Eyes Vision

As a suburban Optometrist performing eye exams every day, you see a lot of normal healthy eyes. And then someone will come along that shakes you up a bit and reminds us all of the value of regular checkups.

Case 1: A 46 year old lady came in to have her children’s eyes tested. After a little persuasion, she had her eyes examined too. She wasn’t going to because she felt fine, nothing was bothering her about her vision and gee, life is busy! It had been three years since her last eye examination with me.

The glasses examination (refraction) was all very straight forward. She did have great vision on the letter chart. However, when I looked inside her eyes I noticed a classic pattern on her retinas that indicates loss of neural tissue. Continue reading ‘Regular Eye Exams Can Stop You Going Blind’ »

As one of the leading causes for permanent blindness, glaucoma can affect people at any age. But it can be prevented or well treated if detected at early stage- this requires some early and regular eye exams.

Continue reading ‘How to Prevent Glaucoma’ »

A serious eye problem which plagues both dogs and humans is glaucoma, and it appears when there is high intraocular eye pressure. The shape of the fluids from the eyes is well defined.

The body regulates the quantity of fluid that keeps the eye pressure constant and optimum. Glaucoma appears when this pressure is not at an optimum level. Vision loss is a possibility when this disease appears. Both the retina and optic nerves can get affected. Glaucoma in dogs can be quite painful, so you need to take him to a vet immediately.

Continue reading ‘What You Need to Know About Glaucoma in Dogs’ »

There was ever a time when the condition of glaucoma was unknown to any one. The only thing that was clear was that glaucoma occurred in only the old. This is similar to the fact that old age means losing hearing or sight. However, until now scientists and doctors have found after much research that glaucoma is more serious than initially thought. This condition not only affects the elderly but also the youth. What is exactly glaucoma? To state simply, glaucoma is a condition caused by too much fluid pressure in the eye. Over time, the increased eye pressure will wreck havoc on the eye’s optic nerve’s fibers. There are now more and more glaucoma TV spots, which enable the public to know more about this eye disease.

A healthy eye can smoothly drain out the humor or fluid produced inside the eye. Glaucoma happens when there is a blockage in the draining system, resulting in fluid build up. In some instances, the fibers affected may forever be damaged and blind spots may be caused. Fortunately, vision loss caused by glaucoma progresses generally slowly. There is even no noticeable symptom until the condition is well underway. So, the importance of glaucoma TV spots can be seen that they help the public especially the elderly gain more awareness about the disease. Symptoms can be seen only when glaucoma has entered its middle stages. Common signs include eye pain, blurred vision, headache, and nausea and light perception issues. A simple recommendation from glaucoma TV spots is to take regular eye checkups from an eye care practitioner.

Continue reading ‘Basic Knowledge of Glaucoma’ »

Glaucoma is an eye disease that involves high press in the eyes. This condition can gradually damage one’s vision and even lead to permanent vision loss. Until now, most doctors prescribe glaucoma medicines for treatment, either eye drops or oral medications. This is the commonest way to control glaucoma. In detail, these medicines can effectively control eye pressure at a low level. At the side of patients, medicines are believed to be the safest solution. Glaucoma patients have to maintain these medicines, in case of the buildup of pressure in the eyes. However, medicines used to control glaucoma are always associated with some side effects on the other hand. Some of those side effects are unnoticeable while others are significant.

With the basic knowledge of glaucoma itself, there is still another solution to this disease. In the eye, there is a clear fluid that flows through the passages. Excessive eye pressure will be caused if these passages get blocked which leads to fluid buildup in the eye. This pressure buildup in the eye will finally cause glaucoma, potentially damaging the optic nerve. In general, there are two types of glaucoma: primary open angle and acute angle-closed.

Continue reading ‘Medicines And Laser Surgery For Glaucoma’ »

Narrow Angle Glaucoma is a second common type of glaucoma. In this case a person gets an attack of sudden pain in the eyes when there is some kind of stress or pressure in it. Before getting diagnosed to it a watery kind of fluid generates inside the normal eye. Those water later increases that it drained out of the eye. The water comes out in particular angle between the irises and corners. It is not necessary that a person should get diagnosed to it at a particular time but this Narrow Angle Glaucoma can be diagnosed from by birth. One has to face acute attacks when you are affected to it. The symptoms of this problem do not exist. There are no symptoms but when the attack comes the eye gets red and one cannot see the object because the vision is blur, sometimes they can even see halos kind of around the light if seen. Narrow Angle Glaucoma is very dangerous because if a person is diagnosed to it then if he or she does not go for a treatment immediately within two days then it may cause blindness. To treat this problem one should go through a laser surgery to reduce the risk.

Open Angle Glaucoma is the most common type of the glaucoma which affects around 70 to 80% of the people who get diagnosed to it. It is very opposite to narrow angle glaucoma. In this case the angle is been blocked of aqueous which outflow the water. There is an open space which is in front of the eye. As per the age the drainage system is been stopped and then the pressure arise in the eye which generates abnormal level. If a person is been diagnosed to it then he or she may not notice any symptoms of it and even they must not be aware of it the one is been affected to Open Angle Glaucoma. Later after diagnosed to it one may loss the vision suddenly because there are no symptoms like pain or some thing else. This eye problem is dangerous and then it suddenly losses the eye sight without any warning or notice period to a person. There is no treatment on it because this problem cannot be cured. But as per the doctors one can use eye drop or solution which can lower the pressure of the eye when diagnosed to Open Angle Glaucoma.

Continue reading ‘Closed Angle Glaucoma Loss of Vision’ »

While Glaucoma is an extremely serious illness, it doesn’t usually happen in dogs too much. Most of the time blindness in dogs happens from an accident, although there are those moments when Glaucoma happens due to genetic issues. When genetics are the cause, this is called primary Glaucoma. There are some breeds that are more genetically inclined to catch Glaucoma, but a dog can get it because of eye disease, cataracts, cancer, or even eye inflammation. When it is caused by any of these issues it will be considered secondary Glaucoma. If dogs get Glaucoma, they can go blind quite rapidly. Care should be given if you notice any of these issues.

Most of the time a dog will get Glaucoma in just one eye. The pressure comes from the aqueous humor fluid that is being built up constantly in the front part of the eye. When this happens the dog will eventually lose sight in that eye, but will adjust to seeing with the good eye. Because of this, it is difficult for the owner to realize the dog is having sight issues as they are still getting around quite well. This will also cause the dog pain, which they have no way of telling you about.

Continue reading ‘Does My Dog Have Glaucoma?’ »