Archive for the 'Eye Disorders' Category

Whenever your brain receives more than one image from both of your eyes, then it can result in a vision defect, know as strabismus.

Most commonly, this condition is also known as cross eyes or squint eye.

Each of your eyes focuses on the same spot, but transmits a slightly different message to your brain. Your brain superimposes both the images and gives a depth and dimension to your vision.

Strabismus can cause blindness, if ignored!

Strabismus or cross eye is quite common in newborn infants. If your child is experiencing crossed or wandering of eyes, then he/she might get a different picture from each of their two eyes and the brain of your child tries to block out the picture from the weaker eye. In normal vision, both of your eyes focus in same direction at same time.

If you are unable to identify or fix the problem in the early age of your child, then your child’s brain gradually improves to ignore the picture blocked from weaker eye. This kind of vision loss due to strabismus or cross eyes, leads to most serious problem called amblyopia.

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Did you notice any scaly, swollen skin at the base of your eyelid? Are you experiencing any burning or itching of eyelids?

Reddened eyes associated with burning, itchy and watery eyes are the common symptoms of blepharitis.

It is an eyelid inflammation caused due to infection of bacteria on your eyelids.

Blepharitis, this bacterial infection is usually caused due to excess growth of bacteria on your eyelid [Eye infection]. This bacterium is usually found on the skin and leads to the accumulation of germs and causes irritation of skin on the eyelid. Sometimes, this bacterium can also be developed on your skin due to certain allergies.

Blepharitis is harmful infection for your eyes!

If you have blepharitis, then the risk for the loss of eyelashes and abnormal growth are very high and certain other possible ways in which this common eye condition can cause harm to your eyes can include:

Sty: The result of this possible eyelid inflammation, which usually develops near the root of your eyelash, is certainly a painful lump at the edge of your eyelid or it can also occur inside your eyelid.

Lack of pigments, which are mainly responsible for adding the color to various organs of your body can mainly lead to several vision and also skin problems.

One among those several problems is albinism.

Melanin plays the major role!

Albinism is considered as group of disorders, which mainly results from lack of production of melanin pigment in your body.

The color of your skin, hair and eyes mainly depends upon the production of melanin pigment in your body. This melanin pigment also plays a vital role in the development of certain optical nerves of your body.

Most common types of albinism mainly results in hypo-pigmentation, in which you can experience either absence of pigment in skin, eyes and also hair or you can have lighter pigmentation.

This can be due to the absorption of ultraviolet light. Most people with albinism usually become more sensitive to sun exposure and are more prone to develop skin cancers.

Albinism is a rare form of disorder found in very few individuals. There are almost 10 common types of this condition, in which one of the most severe forms include oculocutaneous albinism, which can mainly affect your skin, eyes and also hair.

Many of the micro organisms like viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites which invade your human body are also capable to attack your eyes too.

So, protecting your eyes from those potential triggers, responsible for eye infections, are very important in order to get healthy vision.

There are many different kinds of eye infections, which vary from one individual to other depending on sensitivity of their eyes to that particular substance and the treatment also varies respectively.

Some of the eye infections like bacterial conjunctivitis are common while others can infect your eyes very rarely.

You can identify eye ailments with these helpful symptoms:

• Persistent itchiness in eyes
• Experiencing blurring vision
• Swelling of the tissues, surrounding your eyes and eyelids
• Watery eyes
• Discharge from your eyes
• Some times, you can also experience pain in your eyes.

Most of the people, who use contact lenses for their eyes, are more prone to eye infections. This can be due to bacterial buildup in your eyes from constantly wearing contact lenses without proper use of disinfecting substance to clean your lenses.

Redness of your eyes mainly attracts the attention of every one and most of you might be in misconception that red eyes are mainly due to conjunctivitis.

But there are many reasons for your eyes to appear red like corneal ulcer, glaucoma, episcelritis, etc.

In most of the cases, conjunctivitis can be mainly due to viral infection in your eyes and can be recovered easily without treatment. The outbreak of this particular virus responsible for red eyes is more significant in swimming pools and also in used wet towels.

Conjunctivitis: This particular eye infection not only spreads due to transmission of virus but certain types of bacteria like pneumococcal disease also spread conjunctivitis and it can also be due to certain allergic reactions.

If this eye infection is left untreated, then there is a chance for you to lose some amount of your natural vision. So, it is very important to consult the doctor without delay, as you notice redness in your eyes.

How to protect your eyes from this contagious eye infection?

Conjunctivitis is highly contagious and can be easily transmitted from the infected eye. Practicing a better hygienic environment and prevention of the disease is always an enhanced way of controlling the outbreak of conjunctivitis.

According to the study conducted by researchers in Spain and Turkey, laser eye surgery treatment for high myopia patients was found to be safe and effective in the long term.

This new study found that in long term, LASIK was a safe and effective procedure with evidence of maximum corrections possible.

LASIK is a safe procedure for myopia over - 10D with myopic regression that slows down with time. The results are encouraging on patients who had this surgery and this refractive correction implies the maximum limit of application of this technique.

Study source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com

Almost all individuals at some point might have suffered from the pink eye or conjunctivitis in their lifetime.

Pink eye (inflammation of the conjunctiva) is classified as infectious or noninfectious.

About 70% of the people will get affect with infectious pink eye, which is caused either by bacteria (45%) like staphylococcus, streptococcus, and pneumococcus or a virus (25%).

Infectious conjunctivitis is a contagious disease. Remaining 30% accounts for noninfectious pink eye, which is caused by allergens, chemicals, or underlying diseases. Conjunctivitis may also be caused by trauma.

The common type of pink eye is viral conjunctivitis. The symptoms include watery discharge, burning sensation, and irritation with glossy redness. When infected with virus, the infection usually starts in one eye and then spreads to the second one. The eyelids probably will be swollen and are very sensitive to light.

The symptoms of viral pink eye can be relieved with artificial tears or cool compresses. Topical steroids can also reduce the inflammation and discomfort.

Another type of pink eye is bacterial conjunctivitis. The symptoms include heavy purulent discharge with sticking of eyelids overnight, soreness and sensitivity, lots of redness, tearing, pain, irritation, and swelling of conjunctiva. In this type of conjunctivitis also, the infection starts in one eye and spread to another one.

You cannot distinguish certain colors if you have color blindness. This condition is mostly inherited.

The most common form is red/green color blindness and you cannot distinguish red and green colors. Rare color deficiency is blue/yellow.

Color blindness more prevalent in men:

According to the latest research, one in 12 men and one of 225 women is color blind. The color blindness is more prevalent in men because it is carried on the X chromosome of which men have only one copy.

In men, red or green cones work improperly or not at all work. Genes for red and green receptors are altered in men. These genes lie near each other on the X chromosome. The red/green type affects 8 to 10 percent of men

Ishihara color test

Ishihara color test is conducted to test for red-green color deficiencies. Ishihara color test consists of number of colored plates, each containing a circle made with dots of different sizes with slightly different colors and these dots are spread in random manner. A number is differentiated only by color within the dot pattern.

Visible number indicates the form of color blindness. For full test, thirty eight plates are required, but to find out the deficiency, not more than four plates are required.

Today most of the people are suffering with the problem called astigmatism.

It is the most common vision difficulty. Most of you are not aware of this condition.

Sometimes it can accompany with nearsightedness or farsightedness.

The most general cause for this is due to irregularly shaped cornea.

Occasionally, it is also due to irregularly shaped lenses which are found behind the cornea. This condition is called as lenticular astigmatism.

Usually any kind of astigmatism can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses, or refractive surgery. You cannot notice small amount of astigmatism, but you only experience slightly blurred vision. If you can’t correct your condition, it will cause severe headaches or eyestrains, and distort or blur your vision at all distances.

Not only adults can get astigmatism, but children will also be affected from this condition. Most of the children cannot recognize the condition than adults and they are doubtful to complain their condition of blurred vision.

There will be a separation of 180 degrees between the two curves of the meridians in regular astigmatism. If you are affected with irregular astigmatism this separation is something other than 180 degrees apart.

Have you ever heard about glaucoma? It is a group of eye diseases.

It damages the eye’s optic nerve thus leading to vision loss or possibility of blindness.

It is a principle cause of blindness in the United States. The disease occurs mainly due to the raise in fluid level in your eyes.

When the fluid level slowly increases, it damages the optic nerve.

When your eye’s drainage system is not working properly and fluid builds up, you are suffering with the condition called glaucoma. At the beginning you won’t observe any symptoms, but a complete eye examination can detect the symptoms. The earlier you recognize the symptoms of glaucoma, the sooner you can protect your eyes from vision loss.

The usual treatments for glaucoma include prescription eye drops or surgery. This will depend up on to how much extent your eyes got damaged. More than 66.8 million people around the world are suffering from visual injury from glaucoma, among which 6.7 million people are suffering from blindness. In the United States alone 2.2 million people have glaucoma.