Eye allergies or allergic conjunctivitis involves the inflammation of the conjunctiva in the eyes. Eye allergies are different from contagious or bacterial conjunctivitis. Eye allergies are common during summer. Homeopathy is an ideal way to cure eye allergies without any side effects. Here are some homeopathic medicines, which treat eye allergies, along with the symptoms when they are prescribed.

 Apis mel: this homeopathic medicine is ideal for eye allergies characterized by burning and stinging in the eyes. Oedema accumulates around the eyes; the eyelids swell and become puffy. Watery discharge comes out of the eyes.
 Euphrasia: this is an ideal medicine for treating eye allergies where there is an acrid discharge from the eyes. The discharge is acidic and burns the skin it comes in contact with, and there is burning pain in the eyes. The eyes stay watery.
 Argentum nitricum: it is an ideal homeopathic remedy in case of eye allergies with prulent discharge. The patient develops photophobia and splinter like pain is felt in the eyes. The conjunctiva swells and the discharge is abundant. 
 Ruta: this is a great homeopathic medicine to cure eye allergies where there is a sensation of a foreign body in the eyes. Indicated by severe eye irritation, the patient feels as if a dust particle is stuck in his eyes. The eyes become red and quite painful.
 Pulsatilla: pulsatilla is an ideal homeopathic medicine when there is relief due to the application of cold water. Symptoms include discharge of a thick, yellow fluid from the eyes along with itching and burning. The eyelids feel like they have been agglutinated.

In case of eye allergies accompanied by itching or burning sensation, you can apply natural home-based remedies as well. They are:

 Applying a cold compress: application of cold compress around the allergy affected area will give you relief. Soak a cloth in cold water and apply it gently. Use chamomile tea bags as a cold compress.
 Use cucumber: put slices of cucumber over the affected area in the eyes to get relief from eye allergies. Cucumbers possess anti-irritation properties and reduce puffiness, swelling and irritation. 
 Rosewater: rosewater is an effective remedy for eye allergies. It soothes and cools the eyes, and the eyes become clear. You can use rose water as an eye drop or wash your eyes with it.
 Green tea: green tea is completely natural and provides relief to eye allergies. It accounts for soothing the eyes and is anti-inflammatory in nature.

Eye allergies are common and affect people most during the summer. They reoccur every year and give you a bad time. Homeopathic and natural treatment methods for eye allergies are among the best remedies.

Homeopathic and Natural Treatment for Eye Allergies

Night blindness is also called nyctalopia.It's a type of vision impairment. People with night blindness experience poor vision at night or in dimly lit environments. It is not a disease in itself, but rather a symptom of an underlying problem, usually a retina problem.

What Causes Night Blindness?
A number of eye conditions can cause night blindness, including:
1. Nearsightedness or blurred vision when looking at faraway objects.
2. Cataracts or clouding of the eye's lens.
3. Retinitis pigmentosa, which occurs when dark pigment collects in your retina and creates tunnel vision.
4. Vitamin A Deficiency
5. Zinc Deficiency
6. Dry Eyes
7. Diabetes

Are the Symptoms of Night Blindness?
The sole symptom of night blindness is difficulty seeing in the dark. You're more likely to experience night blindness when your eyes transition from a bright environment to an area of low light, such as when you leave a sunny sidewalk to enter a dimly lit restaurant. You're likely to experience poor vision when driving due to the intermittent brightness of headlights and streetlights on the road.

How can I Prevent Night Blindness?
You can't prevent night blindness that's the result of birth defects or genetic conditions, such as Usher syndrome. You can, however, properly monitor your blood sugar level and eat a balanced diet to make night blindness less likely. 

Orange colored foods are excellent sources of vitamin A, including:
1. Cantaloupes
2. Sweet potatoes
3. Carrots
4. Pumpkins
5. Butternut squash
6. Mangoes

What are the Treatment Options for Night Blindness?
The treatment will depend on its causes.
1. Nutrient deficiency (Vitamin A and Zinc) is the easiest to treat. 
2. If the cause is cataract, you can go for cataract surgery to remove the clouded lens and replace it with artificial intraocular lens. Vision is usually dramatically improved after surgery. 
3. For dry eye syndrome, lubricate your eyes with artificial tear drops as they provide instant relief. Just make sure that they are without preservatives. 
4. Diabetic retinopathy can be prevented with tight control over blood sugar, active lifestyle and good dietary habits.
5. As for retinitis pigmentosa, unfortunately there are no treatments available. Thankfully, new research is showing that vitamin A might have a slowing effect on the progression of this eye disease.

Night Blindness: Causes and Symptoms

Hypertension is a killer disease whose symptoms develop late when the damage is in advanced stages. Hypertensive Retinopathy is one such disease.

It damages the retina of eyes. Since retina is responsible for vision formation, Hypertensive Retinopathy can result in loss of vision. It is of grave concern that in most cases, Hypertensive Retinopathy is diagnosed later.

This is due to the fact that there are often no symptoms in the early stages of the disease. In some cases, where symptoms do manifest, patients may experience pain in the eyes, reduced vision, or headache.

What Happens in Hypertensive Retinopathy

People suffering from long term hypertension are susceptible to Hypertensive Retinopathy. Long-term hypertension affects the small and narrow blood vessels that join arteries to capillary blood vessels taking blood to different parts of the eye. These blood vessels become narrow with time if hypertension in the eyes continues unabated. This narrowing is more common in young adults compared to older people. Such unabated systemic hypertension also leads to leakage of fluid. This is why in some cases of Hypertensive Retinopathy, patients may experience exudation. Ultimately, Hypertensive Retinopathy may lead to damage to retinal blood vessels.

Risk Factors

Long standing hypertension is the number one risk factor for Hypertensive Retinopathy. People who are suffering from longer hypertension become most susceptible for this ailment.

However, studies have shown that hypertension for more than 5 years can even make people susceptible to this ailment.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is done by Funduscopic Examination. The doctor would look at the eyes of the patient through an Ophthalmoscope which has different lenses. The Ophthalmoscope illuminates the retina and the doctor looks at the retina with different lenses. He can get a view of the retina, including blood vessels and optic nerve disks.

Findings of Diagnosis

For a person suffering from Hypertensive Retinopathy, this examination is likely to show:

Constriction of the arterioles.

Changes in the walls of retinal blood vessels.

Flame-shaped hemorrhages in the retina.

Yellow and hard exudates.

Spots in the shape of cotton wool.

Swelling of the optic disc.

Treatment

The primary treatment for Hypertensive Retinopathy is controlling blood pressure of the eyes. Some lifestyle changes like reducing the intake of salt, avoiding tobacco, etc., may bring down or control systemic hypertension in the eyes. In many cases, doctors may just recommend lifestyle modifications. Nevertheless, it completely depends on the extent of the damage and whether or not there is any fluid accumulation.

If the doctor feels that lifestyle modification is not enough, he may go for medicines that help the patients to control blood pressure effectively.

If the problem is in advanced stages and there is fluid accumulation behind the retina, the doctor may go for Intravitreal injection or Laser Therapy to control the edema.

Conclusion

Eyes are one of the most significant part of the body, this is why it is important for people to take care of it. In case of disease like Hypertensive Retinopathy, one must consult a doctor before opting any treatment or medicines.

Hypertensive Retinopathy - Everything About It!

While it's assumed that numerous eye injuries are inflicted at work, just about the same number of them may happen while at home. Luckily, most eye wounds are preventable. Find ways to prevent eye injuries, as the eyes are very sensitive and delicate.
Here is a list of some of the most common eye injuries and tips on how to prevent them:

1. A lot of eye injuries happen from dust particles entering the eyes, causing itching and burning sensation. Protective glasses should be worn when doing any kind of activity in a dusty area with flying particles.

2. Pencils, scissors, forks, knives and all similar sharp objects can cause a serious eye injury. Day to day household items like bungee cords, wire coat hangers, rubber bands and fishhooks are capable of causing eye injuries. You must always remain aware and super conscious while using such objects.

3. While performing activities such as dusting, sweeping or lawn mowing, make sure to protect your 
eyes well as dust is involved.

4. Children are very curious by nature. Thus, all hazardous stuff like fertilizers, acids should be kept away from their reach. These contain harmful chemicals, which may inflict fatal damage to the eyes.

5. Cooking powder and spices like chili powder can cause injury to the eye. Always wash your hands 
after using these items, so that you don't harm the eyes if you by chance rub them with your hands.

6. Precautions should be taken while dealing with heat or boiling water or oil. They may spill and cause damage to the eyes.

7. Secure floor coverings and railings. On the off chance that a kid or elderly man lives in your home, use a safety gate at the top and base of stairs, and consider covering sharp furniture edges and corners with a padding material.

8. While travelling in a car, abrupt jerking or breaks may cause the head to bump and cause injury to the eye. Always put on your seat belt and do not allow children to sit in the front of a car.

9. Many modern toys, which are very attractive have got sharp edges because of their fancy design. Abstain children from playing with these kinds of toys.

10.  Laser pointers, a common fun gadget for children is very harmful and causes permanent damage to the retina. Stay away from laser pointers.

11. Wear eye gear to protect your eyes during sports activities. Also wear goggles during swimming as chlorine in swimming pool water damages the eyes.

Eye injuries may happen out of nowhere. You must always remain alert to avoid eye injuries.

Most Common Eye Injuries That Happen and Prevention Tips

While spectacles are a fashion statement for some people, for others they are an uncomfortable necessity. Though contact lenses may be a little more aesthetically pleasing they too can be quite uncomfortable and cannot be worn throughout the day. Thankfully, there is a third way to correct vision. Laser surgery or LASIK, it is a popular refractive procedure that can correct common vision problems, such as nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. This procedure aims at reshaping the cornea so that light entering the eyes can be focused onto the retina for the person to have a clearer vision. 

Laser surgery is pain-free and quick in most cases. Usually, it does not take more than 15 minutes to correct vision in both eyes. The results of this surgery can be seen in as little as 24 hours. 

The first step of laser surgery to correct vision is to create a thin, circular flap in the cornea. This is then folded back to access the stroma or underlying cornea. An excimer laser is then used to remove some of the corneal tissue. For people suffering from nearsightedness, the cornea is flattened while for people suffering from farsightedness, the cornea is made steeper. In cases of astigmatism, an irregular cornea is smoothened. Once the correct gradient has been achieved the corneal flap is put back into place and the cornea is allowed to heal naturally. There are no stitches or bandages required in a laser eye surgery. You may feel a temporary burning or itching sensation in your eyes immediately after the procedure. It is important not to rub your eyes or place any pressure on them. Your vision may also be cloudy or blurred for the first few hours. A doctor will usually advise you to rest for a few days after the surgery so that your cornea can heal properly. In a few days, your eyesight should stabilize, though, in a few rare cases, it may take a little longer. You should also avoid any form of strenuous exercising for a few days after the surgery. 

Though LASIK surgery has a very high success rate, there are very rare occasions where spectacles may still be needed even after the surgery. Thus LASIK is a choice of treatment for many who seek freedom from glasses.

LASIK - Say No to Boring Glasses! 

There are many common measures people take to improve their eyesight or to improve their vision, including wearing glasses, lenses, and many more. Here are some effective exercises, which can prove to be highly beneficial to improve your eye health:

1. Stretching
This is the most common and also one of the easiest to do. It requires you to just look up, hold for two seconds, look down, hold for two seconds and then repeat this procedure for each corner of your eye, which means top-left, top-right, bottom-left and bottom-right corners.

2. Flexing
This is simply rotating your eyes in circles. Roll your eyes in the clockwise direction for one minute and then roll your eyes in the anticlockwise direction for one minute.

3. Focus switching
This particular eye exercise is probably the most useful one to improve eye health. In this eye exercise, you have to hold something at a reading distance and cover the other eye. You then have to find something that is at least twenty feet away and trace its shape with one eye closed. With one eye closed, trace more shapes, which are twenty feet away.

4. Palming
This exercise is also very simple to perform. All you have to do is cover your eyes with your palms. Once you have done this, just wait and see that there are no bright flashes of light. If you see that there is a bright flash of light, just wait till they go. This is used primarily to distress the eyes.

5. Deep blinking
This is also an incredibly useful exercise for distance vision. What you have to do is to place some large letters are at a fair distance and then sit on a chair. You have to then close your eyes and tighten all your muscles for 5 seconds. After 5 seconds are over, you have to open your eyes and then you have to see the letters for a second or two. The more number of times you do this, the more clearly you will be able to see the letters after reopening your eyes.

However, these eye exercises are not universally accepted by all doctors.

Exercises to Improve Eye Health

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