Effective Eye Care After Lasik Surgery

Post-operative eye care is very important to ensure the success of any eye surgery and make it effective. A lasik surgery or a laser eye surgery is relatively quick and the recovery process is very fast. A person who undergoes this surgery can resume work within a couple of days. The doctor will advise you to take precautions and refrain from certain activities for the next few days or weeks. Post lasik, you will be given certain eye drops that are anti-inflammatory to help with the healing process.

Immediately after the lasik surgery

As a part of post-operative eye care, it is recommended to use dark glasses to protect your eyes from bright lights. Even protective eye wear may be used to prevent accidental scratching during sleep. This also helps to reduce dry eyes after surgery. Right after the surgery you may feel slight irritation in the eyes. Even mild pain may be experienced for which your doctor will advise pain killers. The eye sight may be hazy and take some time to return to normal. It is also normal to have blood shot eyes at this point. You will find that after a couple of days the symptoms will wane and your eyes and vision will be better. It is recommended to avoid wearing contact lenses right after the surgery.

Eye care in the first few weeks

The eye care advised in the first few weeks after the lasik surgery should be followed without fail. All types of eye makeup and lotions should be avoided, especially around the eye area. Cleaning of the eyes on a daily basis should be done. It is better to refrain from swimming and saunas during the first few weeks. In fact all physical sports can be given up for at least a month after surgery. Although you can go on about other daily activities normally, remember to avoid physical strains. Your eyes should be shielded properly and you should avoid glaring lights by wearing dark glasses.

Eye care in the first few months

Although a lasik surgery is quick and easy on the eyes, the first months of eye care after the surgery determine the quality of vision that you attain. Your vision may take anything from three to six months to become stable. It is not uncommon to experience glares and driving difficulties, especially at night during this period. You should tell your doctor if the symptoms persist after the first three months. If the symptoms worsen, then report to the doctor immediately. A re-operation may be necessary is the eyes are still not stable after the first few months or if vision problems persist.

Lasik surgery for the eyes works well in most patients and has a high success rate. The process is quick and does not require staying in the hospital. However, effective eye care post-surgery ensures a higher success rate. One should follow all the eye care essentials as specified by the doctor during the first six months of surgery.

By Jeff Molenda

LASIK Eye Surgery Dangers

LASIK eye surgery is utilised to handle people who have vision problems. The operation - also known as situ keratomileusis - utilises a laser to make its way underneath the flap of the cornea to help remold the cornea itself. When done the right way LASIK eye surgery will be efficient to repair certain vision problems that makes some people to put on contacts or glasses.
All The Same, like with any medical procedures there are particular pros and cons to deliberate. Many health experts do think that LASIK is a very good process and the majority of patients are pleased with the effects from it. Still, there are gambles involved that people should be made aware of. These risks should be weighed before you make you concluding decision to go through with the operation.
Under Eye Corrections
Betting on how advanced your vision problem is and how well the surgery is didst will determine whether or not one operation is adequate to adjust the trouble. While the majority of people see instant results after only just one operation there are others who are determined to do two in order to mend the problem and see any effects. This second operation will be utilized to focalize the vision and is most commonly for people with truly profound prescriptions. In order to implement the second surgery the patient must hold a few months after the first one to permit the eyes to heal and adjust.
Still Need Contacts And Glasses
It is very rare that individuals will have to wear glasses or contacts even after the operation - but it can happen. This will count on whether or not you have various vision problems and which one you are rectifying. It is best to talk to your doctor about this possibility.
Non Permanent Results
This is also very rare. There are some patients who will have their vision troubles come back after several years since the surgery was performed. Having this problem is more common in people who are older and whose vision is passing due to old age. It is possible to have another LASIK eye surgery to repair the troubles over again.
Visual Aberrations
Visual aberrations are specified visual effects that can occur during the reduction of visual quality and LASIK surgery. The most popular of these is anisometropia - the difference in the refractive power between both eyes, aniseikonia - the difference in the size of the image that is between both eyes, hazy vision, double vision, and the fluctuation of vision during the day time. These troubles are rare and may never go away.
Dry Eye
Several people will have symptoms of dry eye after the surgery. These symptoms may get worse and lead to inflammation, burning, and a reduction in vision after the surgery. The majority of the time this is a enduring condition - but there are medicines that can help you to produce tears.
Loss Of Vision
One of the worst LASIK eye surgery risks can induce such horrible vision problems that glasses and contacts cannot help to improve it. This could be caused by scarring, malfunctioning equipment, infection, or extreme corneal shape alterations.

By Naomi West

Glaucoma - Symptoms of Glaucoma

There are two major types of glaucoma: open-angle glaucoma and acute closed-angle glaucoma. Most glaucoma patients have open-angle glaucoma. There are usually no signs or symptoms in the early stages of open-angle glaucoma. The first sign is usually loss of vision, which is why the disease is sometimes referred to as the "sneak thief of sight." Vision loss caused by glaucoma cannot be restored.

Primary open-angle glaucoma progresses with few or no symptoms until the condition reaches an advanced stage. As increased eye pressure continues to damage your optic nerve, you lose more and more of your peripheral vision. If glaucoma is left untreated, you can develop tunnel vision and eventually lose all sight. Open-angle glaucoma usually affects both eyes, although at first you may have vision loss in just one eye.

Chronic glaucoma is insidious. If the pressure increases slowly, it will not produce any symptoms until it has done irreversible damage. In such cases, people may notice visual problems at first only when light is dim. Patients are often sensitive to glare. Most people with glaucoma do not notice symptoms until they begin to have significant vision loss. As optic nerve fibers are damaged by glaucoma, small blind spots may begin to develop, usually in the peripheral or side vision.

Congenital glaucoma It can be difficult to recognise symptoms of congenital glaucoma. If your baby or child has cloudy, white, hazy, enlarged or protruding eyes you should make an appointment to see your doctor immediately.
Warning signs of glaucoma are different for each form. Glaucoma is usually not noticeable until significant damage has been done to the optic nerves. With open-angle glaucoma, the most common form, an increase in intraocular pressure and loss in peripheral vision are key signs. A tonometer is an instrument that measures pressure inside the eye. It can show abnormal pressure that causes damage to optic nerves.

Closed-angle glaucoma, sometimes known as acute glaucoma, differs from open-angle in that the symptoms typically occur suddenly (although not always). The symptoms may include blurred vision, formation of halos around lights at night, pain and redness in the eye, and swelling and clouding of the cornea (the typically clear and transparent coating layer of the outer eyeball). The pain experienced can be so intense that it may cause nausea and vomiting or a headache.

It consists of a 10-item scale developed from the symptom checklist that was created for the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS). All items in the GSS address eye complaints, some of a non-visual nature and some of a visual nature, common to patients with glaucoma. The Glaucoma Symptom Scale measures symptoms of glaucoma as well as symptoms of glaucoma treatment. It provides a valid and reliable estimate of symptoms associated with glaucoma the normal score is 100 and implies absence of all glaucoma related symptoms.

Acute glaucoma tends to come on very quickly. Symptoms include pain and blurred vision. Some people also feel sick, faint and vomit. In the early stages you may see misty rainbow coloured rings around white lights. If you think you are having an attack of acute glaucoma, you should go to hospital immediately.

Open angle glaucoma usually produces slow loss of peripheral vision. There are often blind spots. Closed angle glaucoma usually produce sudden eye pain or headache. There may be nausea and vomiting. The eye is red, and there is blurred vision. Colored halos appear around bright objects.
Corwin Brown

The Causes of Blindness

A recent analysis of data indicates that vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of childhood blindness. It was estimated that 70% of the 500,000 children who become blind annually do so because of xerophthalmia. This corresponds to a prevalence of roughly 1 million in view of the high mortality among affected children.

Hemianopsia can result when a hemorrhagic, thrombotic, or embolic stroke affects part of the optic pathway Associated signs and symptoms vary according to the location and size of the stroke, but may include a decreased LOC; intellectual deficits, such as memory loss and poor judgment; personality changes; emotional lability; a headache; and seizures The patient may also develop contralateral hemiplegia, dysarthria, dysphagia, ataxia, a unilateral sensory loss, apraxia, agnosia, aphasia, blurred vision, decreased visual acuity, and diplopia

The link between poverty and treatable visual impairment is most obvious when conducting regional comparisons of cause. Most adult visual impairment in North America and Western Europe is related to age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. While both of these conditions are subject to treatment, neither can be cured. Another common cause is retinopathy of prematurity. In developing countries, wherein people have shorter life expectancies, cataracts and water-borne parasites—both of which can be treated effectively—are most often the culprits (see River blindness, for example). Of the estimated 40 million blind people located around the world, 70–80% can have some or all of their sight restored through treatment.
Another disease is called Trachoma.

Trachoma is caused by a virus that affects the cornea and the conjunctiva or lining of the eyelid. The white part of the eye is called the sclera, and the colored part is the iris. The conjunctiva covers the sclera. Trachoma is contagious. It is spread by flies and contact with towels and other articles that have been used by people who have the disease. Physicians can cure the disease in the early stages by using medicines.

There are different causes of change blindness. According to scientists, change blindness can happen as a result of disturbance or disruption in visual continuity. This disruption can be either due to eye saccade, an eyelid flicker, an eye blink, a shift of the picture or even a film cut in case of a motion picture. In order to differentiate changes in the vision, it is important that there is effective coordination between the eye and the brain where one image is compared with another image that already exists in the memory.

Diseases: These are the leading cause of blindness. There are a variety of diseases that lead to blindness. Popular among these glaucoma, trachoma, cataracts, uveitis and diabetic retinopathy. While in some cases blindness occurs as a result of a parasitic infection in the eye, in others it occurs as a result of malnutrition. Blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is common in most of the developing and under-developed countries.

Glaucoma generally affects older people. This happens when fluids in the eye build up and cause too much pressure in the eye, damaging important nerves, etc.. To know what a person feels like with glaucoma, think of how your eyes feel after coming out of a swimming pool with a lot of chlorine in it. (This does not cause glaucoma, but makes the eyes feel as a person does with glaucoma)This disease can be prevented and eye doctors almost always check for glaucoma when a patient has an eye exam. If the person who has glaucoma doesn't take the appropriate medicine for the condition, they can lose their eyesight.


Corwin Brown