Eye Conditions
& Eye Diseases
There are many different types of eye conditions that could be affecting your eyesight or could have long-term consequences if not treated properly or promptly. Listed below are some of the more common conditions. If you think you or someone in your family has one of these conditions, please contact our office to schedule an exam and recommendations.
“Eye diseases” is a blanket term that refers to a host of diseases relating to the function of the eye. Below are some of the more common types of eye diseases and how they are generally treated.
EYE CONDITIONS
Below are brief descriptions of the various eye conditions our doctors commonly see and treat. www.myeyes.com/
There are many different types of eye conditions that could be affecting your eyesight or could have long-term consequences if not treated properly or promptly. We list some of the more common conditions below. If you think you or someone in your family has one of these conditions, please contact your local Vision Source® optometrist for an exam and recommendations.
Lazy eye is not always easy to recognize since a child with worse vision in one eye does not necessarily have lazy eye. Because of this, it is recommended that all children, including those with no symptoms, have a comprehensive eye examination by the age of three and sooner if there is a family history of any eye condition or disease. If you suspect a problem, or need to set up your child’s first eye examination, contact our office to set up an appointment.
Like some other skin conditions, blepharitis can be controlled but not cured. The main goals in treating it are to reduce the amount of bacteria along the lid margin and open plugged glands. Contact our office to assess the severity of your problem and the best treatment method.
A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s normally clear lens, which leads to a progressive blurring or dimming of vision. It is the world’s leading cause of blindness and among the most common conditions related to aging – by age 65, you have a 50 percent chance of developing a cataract, and, by age 75, it jumps to 70 percent.
A cataract starts out small and initially has little or no effect on vision. As the cataract progresses, it becomes harder to read and perform other normal tasks. In the early stages, your doctor may recommend stronger eyeglasses and adjusting your lighting to reduce glare. When cataracts disrupt your daily life, your doctor may recommend cataract-removal surgery, which is one of the most frequent and successful procedures done in the U.S.
At Professional Eye Care Center we screen for cataracts and co-manage patients with surgeons to give the best in ocular health. Our surgeons offer the latest cataract implant technology including tinted and multifocal implants to relieve patient’s dependency on glasses.
Neck pain, blurry vision, stiff shoulders, headache and watery eyes when working in front of a computer screen characterize computer vision syndrome. These symptoms are typically due to posture, dry eyes, eye muscle coordination and poorly corrected vision.
Since computer monitors are typically 20 to 26 inches from your eyes, your regular glasses may not be the best option for computer work. This distance range is considered intermediate – closer than what you use to drive a car but farther away than what you use to read. Special lens designs for computer work provide you with a larger intermediate area for viewing the computer and your immediate work area like the top of your desk.
If you suspect that you have dry eye, see your eye doctor. Proper care will not only increase your comfort – it will protect your eyes. Our doctors can perform a series of tests to determine if you have dry eyes. Professional Eye Care offers a number of products and services to treat dry eye including:
Lipi Scan: allows us to directly view the health of your meibomian glands in high definition.
Lipi Flow: a simple 12-minute thermal pulsating treatment completed in our office that can help improve gland function.
Bio-tissue: The amniotic membrane tissue has natural therapeutic actions that help damaged eye surfaces heal. Studies show significant improvement in blinking reflex and tearing reflex.
Artificial Tears: Artificial tears and other are available in a wide variety of ingredients and viscosity (“thickness”).
Supplements: Studies have found that supplements containing omega-3 fatty acids can decrease dry eye symptoms.
Blephex: Good hygiene is the first step in preventing or treating dry eye. BlephEx® is a painless in-office procedure to very precisely and carefully remove scurf and debris and exfoliate eyelids.
Dry Eye Kits: provides maximal moisture retention and dry eye protection
Nearsightedness, or myopia, as it is medically termed, is a vision condition in which people can see close objects clearly, but objects farther away appear blurred. People with myopia can have difficulty clearly seeing a movie or TV screen, a whiteboard in school or while driving.
Myopia occurs if the eyeball is too long or the cornea (the clear front cover of the eye) is too curved. As a result, the light entering the eye isn’t focused correctly, and distant objects look blurred.
Myopia has reached epidemic proportions; it currently affects 30 percent of the U.S. population and 50 percent of the world’s population will be myopic by the year 2050. While the exact cause of myopia is unknown, there is significant evidence that many people inherit myopia or have an ethnic predisposition to develop myopia. If one or both parents are nearsighted, there is an increased chance their children will be nearsighted. It has also been established that eye growth is significantly influenced by the visual environment. It is important to encourage healthy visual habits such as spending more time outdoors and reducing near work demand to delay myopia onset or reduce myopia progression. Our practice is proud to offer myopia management services; by incorporating the latest evidence-based knowledge, our doctors use individualized assessment and treatment plans for our affected or at-risk patients. The goal is to keep myopia from progressing, reducing the lifelong risk of potentially blinding eye diseases.
Strabismus is usually diagnosed during childhood and affects about 4 percent of children, afflicting boys and girls equally. Though it cannot be prevented, its complications can be avoided with early intervention.
EYE DISEASES
Here’s a quick look at some of the most common eye diseases diagnosed and often treated by our eye doctors.
“Eye diseases” is a blanket term that refers to a host of diseases relating to the function of the eye. Below are some of the more common types of eye diseases and how they are generally treated.
Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is an infection or inflammation of the conjunctiva – the thin, protective membrane that covers the surface of the eyeball and inner surface of the eyelids. Caused by bacteria, viruses, allergens and other irritants like smoke and dust, pink eye is highly contagious and is usually accompanied by redness in the white of the eye and increased tearing and/or discharge.
While many minor cases improve within two weeks, some can develop into serious corneal inflammation and threaten sight. If you suspect conjunctivitis, call our office for an examination and treatment.
“Diabetic eye disease” is a general term for a group of eye problems that can result from having type 1 or type 2 diabetes, including diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and glaucoma.
Over time, diabetes damages small blood vessels throughout the body, including the retina. Diabetic retinopathy occurs when these tiny blood vessels leak blood and other fluids. This causes the retinal tissue to swell, resulting in cloudy or blurred vision.
Often there are no symptoms in the early stages of diabetic eye disease, so it is important that you don’t wait for symptoms to appear before having a comprehensive eye exam. Early detection and treatment of diabetic eye disease will dramatically reduce your chances of sustaining permanent vision loss.
Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in the United States. It usually occurs in people over age 40 but can happen to those younger. Professional Eye Care Center uses the latest technology for early detection of Glaucoma utilizing OCT (optical coherence tomography) and VEP (visual evoked potential). These devices can accurately discriminate between healthy and glaucomatous eyes.
Symptoms are usually not evident but when they are – they include a gradual loss of peripheral vision or blurred vision and or most common in African Americans, nearsighted or diabetic patients.
Treatment is usually prescription eye drops to reduce the pressure in the eye or in some cases, surgery.
At Professional Eye Care Center we screen for Age-related Macular Degeneration by utilizing the latest, state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic technologies. Our practice was the first in the area to offer new technologies that diagnose AMD up to 3 years earlier than prior methods.
Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is reaching epidemic proportions and risk assessment for this disease has always been a challenge. The doctors at Professional Eye Care Center are at the forefront in prevention of eye disease so we utilize the Zeavision Quantifeye Device to determine if patients with normal eye health carry additional risk factors for AMD. This cutting edge technology is an easy, non-invasive test that measures Macular Pigment Optical Density (MPOD). Determining the level of MPOD along with a comprehensive eye examination allows doctors to more accurately assess if patients are in need of nutritional supplementation to lower their chances of vision loss. This approach ensures everything possible is being done to aid in the prevention of this devastating disease. Early diagnoses lead to more successful visual outcomes by co-managing with retina specialists who use cutting edge treatments to preserve sight.
Professional Eye Care Center, a Vision Source member practice, has the experience and equipment necessary to diagnose and often treat the eye diseases detailed above, as well as many other eye diseases.