Eyecare Medical News
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Eyecare Library
Did you know there's more to an eye exam than vision correction? Your eyes reveal more about your health than you know.
Mountain View Vision wants to keep you -- and your vision -- in perfect health. At right, read news about the latest in eyecare and eyewear.
Below are some articles we are providing to help you learn more about your eyes, your vision, and your health.
General Care:
Specific Conditions:
Your general health: Looking at you through your eyes
To your eye doctor, your eyes are windows to your overall health. Many illnesses show their earliest signs in the eyes, and many diseases can affect your vision.
While you're being examined your eye doctor will look for signs of:
· Hypertension: The appearance of irregular blood vessels on the retina could indicate high blood pressure.
· Diabetes: Small, circular areas of bleeding on the retina may be an early sign of diabetes. Increases and decreases in blood sugar level could cause blurred vision and retinal changes.
· Headache: Headaches may arise from -- or be worsened -- by vision problems such as eye strain.
· Stroke: The vessels in the eye may point to a risk of stroke.
· High Cholesterol: Hypertension often goes hand-in-hand with high cholesterol levels. The condition of the veins and arteries in the eyes could warn of high cholesterol, which may be a risk factor for heart disease.
· Multiple Sclerosis: Double vision, visual field loss, and uncoordinated or involuntary eye movements might be early signs of MS.
Of course, an eye examination cannot take the place of a general examination by your medical doctor. However, your eyes may reveal more about your health than you know.
Eye Health: Spotting Trouble Before You See It
The eye is susceptible to its own diseases, many of which have minimal associated symptoms, that can cause a range of problems from blurry vision to blindness. You need to do your part. Check vision in both eyes every day. Do your eyes feel good, see good, look good? Your eye doctor routinely performs tests and looks for signs and symptoms of many eye diseases, including:
Glaucoma: High levels of pressure inside the eye due to failure of the eye to regulate its own internal pressure. Early detection is crucial to prevent loss of sight. The internal lens of the eye becomes cloudy and must be removed and replaced with a tiny synthetic lens.
Binocular Vision: Two Eyes Working As a Team
Each eye forms its own image, and it is the brain's job to fuse the two images into one. For the brain to do its job, the eyes must be aligned, move together, and produce images of similar size and shape. When the eyes are not coordinated, they have to work hard to see clearly, often causing eyestrain or headaches. Although you might not know it, your eye doctor performs a whole series of tests to assess the ability of the eye muscles to keep the two eyes working together as a team.
Eyesight: Using Lenses to Correct Vision
Good vision is all about curves. A correctly shaped cornea and lens direct the light to the right spot on the retina to produce a clear, sharp image. When there is too much, too little, or inconsistent curvature, the image does not fall precisely on the retina, and we use curved lenses to correct:
· Myopia: nearsightedness
· Hyperopia: farsightedness
· Astigmatism: distorted vision
· Presbyopia: starting about age 40, difficulty in adjusting at close distances
All of these conditions can now be corrected with contact lenses. Soft contact lenses (SCLs) are the most popular because they are the most comfortable. Most people wear them during waking hours only (daily wear). Although some people sleep with their lenses in (extended wear), they should never be worn overnight unless approved by your Eye Care Professional (ECP).
Deposits and infectious organisms (bacteria, viruses, etc.) can build up on the surface of all contact lenses. For this reason, it is very important to keep them clean and disinfected. In the past, lens cleaning/disinfecting systems were complicated and expensive - so problems often developed because people didn't want to bother with the inconvenience. Ocular complications and/or long-term corneal damage are the consequences if SCLs are worn longer than your Eye Care Professional's recommendation.
Fortunately, we now have the convenience of disposable and frequent replacement SCLs like ACUVUE Brand Contact Lenses. Disposable contact lenses are designed to be worn only once and discarded when removed, so no cleaning or disinfecting is necessary. Frequent replacement SCLs are worn on a daily-wear basis for a short amount of time and then replaced. The shorter replacement schedule of both types of SCLs helps avoid the problems of lens surface build-up.
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