Posts Tagged ‘eye exams’

What Is Open Angle Glaucoma?

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

eye exams

If you are serious about the health of your eyes, then you should make sure that you see your optical doctor on a regular basis. Making sure that you have regular optical exam, for example your yearly exam for glaucoma, will go a long way towards insuring that you keep your vision. Open angle glaucoma affects more than 80 percent of the people that contract glaucoma. Glaucoma is an eye disease that can be cured if found in the early stages.

There are other types of glaucoma but open angle is the one that affects the eyesight of most people. The sad fact is that there are more than 3 million Americans who have glaucoma but are not aware of it yet, based on statistical research. Glaucoma works by damaging the optic nerve through pressure in the eye or decreasing the blood supply to the optic nerve. If it is caught early enough by scheduling eye exams, then glaucoma can be arrested, and a person’s vision can be saved. However, any damage that glaucoma has caused up to that point is not fixable. The people who are most at risk of contracting glaucoma are black people, people over 40, or anyone that has a history of glaucoma in their family.

Anyone who discovers that they have contracted open angle glaucoma will be happy to know that they have a good chance of saving their vision. Once glaucoma is discovered doctors can stop it in its tracks. As long as a person has not waited until their vision is so bad that they cannot see well, they will be able to recover from glaucoma. If you are having your regular visits to your doctor, then you should be safe and not have anything to worry about. Additionally, if you feel there are any eye problems, then you should immediately make an appointment with your optical doctor.

Even though having health issues is not something anybody wants, it does happen to people. Glaucoma is one of the most common types of disease that can affect the eyes, and open angle glaucoma is the most common of the group. This disease is the most common and the most treatable, yet at the same time, it is the one that causes the most cases of blindness.

What Are The Different Types Of Macular Degeneration?

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

health issues

Macular degeneration is a disease of the eyes that occurs more often in senior citizens and this demographic is at a greater risk for contracting this disease. It is so called because it occurs with degeneration of the macula, which is a part of the retina of the eye. Doctors are seeing more cases of this type of eye disease because of the higher number of senior citizens.

There are two types of macular degeneration (AMD). Dry, which is also known non-neo vascular and wet, also known as neo vascular. Wet refers to the growth of new blood vessels in the macula, where they are not suppose to be. The dry form is much more common and affects about 85 to 90% of all AMD patients. While both forms are not good to have, the wet form is much worse than the dry. Dry AMD is usually an early stage of the disease and can result from the macular tissues getting older and thinning out.

Dry AMD causes loss of vision in the central part of the eye. Sometimes dry AMD can progress on to wet AMD. Wet AMD is when blood vessels grow underneath the retina and then leak fluid and blood. This leakage will cause permanent damage to the cells of the retina. This damage is severe and causes the cells to die, which creates blind spots in the central vision. The growth of the blood vessels is the body’s misguided attempt to try and correct a problem that it knows is happening. Unfortunately, this just makes things even worse for the health of the eyes and is what causes AMD to really do its damage.

Macular degeneration is usually a slow and painless process, which results in loss of vision. The early signs of AMD will include shady areas in the central vision or fuzzy and distorted vision. Doctors link this type of eye disease with the aging process. There have also been studies done which have shown that a type of gene, known as complement factor H, is associated with about 50% of all potentially blinding cases of AMD. Of the two types of AMD, wet and dry, the wet is the worst. There are many different causes, and doctors and scientists do not have all of the answers yet. Hopefully, they will have them one day. Aside from the aging population getting AMD, Caucasians, females and people with a family history of macula degeneration are the primary groups that contract this disease. As of yet there is no cure for this disease but there are some treatments that can delay its progression or even improve vision.

If you suspect you or a loved one has contracted macular degeneration, then you must see a vision doctor immediately. It is crucial to begin treatment for AMD as soon as you know that you have it. It will progress until more and more of the vision is destroyed. AMD has no known cure as of yet but treatments can go a long way to helping someone keep their sight for as long as possible.

Your Eye Health

Saturday, March 7th, 2009

eye exams

Everyone wants to have eyes that are in great shape, but sometimes no matter what you do to stay healthy you still get sick. Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that attack the optic nerve bundle, which is located at the back of the eyes. Depending on the person, glaucoma can be caused by a few different things. However, the end result is not good news for the health of your eyes.

Anyone who is serious about eye health issues and about keeping their eyes healthy will make sure that they get regular eye exams. As we get older, parts of our body breakdown and the eyes are especially vulnerable. A glaucoma test is done once a year and is basically a puff of air blown into each eye. While this is not the most comfortable test, it is a very important test because glaucoma works slowly and can sometimes do a lot of damage before it is detected. If detected early, then there is a better chance of successful treatment. Once the damage has occurred, it is irreversible and that is why it is important to take your doctor visits seriously. This is also why it is important to have regular screenings for glaucoma and it usually starts with the peripheral vision. Without regular screenings for glaucoma it is possible for a large part of the nerves to be destroyed before anyone realizes what has happened.

Glaucoma is an eye disease that wreaks havoc by causing increased pressure on the optic nerve. The causes and treatments of glaucoma will be different for every person based on their own unique circumstances. Glaucoma tends to happen as a person gets older but it can affect anyone at any age. If you happen to have glaucoma in your family history, then you are at an increased risk for getting it. Making sure that you take care of the health of your eyes is crucial. The best way to fight this disease is to find out that you have it as early as you possibly can. Once it is discovered, treatment can begin immediately, and is usually quite successful. Unfortunately, there is not much that can be done for the damage that glaucoma has already caused.

Regular eye examinations are especially important to have as we age. Aging causes the body to break down; an unfortunate fact of life. Eyesight is one of the highest rated of the five senses and you want to make sure that yours stays as functional as possible, for as long as possible. Make sure you take the health of your eyes seriously. See your doctor if you have any concerns, as this is the central key to making sure that your optical system stays in top shape.

Glaucoma – How Is It Treated?

Friday, March 6th, 2009

eye health information

No one wants to get an eye disease, but unfortunately it can happen, yet glaucoma is a disease that can be treated. Catching the development as early as possible is the best way to get successful treatment for glaucoma. This is why regular eye examinations are crucial to the health of your eyes.

Glaucoma is really the term given to four different but similar diseases of the eyes. All of the different types of glaucoma do basically the same thing; they increase pressure in the eyes. All of the different treatments for this eye disease are aimed at reducing this high-pressure. This is not to say that pressure in the eyes will always cause glaucoma, but once glaucoma has developed, the high-pressure will speed up the process. Some of the different treatments of glaucoma include eyedrops, medication and surgery. The fact that more and more eye health information is readily available to the public about glaucoma and the damage that it can do to eyes, means that treatment will be more widespread and successful.

One of the first treatments for glaucoma is eyedrops. Eyedrops can be used to try and reduce pressure in the eyes by increasing the eye’s ability to drain or by helping to decrease the amount of fluid the eyes produce. These are not the regular eyedrops that can be bought in a drugstore, as they are specialized medicated drops given by a doctor. They can consist of medicines such as beta blockers, prostaglandins, alpha-stimulators, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, miotics and epinephrine. Oral medication is usually used to help lower the production of fluid in the eyes, which can be effective in lowering high-pressure. Because of the fact that these oral medications cause side effects in about 50% of the people who take them, doctors like to try the eyedrops first. The last and most radical treatment is surgery. Surgery can either be the traditional type of surgery or the newer laser surgery. There are different types of surgeries to treat glaucoma, and depending on what type a person has will depend on the treatment. However, this surgery has the same main function as the medications, which is to relieve the pressure in the eyes.

Glaucoma is a disease that can be treated if it is caught early, and this should give anybody the incentive to keep up with their eye health. Making regular visits to get eye exams to screen for glaucoma is essential to keeping your eyes healthy. It would be awful to go blind due to a disease that could have been treated if it had been diagnosed early.

No One Wants To Contract Eye diseases

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

eye infections

Eye diseases are a topic that can be found in health news just about every day. Nobody wants to have trouble with their eyesight but it happens to people all the time. You can try to keep your overall health in tiptop shape but sometimes it doesn’t matter what you do, you still get sick.

There’s so many diseases that can affect the eyes that it is hard to keep track of them all. Luckily, there are trained professionals, such as eye doctors, who are specialized in this area. Sometimes eye problems can happen due to eyestrain or a person not taking care of their eyes correctly, yet there are others who are genetically predisposed. Open angle glaucoma and angle closure glaucoma, cataracts, dry eye, pink eye and eye infections are some of the many things that can affect just about anyone. Some diseases are curable and some are not. There are some that can be stopped in their tracks and stopped from advancing, and there are some diseases that can be reversed totally. If you are having any type of eye trouble, then you need to have an eye exam and determine what your specific condition is. Once determined by an eye specialist, you will gain the knowledge of how to take care of whatever eye health issue you have.

Glaucoma and cataracts are two very serious types of eye diseases. These are the two main diseases that come to mind for most people when they think about diseases having to do with the eyes. While not every eye disease that you can contract is serious and can cause blindness, some can be very annoying and irritating. The good news is that with regular eye exams and taking care of your health, any disease or infection can usually be eradicated totally in a short matter of time. There are some eye problems that cannot be taken care of quickly or easily, and early detection is the key to having the best results. If you’re going to need to have any type of surgery on your eyes, then you’ll want to know that as early as possible, so the surgery can be successful.

No one ever wants to get sick, and especially no one ever wants to contract any eye diseases. However, it can happen to any of us. Make sure that you get regular exams, both for your body and for your eyes. Medical advances are such these days that if any problem is detected early, then a doctor should be able to correct it.