Health Blog

Saturday 13 April 2013

Eye problems and information

What is cataracts?


When you have cataracts the eye's lens will blur, and it is a frequent cause of vision impairment in older people. Ordinary age-related cataracts can be regarded as the body's natural aging.

Who gets cataracts?


You can get cataracts in all ages, but it occurs far more often in the older section of the population. The risk of getting cataracts increases Furthermore by smoking. At the same time, seen the disorder often associated with various diseases and treatments. For example, in connection with diabetes, with other eye diseases such as inflammation and serious eye injury and after prolonged treatment with corticosteroids. Cataracts can also be congenital, and besides, there are a large number of rare causes.

What are the symptoms?


By light cases of cataracts, there are no symptoms, but when the disorder takes to, will be the sight blurred. The ambiguities in the lens light up in bright sunlight, and therefore many also dazzled. In severe case gives cataracts impaired vision, and with many changes the perception of colors. Several of the symptoms, however, also be seen by other eye diseases.

How do you treat cataracts/cataract?

Cataract is treated by an operation in which the natural lens is removed and replaced by a plastic lens. Cataracts must first undergo surgery when it is necessary, because, just as with all other operations, the risk of complications. Treatment must be considered when the sight causes one problems on a daily basis.


AGE-RELATED MAKULAR DEGENERATION (AMD)


What is AMD?


AMD is what used to be called eye calcification, and today it is the most common cause of blindness in the Western Europe and United States reading. There is no question of calcified blood vessels, which, for example, be seen in the legs and heart, but a disease of retina also called ' the yellow stain '. Retina is responsible for, among other things, that we can see three dimensional and perceive fine details and colors. The disease develop in both eyes, but there is often a difference in degree, respectively, in the right and left eye. There are two different forms of AMD – the dry and the wet. By the dry form shrinks sensory cells in the retina, and it covers about 85 percent of cases. In the wet form formation of new blood vessels in the retina, and the typically come with people who are already suffering from the dry form.

Who gets AMD?


AMD seen from 55-years of age, and then increases the frequency. About 12 percent of the population aged over 60 years in Western Europe and the United States have symptomatic AMD, but since genes at the beginning may be modest, there are also people who go around with an undetected disease. Heredity may play a role, and in addition, for example, poor diet, tobacco and type 2 diabetes contribute to AMD.

What are the symptoms?


By the dry AMD is rarely symptoms in the early stages, some experience, however, that they see a dark spot in a few minutes after they wake up.  You can also often find that it is difficult to recognize people on the street, since the face disappears, because it falls into one of the blind areas of retina.
AMD can cause a hemorrhage, which causes symptoms like strong visual degradation and distortion of Visual image. Wet AMD and its symptoms can occur without prior symptoms, but typically you will experience the dry forms symptoms beforehand, as it typically is a further development of this. The symptoms of wet AMD are usually worse than the symptoms of the dry form.

How do you treat AMD?


One can not yet heal dry AMD, but you can treat with dietary supplements. AMD can be slowed down in several ways. So-called cold laser treatments can stop the negative development in some patients. Another option that looks very promising, injections into the eyeball. Here apply to some substances, which stops the formation of new blood vessels. This treatment can, in some cases, restore some of the lost vision, but may also cause some side effects. In addition, there is the option of help through various optical devices.


GLAUCOMA (GLAUCOMA)


Glaucoma refers to a number of diseases that can occur if the eye's optic nerve becomes damaged. If this happens, the eye's field of vision can be affected and in worst cases limited to the so called binocular vision. Glaucoma causes only extremely rarely blindness.

Why does glaucoma occur?


Glaucoma occurs when there is nowhere the fluid the eye produces can go. If the drain where the fluid should go completely or partially blocks, the fluid then builds pressure inside the eye, and it can damage the optic nerve.

Eye pressure is maintained at a constant flow of aqueous humor, which supplies the eye's lens and cornea with nutrients and leaving the eye through the eye's drain. The problem arises when Chamber fluid has a hard time getting through the drain, and the production and flow of fluid at the same time remains unchanged. It creates an imbalance that causes fluid pressure to rise. An acute high blood pressure can lead to immediate vision loss, while a gradually elevated pressure is unhealthy for the optic nerve, there will eventually be weakened.

Who gets glaucoma?


The disease manifests itself typically not before one is on the other side of 60. In rare cases the disease can be congenital, but happens rarely before 35 years of age.

Glaucoma can be hereditary. Therefore, the risk of getting the disease 10% larger, if you have a close relative who suffers from glaucoma. The main risk factor is, however, fluid pressure in the eye. The higher fluid pressure, the higher the risk.

Types of glaucoma


The two most common forms of glaucoma are open-angle glaucoma and narrow-angle glaucoma.

Narrow-angle glaucoma

Narrow-angle glaucoma can occur suddenly and are often painful with genes such as headache and possibly nausea and vomit. The sight becomes blurred, and we see Rainbow-coloured rings, when looking at a light source.

This occurs because the eye pressure rises dramatically due to an internal blockage of the eye's internal fluid drain and can result in optic nerve wither within a few days. Narrow-angle glaucoma is a rare disease that must be treated by an eye doctor right away. The disease is also called acute glaucoma, because pressure increases so suddenly, and because the illness requires emergency treatment.

Symptoms of "acute" narrow-angle glaucoma:


  • Rings around lights when it is dark or in low light.
  • Blurred vision at night.
  • Headache and pain around eye in connection with the above.
  • Symptoms occur most commonly in people over 60 years of age with hyperopia.


Danger Signals:


  • Blurred vision with EVS. darkening of the eye.
  • Red eye may be damaged. with great pupil.
  • Headache pain and tightness in the eye.
  • Malaise, nausea and possibly. vomiting.
  • You will experience these symptoms, you should immediately seek medical/emergency room/eye doctor, as there may be lasting vision damage.



Open-angle glaucoma

Open-angle glaucoma is the most common type of glaucoma. It is also called chronic glaucoma, because it develops slowly over a number of years.

Patients with the disease might not detect that they have vision loss, before symptoms are so pronounced for example the central vision affect in so great a degree, that they can't watch tv or read the newspaper. Late in the process, the patient may experience a binocular vision, which gives a very narrow field of vision with great genes.

Symptoms of "chronic" open-angle glaucoma:

Glaucoma in the family (father, mother or sibling), family members over 35 years should have their eyes examined.
People around the 45 and up should, in any case, once controlled by the ophthalmologist.
If you are experiencing shadows in the field of view when comparing his eyes, one should consult an ophthalmologist.

How do you treat glaucoma?


Regardless of the type of glaucoma that is talking about, the treatment will seek to lower pressure in the eye.

Medical treatment

In most cases one will treat glaucoma medical with eye drops, which lowers the pressure. Depending on the course can be treated with one or more types of eye drops to be used one or more times a day. In rare cases, the treatment is complemented with tablets and by acute glaucoma medication that drunk or injected into a vein.

Laser Treatment

Laser treatment can be done in two ways.
At Strait wrapped glaucoma, you can shoot a hole in Rainbow cornea (iris) with a special type of laser radiation and thus in many cases cure the patient for future bouts of acute glaucoma.

By the more common open angled form of Glaucoma can in some cases reduce the pressure by influencing Chamber angle with laser beams. The treatment is often used as a complement to the medical treatment but can rarely replace it.

Operation

If the two mentioned methods of treatment can't keep eye pressure sufficiently low, one can perform a surgical procedure, which creates a new drain from the eye's interior. This allows Chamber water run out from under the conjunctiva.





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