What is a cataract and what are the symptoms?

A cataract is a clouding of the normally clear lens of the eye.       The cataract blocks some of the light entering the eye, making the vision blurred, fuzzy, foggy or filmy. It changes the way you see colors by yellowing or fading. They can cause difficulty driving at night, causing glare and making the headlights seem too bright.

What causes cataracts?  

The most common type of cataract is related to aging of the eye. Other causes include, but are not limited to, family history, injury to the eye, medical conditions such as diabetes, medications especially steroids, and previous eye surgery. Cataracts are a common cause of decreased vision, particularly in the elderly, but they are treatable.             

How are cataracts treated?  

Surgery is the only way a cataract can be removed. This            involves removing the cloudy lens of the eye and replacing it with an artificial lens. No medications, dietary supplements, or eye drops prevent or cure cataracts.

When should surgery be done?

Cataract surgery should be considered when the cataracts cause enough loss of vision to interfere with your daily activities. It is not true that cataracts need to be “ripe” before they can be removed.

What can I expect from cataract surgery?

Over 1.4 million people have cataract surgery each year in the U.S. and more than 95% of those surgeries are performed with no complications. The surgery is usually performed under local or topical anesthesia as an outpatient procedure.

After surgery, you will have to take special medicated eye drops. There is little or no pain associated with the procedure in most cases.

What is glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a condition in which the fluid pressure within the eye increases, pushing against the optic nerve and causing damage. When the optic nerve fibers die, permanent vision loss results. The two main types of glaucoma are chronic open-angle glaucoma (most common type) and closed-angle glaucoma.  

What are the symptoms?

Typically, glaucoma has no symptoms in its early stages, and  vision remains normal.  If untreated, glaucoma progresses and causes blank spots in your field of vision. You probably won’t notice these blank spots in your day-to-day activities until the optic nerve is significantly damaged and these spots become large. If all the optic nerve fibers die, permanent blindness will result.

In closed-angle glaucoma, an acute attack can occur. The   symptoms of an acute attack may include severe eye pain,           headache, blurred vision, halos around lights, nausea and vomiting. This is a true eye emergency and requires quick diagnosis and treatment.

Regular eye examinations are the best way to detect glaucoma. A complete glaucoma exam includes measuring your                     intraocular pressure, inspecting the drainage angle of your eye,     evaluating your optic nerve, measuring corneal thickness, and visual field testing(a peripheral vision test).

What are the risk factors for developing glaucoma?

The most common risk factors are age, family history, elevated       eye pressure, thinner than average corneal thickness, and past eye injuries.

How is glaucoma treated?

Daily use of medicated eye drops is the most common method of    controlling glaucoma. Laser surgery and surgery in the              operating room are other options of treatment. Even though there is no cure for glaucoma, early detection, regular exams,                  and compliance with the prescribed regiment can help prevent        vision damage from occurring.

Flashes and Floaters

Hardly a day that goes by that an anxious patient doesn't come into our Eye Center because he or she is experiencing flying specks or flashes of light in their field of vision. This is a common malady called flashes and floaters.

What are Floaters and Flashes?

Floaters are often thick clumps or strings of vitreous that float behind the lens and cause the sensation of dark, moving spots in our vision. Flashes result when the shrinking vitreous tugs on the retina or when the retina is mechanically stimulated by a break or hole in it.

Caution is the Best Policy

Quite often the vitreous pulls away from the retina and no medical attention is necessary. However, occasionally as the vitreous pulls away from the retina, the retina tears and can lead to a retinal detachment, a serious threat to your vision.

Although complications associated with flashes and floaters are rare, a sudden onset of flashes and floaters should be taken seriously. A thorough dilated examination of the retina by an ophthalmologist or optometrist as quickly as possible is recommended.

Seeing Red? Stop and take precautions.

For many people, waking up in the morning, looking into the mirror and suddenly seeing red in or around the eye has meant countless anxious moments. This article is intended to discuss the common causes of eye redness that hopefully will relieve the apprehension in the event this happens to you.

The following information should not create a false sense of security, but rather an awareness that redness is a symptom of many different conditions, most benign but some potentially serious.

Self Diagnosing Procedure

First determine if the red area is in the eye or on the eye lid. If the eyelid is red, it is most often an allergic reaction or a sty (infected gland near an eye lash). A sty normally lasts one or two days and responds well to application of a warm compress.

If the white area of the eye is red, look to see if the redness is localized or red overall. Redness in only one eye typically indicates that a blood vessel has broken. This creates a "blood red" section on the white of the eye. This condition is most often seen in persons with high blood pressure or on blood-thinning medication. Blood from the broken vessel is absorbed by the eye and the redness usually clears up by itself in a few days. The mechanism of healing is similar to a bruise on the skin.

Conditions causing redness of the entire eyeball range from allergic reactions and pink eye to potentially serious conditions such as infection of the cornea due to contact lenses. Also, inflammation inside the eye (iritis) can cause a diffusely red eye.

Professional advice should be sought if sensations of pain, scratchiness or itchiness are associated with the redness. Family medical practitioners and optometrists can diagnose and treat most red eye conditions, However, if vision is affected, if pain is significant or if there is a sensitivity to light, a consultation with an eye doctor is highly recommended.

Attention Contact Lens Wearers

Improper maintenance of contact lenses can be a source of serious infection. If you wear contacts and develop any eye redness, remove lenses immediately and consult with your lens provider.
Vision-related Web Links