Dry eyes is a common ophthalmological syndrome that refers to the condition of having, as the name suggests, an eye area lacking in lubrication. The condition is also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca or KCS and roughly translates to dryness of the cornea.
It is a very common eye disease that affects a certain country from 5-34% such as in the case of China where 17% of the people are experiencing the said condition. Apart from that, the condition also comes with age and affects 70% of older people.
Causes
Dry eyes can be caused by numerous things such as allergies, use of contact lenses, and even pregnancy since dry eyes can also be a symptom of other conditions.
However, according to Dr. Durocher of the Optometric Physicians of Middle Tennessee, the leading cause of dry eyes is the condition called Meibomian Gland Dysfunction. According to the Nashville eye doctor, the condition, often abbreviated as MGD, is defined as the failure of the Meibomian gland to secrete oil. The Meibomian gland is the gland primarily responsible for secreting the oil that coats the surface of the eyes for lubrication and to prevent the tears in the eyes from drying up quickly.
Other causes of dry eyes may also include the lack of several vitamins such as Vitamin A.
Symptoms
Dry eyes is actually rather simple to spot and the typical symptoms of the condition include a burning sensation in the eyes, gradual gritty eye irritation, and of course, dryness. Furthermore, if you have suspected dry eyes your eyes should feel itchy, scratchy, and stingy while also causing you to experience the sensation called “tired eyes.”
Apart from those, your eyes should also feel a little bit of pressure from the inside and the condition should also cause you to have that urge to blink every time. Dry eyes would usually affect both eyes and usually one of the first noticed symptoms is eye redness.
Prevention
Believe it or not, everybody is actually set to experience dry eyes sometime in their lives and preventing it would focus more on prolonging the time between your experiences of the condition.
In order to reduce the chances of this condition happening to you, you can choose to work on the causes and prevent those from happening first. For example, one of the causes of dry eyes is the lack of Vitamin A so it is just common sense to take up supplements and eat meals high in Vitamin A if you want to avoid the condition.
Furthermore, there are also several drops and ointments available in the market today that would help protect your eyes. These drops could also act as lubricants in your eyes to prevent further damages caused by dry eyes.
Finally, keeping a good optical health should also serve you well in terms of preventing dry eyes. You can do this by sleeping early, lessening the use of gadgets or putting them in settings that would not do much damage to your eyes.
Treatment/Cure
Much like its prevention, the treatment of this condition can also be done in various ways. The condition can be caused by many things which is why there are numerous ways to treat it.
The following ways have been proven to treat dry eyes:
Rehydration and Medication
As mentioned, one of the ways to prevent further damage caused by dry eyes is through the use of lubricants. These lubricants, however, may also be used as a part of the treatment process of dry eyes called rehydration. Aside from preventing further damage, eye drops can also be used to introduce medication directly into the eyes. A lot of medicinal eye drops would contain Vitamin A and other components essential to curing the condition
Environmental Control
One of the factors that can be attributed to dry eyes is the condition of the environment around the patient. The smoky and dry environment would heighten the chances of dry eyes and extremely cold environments would usually have the same effects. Environmental control would refer to the dry eyes treatment that would put the patient in moist environments to promote more fluid inside the eyes.
Diet
Dietary treatment should also help your eyes get back to the right condition. Usually, with this treatment patients are given meals high in Omega-3 and Vitamin A – two components necessary for keeping the eyes in good condition and should help them recover also.
Dry eyes is something that everybody would experience but that does not mean that you should not exert effort in preventing it. Dry eyes can have further harmful effects to your eyes which is why it is important to take note of these things.
All of us have seen people with white cornea or complete blindness. We wonder what is that causes white covering on the black eye portion. After much research, it was found out to be a disease named cataract. This condition is mostly observed in an aged population. It affects all the standard functions of the eye and the individual faces problems in daily routines like reading, driving or cooking. They complain of blurred vision, impaired night vision, and light sensitivity.
The white layer formed is on the lens and occurs as clouding of the eye, leading to decreased vision. It affects either one or both the eyes. There are many causes of cataract like drinking, diabetes, or may be present from birth. Cataract can easily be prevented by wearing sunglasses. If severe cataract persists, surgical removal of the damaged lens and replacement with an artificial lens is the only option available. About 20 million people around the world are blind due to cataract.
What Causes Cataract?
The lens is behind the iris and the pupil in the human eye. The lens is the human eye camera. It is composed of water and proteins. The structural arrangement of the protein is such, it keeps the lens complete clear, allowing light to pass through it. But as the individual ages, these proteins have chances of clumping together due to lens elasticity, proteins cloud around a small area in the lens, blurring the vision. This cloud grows, and the lens becomes opaque. Added to this are smoking and diabetes.
The lens changes color from transparent to yellow/ brown adding a brownish tint to vision. This gradual change in the amount of whitening of a lens does not affect the sharpness of the image transmitted to the retina.
The age-related cataract is between the 40s and 50s. But the actual problem starts after the 60s affecting vision.
Apart from age, the other risk factors are diseases, alcohol, smoking, environmental factors like UV radiations and high exposure to sunlight.
There are many types of cataracts depending on the source. They include:
Secondary cataract: It is formed after surgery of eye problems like glaucoma. And are even linked to medical conditions like diabetes and steroid use.
Traumatic cataract: It develops after a severe eye injury. The damage is seen after years of the accident.
Congenital cataract: It is acquired from the birth. Some babies are born with a cataract. These cataracts are small and do not affect vision, even if they do, then a surgical procedure is performed and the cataract is removed.
Radiation cataract: developed after exposure to harmful radiation which denatures the protein and causes it to precipitate.
Procedures That Detect cataracts
They include a complete comprehensive eye exam comprising the following components:
Visual acuity test: A regular test that measures the visibility at different distances.
Dilated eye exam: Medicinal drops are introduced in the eye to widen the pupil, a magnifying lens is used to examine the retina for nerve endings of optic nerve carefully and rechecked for particular signs of damage and other eye problems. After the exam, the vision may remain blurred for sometime till the effect goes away.
Tonometry: Measures the pressure in the eye.
According to the report by WHO, the restoration of sight after the cataract is effected by mainly two specific reasons:
Surgical removal of the cataractous lens.
Correction of ensuing refractive error (Aphakic Error).
The surgical removal of the lens can be affected by two techniques; Intracorpuscular cataract extraction (ICCE) and Extracorpuscular cataract technique(ECCE).
The following methods come in use for the correction of an aphakic refractive error:
Spectacle correction.
Contact lens.
Intraocular lens implantation.
Refractive corneal surgery.
After cataract surgery:
Cataract surgery to some extent increases the risk of retinal detachment. Other eye disorders, such as high myopia (nearsightedness), can further augment hazard of retinal detachment after cataract surgery.
The National Eye Institute conducts many studies focusing on factors associated with the development of age-related cataract. These studies include:
The study of UV light intensity from direct sunlight, which may be connected with an increased risk of cataract.
Vitamin supplement, which has revealed altering results in delaying the succession of cataract.
Genetic studies, which show assurance for better understanding cataract development.
Nashville Eye Doctor, Dr. Durocher, confirms that a universal sign of a retinal detachment is a sudden increase in flashes or floaters. Floaters are little “cobwebs” that seem to float about in your field of vision. A retinal detachment is a medical emergency. If necessary, visit an emergency service or hospital. The eye will be eye examined by an eye surgeon as soon as possible for surgery. A retinal detachment causes no pain.
References:
opmt.com/education/cataracts/
nei.nih.gov/health/cataract
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataract
