Treatment of Eye Diseases

The eyes are arguably one of the most delicate parts of your body. Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how amazing these complex these organs are.

Unfortunately, if not cared for properly, ocular health is something that can deteriorate quickly, bringing with it some potentially serious consequences such as eye diseases.

Why routine eye check ups are necessary

One of the biggest dangers of eye diseases is that they can present no visual symptoms until the disease has progressed substantially. This really enforces the necessity of attending your routine checkups. By neglecting these check ups, you put your self at risk of unknowingly developing a serious ocular issue. Optometrists will look for early stage warning signs during your check up, allowing for detection and diagnosis at a much earlier date, greatly increasing the treatment options at your disposal, and preservation of your vision.

Below, you will find some of the most common ocular diseases, all of which we can test for here at Cedar Park Vision.

Refractive Errors

Refractive errors are extremely common, and are generally treated with either glasses or contact lenses. Although refractive errors are typically considered a non-serious visual issue, they can present some long term issues, especially in young children. Being unable to properly see the chalk board and learn during critical development years can put your child at a serious disadvantage in the future.

Types of refractive errors include:

● Nearsightedness (Myopia) – In this case, far-away objects look blurry.
● Farsightedness (Hyperopia) – In this case, close-up objects look blurry.
● Astigmatism – In this case, cornea loses its original shape, and causes blurry images at varying distances.
● Presbyopia – This is an age related issue. In this case, patients suffer from farsightedness caused by the loss of elasticity of the eye’s lens.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is one disease that is easily tested for, however, can still cause extreme vision loss. Glaucoma raises the pressure in your eye, which, if left untreated, can damage your optic nerve. This is one of the most common causes of blindness in North America, and is especially prevalent in diabetic patients. In fact, your eye doctor can often tell if you are diabetic before your physician can, due to it’s relationship with eye pressure, and potentially, glaucoma.

Cataract

A cataract is an accumulation of certain proteins within the lens of your eye, which causes clouding of your lens. Early stage symptoms are typically color distortion, or hazy vision. This is especially noticeable in bright light, and cataract patients will typically notice halos or glare around things like street lamps, or traffic lights.

Glasses may help with cataracts in the early stages, but the best treatment option is surgery. The surgical procedure is very straight forward, and is an outpatient procedure, meaning you go home the same day as your surgery.

Amblyopia

Amblyopia is commonly known as lazy-eye. With Amblyopia, vision in one eye will get worse, causing your brain to favor your stronger eye over the weaker one. Amblyopia most often occurs in young children aged 0-6, but could still potentially arise in older individuals as well. Typically, amblyopia is caused by a lid droop, crossed eyes (strabusmis), tumors, among other factors.

As with most ocular issues, if left untreated, it can cause much more serious issues later in life, and becomes substantially more difficult to correct.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Unfortunately, glaucoma is not the only eye disease that can occur as a result of diabetes. With diabetic retinopathy, diabetes causes the blood vessels of your retina to get damaged, resulting in dark or blurred spots across your visual field.

Eventually, diabetic retinopathy can cause blindness if left untreated. The best form of treatment/prevention for diabetic retinopathy is to maintain your ideal level of blood sugar, and to attend annual optical examinations.

Dry Eye Syndrome

Chronic dry eye, or dry eye syndrome can be caused by issues with tear production, or problems with your tear drainage system. Dry eye can be incredibly uncomfortable, the symptoms of which are often amplified by things like dry and dusty environments. Many patients with allergies often attribute their symptoms to these allergies, while unfortunately missing the root of the problem. There are a number of treatment options for dry eye that can provide substantial relief of the extremely uncomfortable symptoms.

If you have any questions about the ocular diseases we regularly treat for at Cedar Park, please give us a call. One of our eye care specialists would be happy to speak with you, answer any questions you may have, and set an appointment to examine the problem in detail. We look forward to hearing from you!