. The content he shares is in very concise and easy language so that it can reach to the wider audience.
Last Updated on by Mehar Jolly