Month: April 2019

The Romans have been said to have used water filled glasses to read with and while watching those who were less fortunate to be in an arena they used some stones of various colors to shield their eyes. Romans were known for wanting the best out of life so its no surprise that they used stones like quartz to enhance vision or reduce glare

Salvino D’Armate invented the first known official pair of eyeglasses around 1284 in Italy. Alessandro Spina has been also said to be the first. Italians introduced eyeglasses to the Chinese and folk loar says Chinese judges used green eyeglasses to hide their expressions while passing judgment.

Eyeglass designer and maker of scientific devices James Ayscough developed a set of eyeglasses that used clear or green lenses in 1752. Ayscough thought that the green lenses helped vision some and relieved some eye fatigue. He was an apprentice to James Mann. The two became partners in developing microscopes and the publishing of articles.

By the early part of the 1900’s well known figures helped inspire the production and use of sunglasses. In 1929 Sam Foster started selling his version of sunglasses called Foster Grants.

The polarization of sunglasses was accomplished by Edwin H. Land. Land invented polarized material that he used on sunglasses. George Wheelright and Land became partners and started in 1937 the Polaroid Corporation. Lands polarized sheeting material was use in sunglasses, 3-D movies and for military use. Later the polaroid camera came along another of Lands products.

By the 1950’s sunglasses were exploding on the scene with great stride and to present time sunglasses have become more popular than ever. Manufacturers now have improved sunglasses greatly not only providing great styles, but now sunglasses protect against UVA & UVB Lights Rays and from eye problems such as macular degeneration. So make sure you protect your eyes and your childrens.

Glaucoma is considered serious because it is usually detected very late. By the time it is diagnosed it would have done enough damage to the eye. The reason for the late detection of the disease is – it has very few symptoms.

The affected person does not experience many problems in his eyes except the deterioration of vision. This dimness of vision is related to the age or the common eye disease – cataract, which also occurs in the same age group between 60-70 years. The another point to note here is- the damage it causes is most of the time irreversible. The correct treatment only ensures the arrest of the further damage. It cannot restore the lost vision. Therefore it has to be diagnosed as early as possible.

MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM :

The problem of the Glaucoma is more in developing countries because of the poverty, ignorance and non-systematic health system. It is estimated that one in every ten patients who visits eye hospital has glaucoma and one in every 100 becomes blind because of glaucoma in these countries. The survey conducted in various part of India indicates the prevalence of glaucoma as 14-25%, whereas the same figure in the developed countries like U.S.A. and U.K. is 12-13%.

Eye has also a definite pressure just like the blood pressure of the body.
Normally this pressure is about 10-20 m.m. of Hg. Eye surgeon suspects the possibility of glaucoma if there is any increase in this figure. Eye pressure is measured by an instrument called – Tonometer.

TYPES OF GLAUCOMA

Mainly there are three types of glaucoma.1.Open angle glaucoma 2.Closed angle glaucoma 3. Congenital glaucoma

• OPEN ANGLE GLAUCOMA

This is the most common variety of glaucoma and has got least symptoms.
This is seen both in women and men in almost equal proportions. Usually seen in the age group of 60-70 years.. The importance of this disease lies in the fact it is detected very late because it causes very few symptoms.

The main symptoms experienced by the patient are- blurring of vision, difficulty in doing the near work like reading, writing etc, the need to change the glasses frequently, the changes in the field of vision. This type of glaucoma would have usually damaged one eye and the process of damage would have started in the other eye also. The delay is also partially due to the fact that the central area of vision is preserved until the end stage of the disease. Because of all these reasons this type of glaucoma has to be diagnosed as early as possible. The following are the criteria which would help in the early diagnosis – 1. The pressure of the eyeball ( the intra-ocular pressure ) 2. The changes in the optic disc. 3. The changes in the visual field.

The changes in the visual field mainly are – the appearance of so many non-seeing areas, which means that the specific area of the optic nerve is destroyed. The other change is – the enlargement of the normally existing blind spot and the contraction of the peripheral visual field, which means that more and more optic nerve fibres are destroyed.

The exact reasons for the increase of the eye pressure are not known. But it is thought that there is some sort of blockage at the site where the aqueous liquid is absorbed to the blood.

TREATMENT:

There are many drugs which are used in the medical line of management but mainly Timolol, pilocarpine, epirine are used. But the dis-advantage of using these drugs are that they have to be used life long. So most of the time it is advised to get the surgery done, which ensures the steady maintenance of the eye pressure. Recently laser-(Non Surgical treatment)-Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty has given good results in many patients.

• NARROW ANGLE GLAUCOMA

Opposed to the previous type of glaucoma, in this type, there are many
symptoms which prompt or which bring the patients to the eye surgeon.
It is seen more in women, in 50-60 years, particularly in those who are
highly strung and anxious in disposition and usually show an instability in their vasomotor reactions.

The patient feels blurring of vision to start with, then sometimes he or she experience coloured haloes around light, mild headache may be seen occasionally. Then suddenly he or she feels severe headache, severe pain only in one eye, profuse watering, sudden acute redness of the eyes and above all patient feels sudden loss of vision in that eye. At this stage when
the patient presents to the eye surgeon, the detailed examination reveals- particular eye has become red, the vision remarkably is reduced (almost

blind) and the eye pressure (intra-ocular pressure) shoots up to the range of 80-85 mm of Hg ( very hard eyeball ).Any eye surgeon recognises this stage as emergency and takes immediate measures to reduce the eye pressure.

There is a blockage for the passage of aqueous fluid from posterior chamber to anterior chamber at the angle of the anterior chamber which is responsible for the high pressure of the eyeball. Because of this nature this type of glaucoma gets the name- narrow angle glaucoma

TREATMENT:

The initial treatment is to reduce the eye pressure by using eye drops like pilocarpine, timolol and tablets acetazolamide but if the pressure is in the range of 80, it may be necessary to use mannitol by intravenous drip for the immediate lowering of eye pressure. But whatever may be initial treatment,
the final treatment is surgery or operation. To create a passage between anterior and posterior chamber for the aqueous fluid- is the aim of the surgery. Sometimes argon laser is used to create this passage instead of surgery. Another important issue in this type of glaucoma is doing a prophylactic surgery or laser to the other normal eye even though it never showed any signs or symptoms of the disease. It is advisable to prevent the possible acute attack in the other eye, because narrow angle glaucoma is usually bilateral.

It is always advisable to lower the eye pressure to reasonably acceptable levels. If properly managed the almost blind eye regains vision appreciably. If the long term treatment is not instituted at this stage, the patient may go into this type of acute attacks twice or thrice at the interval of 2-3 months.

• CONGENITAL GLAUCOMA OR BUPHTHALMOS

Both eyes are generally affected, seen more in boys than girls. It may be detected soon after birth or later in the childhood by 3-4 years. It is due in most cases to a failure in the development of the tissues in the region of the angle of the anterior chamber. This results in the overall increase of pressure throughout the globe, with the result that the whole eyeball looks like the big eyeball of buffalo, hence the name- Buphthalmos.

The treatment of the Buphthalmos is purely surgical but most of the time it is unsatisfactory.

Glaucoma is seen sometimes as a secondary condition primary being some other disease of the eye itself.

Eye lashes usually protect the eyes from direct injuries. But sometimes eye injuries do occur piercing the defense of the eye. Sharp wooden or metal pieces enter and damage the eyes. This usually happens to workers, who work in quarries and in metal works. Various organic substances like acids and alkalis may fall accidentally into the eye and cause mild to severe damage. Apart from sharp objects, blunt objects also can damage the eye and cause blindness.

Damage to the eyes depends on 1) The sharpness of the accident. 2) The infection carried due to injury. 3) The infection of the iris- iritis. 4) The injury of one eye may cause damage to the other eye. Usually the sharp objects tear the cornea or the whiter sclera. In these situations, the iris which is inside might pop up and get trapped in the wound. The trapped iris might cause infection and damage the whole eye. Treatment at this stage would be surgery. The popped out iris has to be cut and the cut portions of cornea and sclera have to be sutured with fine sutures. If the cut portion is only in the sclera, the visual damage would be less. If the damage is more in the cornea, the visual damage would be more, with the result that such eye would become partially or completely blind. The success of the treatment depends on the early institution of the correct and proper treatment. So it is necessary to consult a competent Eye specialist at the earliest.

The green signal for pedestrians was about to end. He was in a hurry to get back to his house after a hectic duty at his office. His idea was to cross that important crossing before red signal would appear. When he crossed half of the road, suddenly he felt a sort of blackness in front of his eyes. It was like a black curtain in front of his eye. He did not know what to do at that moment. He was not able to see anything at that moment. Without knowing what to do he was standing at the half-way mark for long time. Meanwhile signals were getting changed frequently – green, red, purple and then once again green–and so on. He was hearing the noisy sounds of speeding vehicles moving on both his sides. He understood that there was something wrong with his eyes. He was slowly getting used to the circumstance. Likewise he had to spend nearly 20 minutes in the middle of the road. Meanwhile a police constable present at that crossing observed Mr. Fernandez. He did not understand why this fellow was not crossing the road even when he was getting the green signal. He came and enquired Mr. Fernandez. Fernandez explained that he had only one eye which was having good vision and that too the same eye had become suddenly blind. That Police person arranged for an ambulance in which Mr. Fernandez was shifted to nearest eye hospital.

There he was examined in detail and the diagnosis of Retinal Detachment was made. This was the cause for the sudden loss of vision for Mr. Fernandez. This is one of the many causes for sudden loss of vision in one eye.

Your optometrist will be able to confirm whether or not you are suffering from presbyopia by carrying out a basic eye exam. There are a number of ways to correct the condition if you are found to have it.
Varifocal contact lenses are often used to help correct presbyopia. They are specially designed to give the wearer good vision close up and far away. This means that people who wear them do not have to change their lenses for driving and reading.

Bifocal glasses are also used to correct presbyopia. However many people do not like wearing them because they have a line in the center of the frame. This is not the case with varifocal lenses which means that no one will be able to see that you are wearing them.
In addition to varifocal lenses and bifocal glasses, surgery is also sometimes used as a corrective measure. Refractive surgery for instance is sometimes carried out in order to correct the shape of the patient’s cornea.

Although it is not possible to prevent presbyopia entirely there are things that you can do to look after your eyes. For instance, you should get them checked regularly, wear sunglasses on bright days and eat foods like carrots that contain Vitamin A and beta carotene.