Diseases of the eye

These are a few major diseases which affect the eye.

An eye that is too long or a cornea that is too steep causes myopia (or nearsightedness). In nearsighted eyes, the image isn't focused precisely inside the eye, causing blurring in the distance. The more nearsighted you are, the more blurred the distant object appears, and the thicker your glasses need to be. Most nearsighted people feel that their condition is severe, due to their dependence on glasses and contact lenses. In fact, only one in ten nearsighted individuals are actually in the "severe" or "extreme" categories. Click Here

Hyperopia

An eye that is too short, or a cornea that is not steep enough causes hyperopia (or Farsightedness). People with hyperopia see blurry when looking at close objects. Young people can slightly overcome hyperopia by using their focusing muscles to make the image clear. This gets harder as they get older. Currently, there are restricted options to correct hyperopia. Most operations are still under development. Click Here

Astigmatism

Astigmatism is a condition where the cornea is not round, it is oval shaped. Objects look distorted at both close and far distances.

Presbyopia

Presbyopia is a natural aging process that reduces the flexibility of the lens inside the eye and causes blurring of vision to the near. Everyone experiences presbyopia, but usually around the age of 40. Because of presbyopia, many people may require glasses that never had a vision problem.

Strabismus

Strabismus is a visual defect in which the two eyes point in two different directions. It affects approximately 4% of children in the United States. One eye can turn either in, out, up, or down while the other eye stayes straight in the normal position. There are four kinds of Strabismus. They are Esotropia (when the eye turns in), Exotropia (when the eye turns out), Hypertropia (when the eye turns up), and Hypotropia (when the eye turns down). Due to these conditions, both eyes do not always aim simultaneously at the same object. This results in a partial or total loss of stereo vision and binocular depth perception. In some cases the eye turn can't be noticed by the untrained observer. Ways to fix strabismus could by a patch, glasses or vision therapy. In more severe cases surgery is needed.

Amblyopia

Amblyopia (lazy eye) is a visual defect that affects appoximately 2 or 3 out of every 100 children in the United States. Amblyopia involves lowered visual clarity and/or poor muscle control in one eye. The result of this is often a loss of stereoscopic vision and binocular depth perception. Vision therapy can help this problem but early detection is very important. For a while it was thought that amblyopia was only treatable during a certain period. This is the period during age 7 and 8. Research has now proved that effective treatment can take place at any age. The only thing is that the longer the problem occurs before treatment, the longer the treatment period will be. The usual treatment for amblyopia is glasses and a patch.

Glaucoma

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the United States. This diseases is more common in people over 65. If detected early, glaucomas effects can be minimized. Glaucoma is actually a group of diseases. These diseases all damage the optic nerve by increasing pressure within the eye. The pressure is caused by fluid that can't drain. As this process continues, blind spots grow. If left untreated, total blindness may occur.

Cataracts

As people grow older, the protein inside their eyes breakdown and become opaque. This process is accelerated by UV rays. As a result, sections of the eye become opaque enough to impair vision.

These are a few major diseases which affect the eye.

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