Is there any way to delay cataracts?

How do cataracts work?

The reason we can’t find a way to delay cataracts is that it’s more complicated than keeping a clear lens from becoming cloudy. It’s less like trying to keep a window clear and more like trying to stop aging. Scientists haven’t figured out a way to delay aging, even though we have a pretty good idea of what causes it biochemically. The same is true of cataracts.

The lens inside your eye lays down new layers each year, a lot like a tree laying down new rings each year. As the center of the lens gets more compressed over time, it hardens and gets cloudy. There is a type of biochemical bond called a disulfide bond, and it happens between the cysteine amino acids of the crystalline proteins in your eye. Yet, despite every fancy word of that being true, we don’t really have a way to stop it or delay it.

Are there risk factors for cataracts?

The one exception is UV light. Populations near the equator get cataracts quicker than populations far from the equator. So we have a pretty good guess that more UV light over the years will speed up the development of cataracts. In my own experience, however, I’ve noticed anecdotally that there’s not a super tight correlation with UV light. It’s a risk factor, but not a great predictor.

Is there anything I can do?

Living healthy is a good thing. Getting the right vitamins and minerals and antioxidants into your body is a good thing. Wearing sunglasses to minimize UV exposure is also a good thing. Yet, none of these actions can be said to definitively delay cataracts. It’s important to know that when you read about a miracle ingredient that delays cataracts. We just don’t have one yet. But when we do, I will shout it from the mountaintops. I can’t wait.

Eye Hygiene and COVID-19 – What You Need To Know

Brief COVID-19 note:

Due to the timing of this blog (March, 2020) we would like to also remind readers that COVID-19 comes with many adverse health effects– including on the eyes. During this unprecedented time the AAO recommends discontinuing contact lens use in favor of wearing your back up glasses instead. While this is a good preventative measure ultimately social distancing is the best way to flatten the curve and reduce the spread of the illness. With that being said, one thing to consider is to order your at-home project supplies online and get them delivered right to your door.

Spring is upon us and that means it’s time for the dreaded spring cleaning, home improvements, and yard cleanup. At Kugler Vision, Omaha’s #1 LASIK provider, we want to ensure that as you are checking these tasks off your list you are using the proper eye safety equipment to do so. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO), nearly half of all serious eye injuries occur at home.

As we mentioned, the most common eye injuries occur during tasks such as:

Cleaning – Bleach, often found in household cleaning products causes thousands of eye injuries each year. If you doget bleach in your eye, take it seriously.

Home Improvement Projects – Many home improvement projects entail sharp or heavy hand and power tools that, let’s be honest, most of us don’t use regularly. These devices can project and propel discarded material, screws, nails, metal shavings, wood chips, etc. capable of causing serious injury to the eyes and face.

Yard Work – Flying debris from lawn mowers, trimmers, weed eaters, shovels and other yard cleanup tools can be dangerous and lead to outdoor eye injuries.

If you experience an eye injury of any kind while at home it’s important to wash your hands, take out your contacts or remove your glasses, rinse the eye(s) with warm water and then proceed to the nearest medical facility to receive emergency care. Avoid rubbing your eyes or using eye drops until being looked at by a medical professional.

With these circumstances in mind, we’ve compiled a list of things you can do to keep your eyes safe as you prepare your home for the warmer weather. At the top of the list is to always wear protective eyewear. Studies show that taking this safety precaution could eliminate chances of an eye injury by up to 90 percent. Choosing which type of eyewear to use will depend on what you are doing.

It’s important to remember that your everyday contacts or glasses do not qualify as true eye protection. Regular eyeglasses or sunglasses are not certified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for safety and can actually break or shatter if impacted which would result in additional eye injuries. When it comes to protective eyewear owning at least one ANSI approved pair is recommended. In most home project cases ANSI certified eyewear is more than enough.

There will be instances where accidents and injuries may occur in all areas of the home but taking the proper proactive safety measures could diminish the risk of them even more.

Consider these eye safety precautions while at home:

Read the labels of your cleaning solutions carefully to ensure you know the risks and safety measures to take in advance. It’s also important to know the first aid instructions if a situation occurs where your eyes are contaminated by these chemicals.

Before starting work on your lawn be sure to take a brief walk through to ensure there aren’t any loose twigs, rocks, or other debris that could be hazardous or become airborne if hit with a lawn mower or other yard tool.

Keep all tools and equipment in good condition and repair immediately if necessary. Using broken or damaged tools can result in an eye injury—one that could have been avoided.

When cleaning or spraying weeds outside be sure the nozzles are always facing away from you.

Another area that can be hazardous in the home is the kitchen. Hot appliances and sharp knives—these are just a couple of the the dangers located in the kitchen that could effect the eyes. In addition to the hot surfaces and sharp utensils there is also splattering grease, boiling water, and also foods that can burn and irritate the eyes if hands are not washed properly after handling them.

Eye hazards can be found all over the home but being proactive and setting an example for your children by using protective and certified eyewear is a great way to avoid eye injuries while at home.

IF you suffer from frequent headaches, it might be time to schedule an eye exam.

IF you suffer from frequent headaches, it might be time to schedule an eye exam.

For many people, headaches can be a symptom of uncorrected vision problems. This doesn’t happen in all cases of uncorrected or undiagnosed vision problems, and of course not all headaches are caused by vision problems, but the connection is a significant one — just one more reason why regular eye exams are important!

Effects of Eye Strain

In this age of technology, many of us spend hours and hours on a work computer or a smart phone. As convenient as these devices are, they are also the main culprits behind eye strain, which has symptoms like tired, aching eyes, blurred vision, and even frequent headaches.

But even if your screens aren’t the problem, eye strain still might be. Uncorrected visual acuity problems like astigmatism, hyperopia, and presbyopia can all put a lot of strain on the eyes. With astigmatism, the cornea is an abnormal shape, bending light in strange ways and causing a lot of squinting, which can contribute to headaches.

Hyperopia or farsightedness occurs when the eye focuses images behind the retina instead of directly on it, making close objects appear blurred. This can make reading smaller print a literal headache. The same applies to presbyopia, which can affect many people who have never needed glasses before. As we age, the lenses in our eyes become less flexible, which makes it harder to focus on near objects.

These Problems Aren’t Unique to Adults

If a child has frequent headaches, undiagnosed vision problems could be responsible, even if they read the letters on the big E chart in the school nurse’s office with no trouble. Comprehensive eye exams with the eye doctor will determine whether there are any other vision problems causing headaches or difficulty in school, and then we can plan the best way to treat them.

An Updated Prescription Can Make a Huge Difference

For most of us, changes in our vision can be so gradual that we may not notice that our glasses aren’t helping as much as they used to for quite a while. In most cases where headaches are connected to eye problems, a simple updated glasses or contact lens prescription may do the trick.

Headaches and Sight-Threatening Conditions

Unfortunately, not every case of headaches related to eye problems is as simple as needing a new prescription. Headaches can also be a symptom of glaucoma, an eye disease characterized by building pressure against the optic nerve that leads to vision loss. Cataracts, too, can cause headaches. Cataracts are the clouding of the lens of the eye, gradually obscuring vision.

Keep Up with Your Eye Exams

You might think that you would notice if you had an eye problem, but our eyes and brains work hard to compensate when something goes wrong, so it’s harder to recognize than you might expect. If you haven’t found an explanation for your frequent headaches, it might be a good idea to cross eye problems off the list by scheduling your next appointment with us.

THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

The Impact of Technology within the Blink of an eye fixed:

We are all aware of the technological improvements that have touched every a component of our lives, whether at domestic or at work. The tempo of exchange and also the evolution of how we use technology in our lives cannot be understated, as digital generation has find yourself a ordinary a part of our ordinary lives. As a matter of fact, 65% people spend 3 to nine hours daily on virtual gadgets. Even kids ages 8 to 18 spend 7 ½ hours daily the usage of a computer, watching TV, gambling video games or the employment of another virtual device.

What does regular use of digital technology mean to Eyes:

Well, it could all be summed up within the blink of an eye fixed. After we blink, it's our body’s manner to naturally clean the ocular surface of debris, and to guard our eyes. It’s also when fresh tears and also the necessary defensive oils are cover the ground of our eyes, making up a powerful tear movie is significant for defensive our eyes and maintaining them comfortable

The upward thrust of era and use of virtual devices has a profound effect on our eyes, with nearly 70% of adults experiencing eye pressure when using virtual devices. After we spend hours daily looking intently at digital screens, our blink rate slows and, in many cases, blinking will become limited. Thus, our eyes aren't certainly cleansed as regularly PRN, and also the ordinary replenishment of tears and oils vital for wholesome vision is notably limited. Additionally, other visual conditions or wearing contacts can probably dry out our eyes, causing sizeable soreness or eye stress.

Increased Susceptibility to Dry Eye Disease:

We need to any or all be aware of the improved susceptibility to eye sickness and damage which will get on my feet from observing screens. This is not always just with adults, but with children in addition. Since nearly everything we do nowadays revolves round the usage of digital devices, and that we do not have any doubt come to be a fanatical virtual society, we're blinking much less and visual issues are on the upward thrust, maximum significantly Dry disease. But, what maximum do now not recognize is that the leading motive of Dry disease is understood as tarsal gland Dysfunction (MGD), and virtual use is exacerbating its occurrence in adults, and youngsters in addition.

Remember, a healthy blink rate ensures that debris is cleared from our eye surface. After we blink less which suggests that debris can collect along our eye lids and block the openings of the little Meibomian glands in our lids. This might be largely resolved with regular lid cleaning and care.

On eye health:

Concerns regarding blue LEDs are related to the difference between the photopic flux and radiometric radiance. Photometry is worried with the study of human perception of sunshine, while radiometry is worried with the measurement of energy. At the outer edges of the range of sunshine perception, the number of energy as light required to register as a perception increases.

AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) could even be a disease, which harms visual loss in patients over the age of fifty. The vision loss is painless, but is differ from patients. Generally this will be often named for the macula, the part of the retina cause for vision. Vision is sometimes not full of degeneration and this illness will go unnoticed until a patient engages during a task like driving or reading, during which vision is crucial. Because the term “degeneration” implies, the illness becomes more noticeable over time and tends to induce worse with or without treatment. Degeneration typically affects adults over 65 and also the foremost risk factors for the disease are increasing age and genetics (family history of macular degeneration). Smoking, high cholesterol and hypertension also are risk factors. This disease doesn't cause total blindness and most degeneration patients can see to an adequate degree to worry for themselves.

Symptoms of Macular Degeneration:

• Blurred, dim, wavy or distorted vision

• A disease prior sight

• Difficulty reading or driving

Types of Macular Degeneration:

Macular degeneration occurs in two forms: exudative (“wet”) and atrophic (“dry”). Most cases, 90% on balance, are dry– the less severe form. However, dry devolution occasionally evolves into the more severe wet devolution. Wet devolution causes a faster and more severe variety of visual loss

Treatment from an AMD Specialist

As the population’s life grows, degeneration is becoming a greater health concern and more medical researchers are devoting more energy to treating this illness. Unfortunately, devolution has few treatment options. However, the Age-Related disease Study (AREDS 2) shows that anti-oxidants and caratenoids like Vitamins C, Vitamin E, Zeaxanthin, Lutein and minerals like copper and zinc.

For wet degeneration laser or photodynamic therapy (PDT) could even be an option. During this particular treatment, an intense light is utilized to think about and shut areas of leakage that are linked to wet degeneration. Most patients aren't a candidate for laser or PDT unless the leakage is outside the center of the macula or the leakage is unresponsive to the standard medicine injections .In cases where the leakage is within the center of vision, patients may consider another treatment. One approach could even be the new class of medication called anti-VEGF (anti vascular endothelial growth factor) that is injected into the vitreous cavity.

 These drugs include: Ranibizumab, Alfibercept, and Bevacizumab.

Injecting these medicines into the center of the eye helps reduce the prominence of actively growing blood vessels within the outer retina. This successively can reduce the danger of further vision loss and in some patients, actually improve their vision. All sorts of wet degeneration treatment are only applied timely within the disease process. The leakage is easiest to concentrate on when localized, as within the first stages of degeneration. Therefore early diagnosis is important to managing and preventing the progression of this disease.