Dr. Anil Dudhabhate Dudhabhate

If you thought smoking was causing damage to only your lungs, thing again. Your eyesight, one of your most valuable possessions, is at high risk of damage because of your bad habit.
The damage done to your eyes by cigarettes happens from two sources; the toxic smoke that hangs in the air which surrounds you as you puff on the cigarettes and 4000 odd toxic substances that enter your bloodstream once you smoke. In extreme cases, smoking also causes loss in vision. Here is a list of eye disorders and diseases, which can be caused due to smoking-

Macular degeneration
The risk of developing Age-related Macular Degeneration is there for people above the age of fifty. In case of smokers, the chance of developing AMD is three times more than in nonsmokers. It has been proven that smokers develop the chance of AMD ten years prior to non smokers.

Cataract
This process involves the clouding of the lens inside the eye. Cataract develops with old age, usually. The risk of developing early cataract is common among smokers, who are twice at risk of cataract than non smokers. The effect of the cataract in the case of smokers is more severe.

Glaucoma
Glaucoma is the eye disorder where the death of nerve fiber layer behind our eyes takes place, and that results in loss of vision. The increase in pressure within the eyes leads to glaucoma. Smoking enhances the pressure in your eyes, and so smokers are at a potential risk of acquiring this disease.

Diabetic eye diseases
A number of eye diseases are accompanied with diabetes. This can result in blindness when left ignored or not paid attention to in severe cases. Diabetic patients who are smokers are three times more at a risk of eye diseases associated with diabetes.

Optic neuropathy
This eye disease causes sudden loss of vision to the eyes without any pain. It happens due to the disrupted flow of blood in the arteries of the eyes. Smokers are 16 times more at a risk of developing optic neuropathy at an earlier age.

Thyroid associated eye diseases
Patients having thyroid issues or Grave's disease have disorders in their vision. Grave's disease patients who smoke tobacco are likely to develop severe eye diseases associated with the thyroid.

Dry eye
Smoking causes irritation to the eyes and affects the tear film of the eye. Smokers and passive smokers are likely to develop dry eye disorders. Smoking causes a lot of eye diseases and disorders, and smokers are at a higher risk of acquiring eye diseases than non smokers.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

There are many kinds of conditions that affect the eyes and make vision difficult - temporarily or even permanently. Uveitis is one such condition that causes eye inflammation in the middle layer of the tissue that resides in the wall of the eye - also known as the Uvea. The progression of the condition is sudden and the symptoms, quite painful.

Let us get to know more with this article:

• Causes: To understand any condition and how it is to be treated, one must first understand the causes of the said condition. While the specific causes behind the onset of Uveitis are not clear, this inflammatory disorder may be caused as a side effect of others like an autoimmune disorder including those like ankylosing spondylitis or even sarcoidosis. Also, infections such as cat scratch disease, syphilis (learn more about syphilis problem), West Nile virus and others may cause this kind of inflammatory condition that also affects the eyes. Lymphoma is also a kind of cancer that can be found in the eyes, which can create Uveitis. Finally, eye injuries and surgeries may cause this condition too.
• Symptoms: This condition has a variety of symptoms that may flare up suddenly. There are very few cases in which these symptoms start and progress gradually. Redness and pain in the eyes is one of the most commonly experienced symptoms while decreased vision and sensitivity towards glares of light may also be felt by people suffering from this condition. One may also see dark spots floating around and the vision may get blurred as an effect.
• Onset of Symptoms: The symptoms usually depend to a great degree on the part of the eye that gets affected by this condition. The Uvea also consists of the iris, the choroid, and the ciliary body even as it enables blood flow to the deep layers of the retina.
• Medication: In order to treat mild to moderate cases, the ophthalmologist may prescribe anti-inflammatory medication like corticosteroids, as well as bacteria fighting medicines like antibiotics. Also, immunosuppressants can be used to deal with slightly more severe cases.
• Surgery: Very severe cases will require surgical procedures like a Vitrectomy to remove the vitreous in the eye for better management of the condition. Also, with surgery, the doctor can implant a device that leads to a slow release of medication on a constant basis so that the treatment and prevention of the condition goes on, unhindered. Yet, this method can also come with side effects like the onset of glaucoma.

The severity of the symptoms as well as the extent of the damage will pretty much determine the speed of your recovery as far as this condition is concerned.

Planning for a cataract surgery in the family. Here are the must know and eye opening facts.

Common public is often sensitized by marketing executives to go for expensive lenses in hospitals without thinking whether patients actually needs them or not as the lens mrp is 2 to 10 times the actual cost price or patient is implanted a extremely low cost lens usually in name of free surgery in charitable hospital.

Lens is major factor which determines the cost and quality of cataract surgery and its price varies from Rs. 500 to Rs. 50000.

Another important factor is the expertise and experience of surgeon which is a major determinant of surgical outcome.

Charitable surgery by charitable hospital exists only where external implants are put in patients like eye, orthopedics etc and not in neurosurgery, ent, general surgery, plastic surgery where mostly removal of the diseased part is done or modification of the surgical site is done. Charitable surgery by eye hospital is supported by vision 2020 of who.

The chances of eye infection increases if your surgery is listed lower down as compared to the first surgery on that day.

Patients are advised to have their surgery listed as first or second case. With improving standards of ot and sterilization of instruments, the infection rates have decreased drastically but why take a chance.

Once there is an eye infection following cataract surgery, there is little hope of return of vision.

Patient is advised to choose his doctor and institution or hospital where he is getting the surgery done based on its doctor's past reputation and the reputation of institution and should not get lured by free surgery camps and unless he can't afford to pay, since infection following cataract surgery needs at least 48 hours to manifest and its risk is extremely high in eye camps despite taking various measures due to unavoidable circumstances. Its your eyes after all!

Now patient should be aware of various types of iol (intraocular lenses) and its benefit over other lenses.

Cataract is also called'motiyabin" in hindi. Phacoemusification also called phaco is the most common procedure done for its removal.

Here is a complete summary of type of lens implanted in cataract surgery and it's pros and cons.

Monofocal lens- here you will need glasses to look at the near objects after cataract surgery.

Accommodating monofocal lenses (crysta lens)-a newer option, accommodating monofocal lenses, can shift from near to far vision in response to movements of the ciliary muscles in your eye, similar to the natural lens in a younger eye. These lenses offer excellent distance and middle vision, but they aren't as reliable for near vision. Eye exercises can help you get used to them, but about half of people who receive them still end up needing reading glasses.

Toric lenses-these specialized monofocal lenses are designed for people with astigmatism. Toric lenses offer focused vision at a single distance and correct your astigmatism, so you might not need distance glasses after surgery.

Multifocal lenses-like the bifocal or progressive lenses used in glasses, multifocal lenses have different areas designed for distance, intermediate, and near vision. The brain and eye figure out which part of the lens to use. The main drawback of multifocal lenses is they can distort bright light, creating more glare and halos at night.

Aspheric lens-designed to improve contrast sensitivity and visual clarity under certain circumstances.

Monovision-this implant technique uses a monofocal lens with a different power in each eye so that you don’t have to use glasses for most of your daily activities. Your dominant eye is generally set for distance, and the other eye is set for near. Many people successfully use monovision with contact lenses. Successful monovision requires cataract surgery to each eye.

One should remember that all that glitter is not gold in this commercialized world

Doctor has done 10000 phaco surgery and 50000 eye surgeries since 1986 and has pioneered phaco surgery in 1995 in bihar and jharkhand and was second person to do this surgery in whole of east india.

Consult online/book physical appointment/take a second opinion or get contact details on www.lybrate.com/arjunkumarsingh. Stay anywhere in india, get honest and unbiased advice from us.

Regards

Dr Arjun Kumar Singh, Patna

Email- drarjun53@gmail. Com