Glaucoma is a group of diseases that causes damage to your eye's optic nerve and gets worse over time. The optic nerve is a bundle of millions of nerve fibres which carry visual impulse from the retina at the back of eye to the brain. The increased eye pressure, called intraocular pressure, can damage the optic nerve and fasten the natural nerve fibre loss. Since nerve cells can't regenerate this damage is permanent and irreversible.

Without treatment, glaucoma can cause total permanent blindness within a few years. Because most people with glaucoma have no early symptoms or pain from this increased pressure, it is important to see your eye doctor regularly so that glaucoma can be diagnosed early and treated before significant functional visual loss occurs.

If you are over age 40 and have a family history of glaucoma, you should have a complete eye exam with an eye doctor every one to two years. If you have any risk factors, you may need to visit your eye doctor more frequently.

What are the symptoms of glaucoma?

For most people, there are usually few or no symptoms of glaucoma. The first sign of glaucoma is often the loss of peripheral or side vision, which can go unnoticed until late in the disease. This is why glaucoma is often called the" sneak thief of vision" or" silent thief of eye sight.

If you have any of the following symptoms, seek immediate medical care:

Seeing halos around lights
Vision loss
Redness in the eye
Eye that looks hazy (particularly in infants)
Nausea or vomiting
Pain in the eye
Narrowing of vision (tunnel vision)
Risk factors-

There are several risk factors, which may lead to glaucoma, such as

Age of the individual
Ethnicity- african, caribbean, hispanics and asians are at higher risk
Increased eye pressure or iop history of glaucoma in family or relatives
Presence of myopia or hyperopia
Previous eye injuries
Use of steroids- as injections, tablets, eye or ear drops or ointments or protein supplements for muscle building in gyms or inhalers
Previous history of anemia
Individuals conditions affecting blood flow like hypertension, diabetes or high blood sugar, migraine etc are also at risk.
Treatment-

The treatment for glaucoma relies on the nature and seriousness of every case. Generally, glaucoma cannot be totally cured, but it can be controlled. Eye drops, pills, laser strategies, and means of surgery are utilized to maintain and prevent further harm from happening. Talk to your eye doctor to find out if you are at risk of developing glaucoma.

Are You at a Risk of Glaucoma? What You Need to Know?

A common headache can have a number of reasons behind it, such as defective vision, hetrophoria or convergence deficiency, etc. Now, the question arises as to how they can cause headache. Read on to know more...

Q. Why should defective vision cause headache?

To attain a perfect vision, eyes with defective vision have to make sustained extra efforts, which results in headache. Even if the refractive error is very small, it can be the cause of headache. More prolonged the working and smaller the print, higher the incidence of headache.

Q. Can this occur at all ages?

Yes, it can occur at all ages. However, with age, the resistance decreases and hence elderly people are more prone to get headache. More the use of computer, mobiles, TV or prolonged studies precipitates headache

Q What is Hetrophoria?

Normally, both eyes always remain parallel, but in some cases, eyes have slight tendency to develop minor squint, may be convergent or divergent. This is called Hetrophoria or Latent squint. Such patients have to take extra strain to keep the eyes straight

Q. What is convergence deficiency?

For reading, both eyes have to converge and if there is weakness of convergence, extra strain has to be put on the eyes, which cause headache.

Q. What is the ideal method of refraction in young patients, I,e below 40 years?

Ideal method is to dilate the pupil with Tropicasyl plus drops. This has the advantage that the doctor can see the retina and Optic Disc. This is important to exclude any involvement of brain as the cause of headache. It also relaxes accommodation and hence provides correct refraction. In cases of Hypermetropia, it is extremely essential to dilate the pupil.

Q. What is the role of Autorefractmeter (a computer) in refraction?

It is a very important instrument to provide correct refraction, but it cannot be totally relied upon. Some opticians rely on it and give wrong numbers.

Q. What is acceptance Test?

You have refracted the eyes with Autorefractmeter or Streak Retinoscope but exact power is what a patient accepts. This is very important.

Q. What is astigmatism?

There is a difference in refraction in different meridians and it is important that a cylinder number is prescribed in correct axis. This is a difficult task and needs lot of experience.

Q. Is it important to correct astigmatism?

To relieve headache and strain on the eyes, it is very important that exact cylinder is prescribed.

Q. What is the role of exact centring of Optical Lenses?

You may give correct number, but if the centre of the Optical lenses and cornea do not coincide, satisfactory results are not obtained. To dispense correct lenses is a big art and the Optician must be qualified and well experienced.

Q. Does the quality of lens affect the visual comfort?

Yes, it is important that quality of lenses should be good, preferable fibre lenses which are Ant reflect coated. Crizal coating with capability to block the UV rays are very popular.

Conclusion: Refractive errors are important cause of headache and needs proper examination of the eyes, preferably after dilating the pupil. Astigmatic error even if too small may be the cause of headache. Spectacle dispensing is an art and a patient must select proper optician. Spectacles if advised for constant use must be used constantly to get full relief.

Defective Vision - Can it be a Cause of Your Headache?

If you have got diabetes, then it is quite natural that you will soon face acute eye troubles. This is the reason diabetic patients are always suggested to keep their blood sugar levels controlled so that eye troubles can be easily avoided. Thorough medical check-up is required in order to detect conditions of the eyes. Some of the commonest eye troubles occurring due to diabetes are cataract, glaucoma, blurry vision, diabetic retinopathy and others. 

List of eye diseases caused by diabetes

1. Diabetic retinopathy: when the retina's smallest blood vessels get severely damaged due to increased blood sugar, then this kind of eye condition occurs. Early detection of this eye condition can save your eyes, but if it is too late, then nothing can be done, and it might even lead to blindness.

2. Cataract: fogging or clouding condition can bring this kind of condition and this can only be corrected by wearing proper corrective lenses. However, if you fail to control diabetes, then in spite of wearing glasses, your eye condition might get deteriorated day-by-day. Glared or blurred vision is the most common symptom in this regard. 

3. Glaucoma: when the eye fluid is not drained properly, then this kind of eye trouble occurs. In fact, eye pressure increases to a great extent as a result of which delicate eye nerves can get severely damaged. The blood vessels of the eyes can get clogged causing greater interruption in vision. Medicines can make aqueous humor to get drained in a proper manner, and thus you should go for a proper eye check-up so that you can acquire the requisite medicines. Some popular symptoms of glaucoma are headaches, eye aches, blurred vision, watery eyes, vision loss and others. 

4. Diabetic macular edema: this eye disease mainly occurs in the advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy. Macula is nothing, but the most delicate part of retina and when it gets swollen, then you might face this eye trouble. Only medications can help you to get rid of the same and thus immediate medical help is needed. 

5. Blurry vision: though this is quite a small and temporary eye issue for diabetic patients, but this condition might turn into a serious one if you neglect to correct the same in the very beginning. You might even face blindness due to negligence of this trouble. Also, fluctuating sugar-levels should be stabilized so that this kind of trouble can be easily tackled.

Eye Problems Caused by Diabetes

Sunglasses are an important part of the accessories you use in summer or any time of the year. They help you to look fashionable and stylish and also make a pretty good style statement. But is that the only job of sunglasses? Or do they have something more to them? Here are a few reasons why sunglasses are more than just a style statement:


1. Decrease in eye problems: Generally, you use sunscreen to protect your skin from the Sun s glare. Similarly, sunglasses protect your eyes from the harmful UV rays of the sun. It is extremely important for you to protect the eyes so that the harmful UV rays cannot enter the sensitive eye tissue and harm them. If you do not use sunglasses, then you have a higher chance of damaging your eye tissue than a person who uses them regularly. Bear in mind that the strong UV rays can cause serious permanent damage to your eyes.


2. Protection from other environmental components: Not only is the sun harmful to your eyes, but also the wind can be extremely dangerous for them. Dirt, sand, dust particles can fly into your eyes even when just a breeze is blowing. On a windy day, damage can be much more. If you are wearing sunglasses when out on a windy day, they act like a shield to your eyes against the wind and the particles,which might enter your eye.


3.  Helps clear vision: It s often difficult to have a clear vision when out in the Sun. The bright sunlight doesn t give you the clarity in vision. Without protection, you will have reduced vision as the bright glare of the Sun might cause you discomfort in your eyes and limit your vision as you will have to squint in the bright light.


4. Helps prevent aging: Although it might sound a bit surprising, but wearing sunglasses actually helps in prevent aging. The bright glare of the sun causes you to squint and this causes the age lines to appear. So, if you wear sunglasses and your eyes are protected from the bright sunlight, then you will not be squinting anymore, and hence it will not cause the age lines to appear before time.


So now, before you think that sunglasses only make you look good, think again about how they actually do much more than that.

4 Reasons Why Sunglasses are More than Just a Style Statement

Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness in people across the globe. It damages the optic nerve that carries sensory images from the retina to the brain. A faulty eye pressure is responsible for damaging the very delicate optic nerve fiber causing small blind spots in the retina. Unfortunately, for most patients this disease only gets diagnosed when the number of blind spots is on the higher side.

Types of Glaucoma

Open angle: This is a type of Glaucoma which results from the blockage of the drainage angle of the eye resulting into an increased eye pressure.
Angle closure: This is the kind of Glaucoma which results from the narrowing down of the drainage angle leading to complete blockage.
Target segment of Glaucoma

Family history: Inheritance surely plays a role in case of Glaucoma too. If Glaucoma runs through families of an individual, there are higher chances of getting this disease. Although there is no hard and fast rule about it, the risks of inheriting this disease are on the higher side.
Eye injury: If there is any history of previous eye injuries, the probability of the onset of Glaucoma cannot be turned down. Specially, if the injury is related to optic nerve, there are very high risks involved.
Bilateral Oophorectomy: Dual Ovary removal before the age of 40 results in deficiency of estrogen resulting in Glaucoma. Although most surgeons warn their patients of the possible risk of these procedures, many surgeries such as these have resulted in patients losing eyesight in the form of Glaucoma.
Patient with Diabetes: In case of acute diabetes, retina gets damaged and the eye starts producing new blood vessels on the iris resulting into an increased eye pressure. This condition often leads to Glaucoma due to blockage of fluid flow in the eye.
Eye Conditions: Myopia, multiple surgeries to the eye, blunt trauma etc. can lead to Glaucoma. A patient who has undergone any kind of eye surgeries suffers from inflammation. However, major inflammation is often found twisting blood flow in the eye resulting into Glaucoma.
If a patient is 40 or above: After a person reaches 40 years of age, a lot of diseases start cropping in to the body. Studies show that Glaucoma has a higher frequency in people who is more than the age of 40 or above.
High eye pressure: A patient with an eye pressure of above 21 mm HG is also at a very high risk of getting glaucoma. For a normal person the IOP lies between 10 to 21 mm HG.
Blood flow related disease: Diseases such as acute migraine, hypertension and low blood pressure which involves blood flow related problem often aggravate to glaucoma.
Ethnic Background: Statistics show that people from Afro American, Hispanics, Asian and Caribbean background have greater chances of being affected by Glaucoma.

Glaucoma - Are You at Risk?

Eye allergies are characterized by red and itchy eyes which may result from various allergens coming in contact with the eye. Eye allergies can cause swelling of the eyelids, redness in the eyes and may also lead to conjunctivitis. Conventional treatments prescribe eye drops containing chemicals that may aggravate the condition.

Homeopathy-the best natural treatment for eye allergies-

The allopathic system relies mainly on steroids and anti-allergic medicines for the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis. Even  then, it is unable to cure the allergy. It only ends up controlling it or keeping the symptoms under check. In homeopathy, the intention is to completely cure the allergy. Homeopathy recognises that the immune system of the body sometimes overreacts to some seemingly harmless things. This overreaction of the body is the root cause of problem. 

Therefore, it tries to correct the immune system. In this the medicines that are used by homeopathy are perfectly natural medicines. None of the medicines are chemical in nature. They are made from natural sources like plants or fruits or vegetables or minerals. The basic material is further diluted by a special mechanism which reduces the content of the original matter while increasing its latent healing powers. That is why these natural homeopathic medicines do not have any side effects.

The homeopathic remedies for eye allergies are:

1. Euphrasia

This remedy is used to treat allergies which cause watery discharge from the eyes and which tends to have burning sensation on the skin. The condition tends to aggravate during the evening and in closed spaces.

2. Argentum nitricum

Argentum nitricum is used to treat eye allergies which show symptoms such as aversion to bright light and conjunctiva swelling. The symptoms may be accompanied by gas in the abdomen.

3. Ruta

This is an effective remedy for allergic conjunctivitis where you may experience a constant feeling of something being stuck in the eye. There may also be swelling in the eyelids, redness and continuous watery discharge.

4. Pulsatilla

Pulsatilla is recommended if symptoms such as itchy eyes, yellowish discharge from the eyes and swelling of the eyelids are present. Hot and humid climatic conditions tend to aggravate this.

5. Apis Mel

Apis Mel is another homeopathic remedy that is used to treat eye allergies. Symptoms such as swelling of the eyes, burning sensation and intense pain in the eyes are very common. The symptoms are aggravated by hot weather conditions and direct exposure to the sun.

Eye Allergies - Know The Homeopathic Treatment For Them!

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