Presbyopia is a vision condition which makes it difficult to focus on close objects. During middle age, usually beginning in the 40s, people experience blurred vision at near points, such as when reading, sewing or working at the computer.
Presbyopia is a natural part of the ageing process of the eye. It is not a disease, and it cannot be prevented. Presbyopia is diagnosed with a routine eye examination. Eyeglasses with bifocal or progressive addition lenses are the most common correction for presbyopia.
Posterior Vitreous Detachment
PVD is a common degenerative change, which affects one or both eyes in many people after middle age. It may present earlier in shortsighted patients or those who have sustained traumas to the eyes.
Thickening of the jelly casts shadows on the retina and are seen as floating shapes. These black “floaters”in your vision move with the eye and then settle as the eye rests. These are often described by patients as a “cobweb” or “insects”.
You may also be aware of flashing lights, like little flickers in the outer periphery. Usually these do not highlight a problem, however, it is important to have the eye thoroughly checked, as occasionally a retinal tear or a retinal detachment may occur.
Post-Operative Instructions
Following Retinal Surgery on leaving the hospital you are advised to have a quiet evening at home and to avoid strenuous exercise.
For General Anaesthetic patients, as above and:
- Do not drive a vehicle
- Do not make any crucial financial decision
- Do not eat heavy meals or drink alcohol for 24 hours after being discharged
Paediatric Strabismus
Facts
A squint is a condition where your eyes look in different directions. One eye turns inwards, outwards, upwards or downwards while the other eye looks forwards. The medical name for a squint is strabismus.
The misalignment of the eyes can be caused by different factors. It can be an early developmental problem where the brain struggles to identify that the two eyes should work as a pair. It can be caused by an abnormality with the eye muscles or an uncorrected vision problem, such as myopia (shortsighted), hypermetropia (longsighted) or Astigmatism.
When to see a doctor?
Squints in children are relatively common. They usually develop before a child is five years of age, but they can appear later.
Up to around three months of age, many babies occasionally squint as their vision develops. This is normal and nothing to worry about. If your child still has a squint after this age, you should visit your Doctor. It is very important that a squint is picked up and treated as early as possible to avoid vision problems developing. If a squint is identified when a child is young, there is a good chance that it will be successfully treated.
Can adults get a squint?
Occasionally, squints that have been corrected during childhood reappear in adulthood. New squints in adults, without any history of a squint in childhood, can be caused by problems with the ocular muscles and/or the eye movement system. You should visit your Doctor as soon as possible if you develop a new squint. They should refer you to an ophthalmologist who will carry out an examination to identify the cause.
Squints that affect adults may cause double vision because the brain has been trained to collect images from both eyes. Squints may also cause a cosmetic problem in adults; in such cases, the appearance of a squint can lead to low self-esteem
What is Amblyopia?
Amblyopia is also known as a ‘lazy eye’. Amblyopia is an early childhood condition where a child’s eyesight in one eye does not develop as it should. The problem is usually in just one eye, but can sometimes affect both of them. Amblyopia affects approximately 2% of children.
When a patient has amblyopia the brain focuses on one eye more than the other, virtually ignoring the ‘lazy eye’. If that eye is not stimulated properly the visual brain cells do not mature normally.
What causes a ‘lazy eye’?
Anything that interferes with clear vision in either eye during the critical period (birth to 6 years of age) can cause amblyopia. The most common causes of amblyopia are constant strabismus (constant turn of one eye), anisometropia (different vision/prescriptions in each eye), and/or obstruction of an eye due to cataract, trauma, lid droop, etc.
Why does my child need to wear a patch?
Occlusion (patching) is used to make a lazy eye work on its own and so improve the vision by encouraging the development of the nerve pathways from that eye to the brain. The patch is worn over the good eye and the amount of time the patch must be worn is decided by the Orthoptist/Ophthalmologist and relates to the extent of the visual problem. If patching is implemented early on, a good level of vision can be achieved. When patching is started in an older child, it is more difficult to achieve good vision.
What is an Orthoptist?
An Orthoptist specialises in diagnosing and treating visual problems involving eye movement and alignment.
The Orthoptist at Moorfields Dubai provides clinical support to all the specialist services at the hospital. She sees both adults and children who have strabismus (a squint), disorders of eye movements, or binocular vision.
What is an Optician?
An Optician will see adults and children for refraction; with this assessment, an optometrist can determine the optical power of the eye, the presence of any “refractive” error that requires spectacle correction, and the best vision that an eye can achieve with an appropriate correction. Younger children have drops to make the pupil (the dark center of the eye) larger and this makes the test more accurate.
What is an Ophthalmologist?
An Ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems. Since ophthalmologists perform operations on eyes, they are considered to be both surgical and medical specialists. They will check both the structure and health of the eye. They will make the final decision on the management and will do any surgical procedures required.
Myopia
Myopia is a common refractive condition which causes individuals to be near-sighted: they see near objects clearly but distant objects are blurry. Myopia occurs when the cornea and lens focus the light in front of the retina instead of exactly on it. Symptoms of myopia include; difficulty seeing distant objects, squinting frequently, holding books or other objects very close to the face, difficulty seeing writing on signs or watching television and difficulty with driving (particularly at night). Myopia should be diagnosed by a qualified Optometrist, Ophthalmic Surgeon or Eye Specialist. Myopia is best treated with eyeglasses or contact lenses which compensate for the elongated shape of the eye allowing the light to focus properly on the retina. Refractive surgery is another option that eliminates dependence on glasses or contact lenses.
Lacrimal Probing in Children
The tear duct is a channel/passage which runs from a tiny opening in the medial lids through the bone to the inside of the nose, and drains the tears and mucus the eye produces. It should open just before or just after birth but sometimes remains blocked for a considerable time after that, causing watering and discharge from the eye. It is harmless, and does not affect the health of the eye or the vision, although it can make the eyelids red and sore and slightly increases the frequency of infective conjunctivitis.
Keratoconus
Keratoconus is a progressive thinning of the cornea. The cornea is the clear front window of the eye, which, along with the intra-ocular lens, focuses light on to the retina. The cornea normally is a smooth, round dome-shaped structure; however in keratoconus it becomes very thin and irregular and it starts to protrude from the centre or below the centre like a cone. This causes blurry vision that is often not completely correctable with glasses.
The disease is multifactorial in origin but there is a strong genetic component which makes it more frequent in certain parts of the world or within certain families.
Intravitreal Injection
The macula is the central part of the retina at the back of the eye. It is responsible for fine vision (reading, writing, watching television, and recognising faces). Patients with diabetes may develop macular oedema (swelling of the retina) due to leaking of fluid from blood vessels. This causes the vision to become blurred.
A course of three injections is recommended with each injection administered one month apart. The procedure is carried out in a clean environment using sterile technique. The eye is cleaned and local anaesthetic drops are given to numb the eye.
The eye may or may not be covered after the injection. If a pad is applied, this may be removed when you reach home.
Hypermetropia
A refractive condition of the eye in which vision is better for distant objects than for near objects. It can be called far sightedness or hypermetropia. Symptoms of Hypermetropia can include; blurred vision, asthenopia (eye strain), accommodative dysfunction, binocular dysfunction, amblyopia and strabismus. It results from the eyeball being smaller than average, causing images to be focused behind the retina. Hypermetropia should be diagnosed by a qualified Optometrist, Ophthalmic Surgeon or Eye Specialist.
A full Optometric Examination should be performed to assess the degree and extent of the problem. Eyeglasses and contact lenses are the treatment of choice for most people with far sightedness but refractive surgery can also cure some cases of hyperopia.
High Precision Refractive Surgery
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