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Eye Diseases Are Rising Amongst the Elderly, But Few See Risk
The American Academy of Opthalmology finds that most Americans are unaware of the risks presented by age-related eye diseases, according to a health survey of 1,200 Americans. The populations most at risk for age related retinal diseases such as cataracts, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration are unaware of the factors that make them susceptible. (Read more about Eye Diseases Are Rising Amongst the Elderly, But Few See Risk)
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Contact Lenses and Eye Infect
“Sometimes I don’t take out my contact lenses, once in a while I sleep in them, I don’t wash my hands thoroughly sometimes,” says Janie Medina.
If this sounds familiar you could be putting yourself at risk for a dangerous fungal eye infection.
“I have soft lens, they are monthly lens, I have to change them out every month but sometimes I try to extend it a little more. You can start feeling the protein in the eyes and on the lens and you can start getting headaches on your eye, you start squinting, and it definitely tells you that you have to change the lens out,” says Janie. (Read more about Contact Lenses and Eye Infect)
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Iris Prosthetic
For 16 year old Kurtis Thomas and his friends, one Saturday afternoon, back in April of 2004, the plan was to have a little backyard warfare, playing paintball. But, what was supposed to be a few hours of just “boys being boys” type fun, turned into tragedy. In between rounds, Kurtis suffered a devastating blow to the eye and nearly became blind. He was not wearing any protective gear at the time.
“At first my eye went completely numb, and I didn’t feel it at all and I didn’t even know it hit me in the eye, I didn’t know what was going on, my brother carried me into the house and then he told me it was my eye, and so I washed it out and looked in the mirror and noticed it was pretty bad and so then my dad came and got me and brought me into the hospital, later on that day when I was in the hospital it built up a lot of pressure and it really felt like my head was going to pop,” says Kurtis Thompson.
Kurtis’ left eye would never be the same. “The natural lens inside his eye was partly dislocated and the pupil, actually the iris of his eye, which is what regulates the light getting in his eye had been severely damaged, so that his pupil was completely dilated, so he always had a maximum amount of light getting into his eye, a lot of glare symptoms, a lot of sensitivity to light, and a decrease in the quality of his vision. Then he developed a cataract. He has not only a cataract but the support mechanism of the lens of his eye is also damaged,” says Dr. Kenneth Rosenthal of New York Eye & Ear Hospital. (Read more about Iris Prosthetic)
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Elective Eye Surgery
61 year old Winnie Herman savors every moment with her 20 month old granddaughter, Katie. But, she says, her glasses have been a definite hindrance on their time together. “It became very, very frustrating and seemingly the glasses were taking over my life. I had various pairs and sometimes I would forget where they were and I would start to get nervous if we were going out if I didn’t have them. I started to lose some independence,” says Winnie.
Initially, Winnie was considering Lasik surgery, but, instead she received a multifocal intraocular lens implant. “The multi-focal lens approaches the challenge of spectacles independence. In other words, it allows the patient to see distance, intermediate, and near, most of the time, without wearing glasses, or spectacles,” says ophthalmologist, Dr. Kenneth Rosenthal.
Lasik surgery, which uses a laser to sculpt and re-shape the corneal tissue for vision correction, was all the rage in the 90’s…it successfully freed millions from their glasses, but, medical experts now believe that particularly, for baby boomers, multifocal lens technology will soon be the treatment of choice. (Read more about Elective Eye Surgery)
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Vision Impairment Study
If you think you might need glasses, but don’t, you’re not alone.
According to new research in the Journal of the American Medical Association, there are millions of Americans with vision impairment.
The most common reasons for vision impairment, fortunately, are refractive errors--when the lense of the eye doesn’t focus the image sharply on the retina, the seeing part of the eye. That’s where glasses and contact lenses come in. But you have to wear them to correct your vision.
“I wear glasses but only when I am in class to see the board.” Natalie admits what happens when she doesn’t wear her glasses: “It is all blurry.”
Hopefully all Natalie is nearsighted--meaning, she can’t see far away. (Read more about Vision Impairment Study)
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FOURTH FIREWORKS SAFETY
They’re Fourth of July traditions…
Baseball….
The beach….
And fireworks injuries.
Between nine and twelve thousand Americans are seen in the emergency room each year for fireworks related injuries. Nearly half of these are seen in kids 14 and younger, and most of the injuries occur on the Fourth of July weekend. (Read more about FOURTH FIREWORKS SAFETY)
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EYEGLASSES INJURIES IN KIDS
Could the eyeglasses your children are wearing be putting them at risk for eye injuries? Pediatric eye experts are calling attention to the problem of eye injuries, which peaks at this time of year, when kids are playing outside. (Read more about EYEGLASSES INJURIES IN KIDS)
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CONGENITAL GLAUCOMA
Congenital glaucoma is an eye disease where the normal eye pressure is affected by the buildup of fluid in the eye.
You might say that 3 year old Juan Navarro is a little ham. Smiling and posing for the camera, he looks like your typical playful toddler. But when he was just an infant his mother Carmen noticed that his eyes did not look right. “There was a lot of white in his eyes,” recalls Carmen.
Doctors discovered that Juan was born with congenital glaucoma. It occurs in about 1 in every 10,000 births. The key to treating congenital glaucoma is early diagnosis. (Read more about CONGENITAL GLAUCOMA)
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FARSIGHTEDNESS LASER SURGERY
“All my life, I’ve worn glasses. I think I first got glasses when I was in the third grade,” says Ben Anderson, whose eyesight was corrected with laser surgery.
58 year old Ben Anderson has wanted to toss his glasses for years. He has struggled with nearsightedness, farsightedness, and poor depth perception.
“Walking down the street, I might not be able to recognize someone I knew, which can be embarrassing,” says Ben. (Read more about FARSIGHTEDNESS LASER SURGERY)
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Visual Process
The visual process is the means by which the eye perceives light and movement and translates these into nerve impulses. (Read more about Visual Process)
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