Looking after your eyes. All you need to know for free.

Diabetic Retinopathy

There are increasing numbers of people with vision impairment caused by diabetes in the developed and developing world. Growth of new blood vessels in the retina and vitreous can occur which causes the blood vessels to become weak and leak and can lead to vision loss. Laser treatment can help prevent blindness provided it is given before vision loss occurs. Vision loss depends on the amount and the area of the retina affected. Tight medical control of diabetes and regular eye examinations are important to prevent vision loss from diabetic eye disease.

Optic Atrophy

This is a degeneration of the optic nerves caused by injury to the eye, glaucoma, poisons, congenital (present at birth) defects and difficulties at birth. Visual acuity is affected and sometimes parts of the visual field are missing. Good lighting is usually needed for better visual functioning. Low vision devices and large print may be helpful.

Nystagmus

Nystagmus is a movement of the eyes which cannot be controlled or stopped. Usually the movements are small and from side to side but movements in other directions also occur. Nystagmus usually occurs when an eye condition has been present from birth. Vision may be blurred but the person does not see the world as moving. Near vision is usually better than distance vision. Nystagmus cannot be treated. There may also be an unusual head posture or shaking or nodding of the head.

Onchocerciasis (River Blindness)

Onchoceriasis is an insect-borne, disease caused by a parasite Onchocerca volvulus and transmitted by blackflies of the species Simulium damnosum. Onchocerciasis is often called “river blindness” because the blackfly which transmits the disease abounds in fertile riverside areas, that frequently remain uninhabited for fear of infection. O. volvulus is almost exclusively a parasite of man.

Adult worms live in nodules in a human body where the female worms produce high numbers of first-stage larvae known as microfilariae. They migrate from the nodules to the sub-epidermal layer of the skin where they can be ingested by blackflies. They further develop in the body of the insect from which more people can be infected. Eye lesions in humans are caused by microfilariae. They can be found in all internal tissues of the eye -- except the lens -- where they cause eye inflammation, bleeding, and other complications that ultimately lead to blindness.

Onchocerciasis is a major cause of blindness in many African countries. As a public health problem, the disease is most closely associated with West and Central Africa, but it is also prevalent in Yemen and six countries in Latin America. Onchocerciasis has in the past greatly reduced the economic productivity in infected areas and left vast tracts of arable land abandoned. It is estimated that there are about half a million blind people due to river blindness.

Much progress has been made in fighting the disease in several countries through control of the blackfly, however, the disease can now also be treated with an annual dose of the drug ivermectine, Mectizan, which also relieves the severe skin itching caused by the disease.

Trauma

Accidents to the eye. Often vision is impaired in only one eye in accidents but sometimes both eyes can be affected. Injuries to the surface of the eye (conjunctiva or cornea) are common. Immediate treatment of an eye injury is essential to prevent blindness. Vision loss can also occur after an injury to the head. Immediate treatment facilitates healing and prevents infection.

Harmful Eye Practices

Untrained eye doctors and traditional healers often use practices which are unsafe. Some of these practices include the use of hot objects, fluids and solids (such as extracts from plants, human or animal body fluids) applied to the eye can cause serious damage to the eye. The damage caused, is often irreversible.

Conclusion

It is true that many eye conditions and diseases are both treatable and manageable. It is equally true that many are preventable and others are the products of mismanagement by untrained practitioners. I hope that each individual will take eye care seriously and professionally. Blindness cannot be reversed.