October 2022 - Armadale Eye Clinic

macular degeneration causes melbourne

Macular Degeneration Causes — Everything You Need To Know

October 31, 2022/0 Comments/in Retinal Surgery /by armadaleeye

The macula is an anatomical part of the retina. The retina is the tissue lining the back of the eye, comprised of millions of photoreceptors that sense light. The macula is what is responsible for your central vision. We rely on our central vision for a lot of things – reading, writing, watching TV, recognising faces, painting, sewing, identifying colours… You name it. Basically, whenever you look at something, you’re turning your macula to receive that fine detail. So, what happens when macular degeneration sets in? Keep reading to find out about macular degeneration causes and symptoms.

What is Macular Degeneration?

The term macular degeneration typically refers to an eye disease of older age. The full name is age-related macular degeneration. As the name suggests, age-related macular degeneration:

Affects older adults; typically, ages over 50 years are considered a risk factor
Results in damage and degeneration of the light-sensitive photoreceptors
Involves the macula; this means that it is very rare that macular degeneration causes complete blindness. Your peripheral vision remains unaffected, but you may experience total loss of your central vision, which may be considered legal blindness

In Australia, around 1.4 million adults have some form of age-related macular degeneration. At the moment, there is no cure for this disease, but there are effective treatments to help slow the progression of certain types of macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration symptoms can be subtle. In the early and even intermediate stages of the disease, you may not notice any changes to your sight at all. Macular degeneration symptoms can include:

Blurry, dark, or indistinct areas around your central vision
Seeing straight lights as wavy or distorted
Difficulty with discerning fine detail despite glasses
Alterations to your colour perception
Difficulty recognising faces
Needing brighter task lighting for seeing objects or text up close

In most cases, macular degeneration symptoms progress slowly and can just be monitored by your eye care professional. However, any sudden changes to your sight should be addressed immediately, either with your ophthalmologist or even at the emergency department of your local eye hospital. Abrupt loss of sight can indicate an aggressive form of age-related macular degeneration known as the wet or neovascular form.

Macular Degeneration Causes

Doctors and researchers are still learning more about macular degeneration causes. We do know that the basic underlying mechanism of disease is that one particular layer of the retina, known as the retinal pigment epithelium, becomes damaged from years of accumulating waste material in its cells. This collection of debris causes disruptions under this layer; these bumps are known as drusen. One of the functions of the retinal pigment epithelium is to support the metabolic demands of the overlying photoreceptor layer. If the retinal pigment epithelium is unable to do its job properly, the associated photoreceptors also deteriorate and lose their function, leading to the characteristic macular degeneration symptoms of distorted, blurry central sight.

Despite understanding this pathophysiology of age-related macular degeneration, scientists don’t fully understand why it happens in the first place, and why it might develop in some people but not others. Through extensive research, several risk factors have been identified:

Older age; the older you are, the great your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration. The risk becomes more significant after the age of 50.
Family history; having a relative with macular degeneration increases your risk of developing the disease as well, due to shared genetics. Those with a first-degree relative (parent or sibling), have a 50% risk of developing macular degeneration.
Caucasian ethnicity; compared to all other races, Caucasians are at a higher likelihood of developing age-related macular degeneration.
Smoking; tobacco smoking increases your risk of macular degeneration by 2-3 times compared to a non-smoker.
Obesity; research has shown that being obese can increase your risk.
Cardiovascular disease; conditions that affect your heart and blood vessels, such as hypertension, can increase your risk.
UV exposure; the link between sunlight and age-related macular degeneration isn’t well established. However, there is some suggestion that UV exposure may play a part in developing the disease.

Is Macular Degeneration Preventable?

You may have noticed that some of the risk factors listed above can be controlled, while others are not modifiable. It is not possible to eliminate your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration entirely – unless you stop yourself from ever ageing past 50! However, based on what we know increases the risk of this blinding eye disease, doctors do have some suggestions that can help to reduce your likelihood of developing age-related macular degeneration.

Quit smoking
Keep yourself in good overall health, including managing (or preventing) any cardiovascular conditions and maintaining a healthy weight
Protect your eyes from UV. Although the association between UV light and macular degeneration isn’t strong, there is no harm in wearing sunglasses and a hat when outdoors, so many doctors continue to recommend this

The role of diet in age-related macular degeneration has also been recognised as important. Specifically, maintaining a healthy intake of antioxidants and omega-3 has been shown to be beneficial for the macula. This includes a daily intake of dark, leafy vegetables, and fresh fruit, as well as including nuts and oily fish in your diet.

Nutritional supplements are also available to boost macular health, particularly those based on a study known as AREDS2. However, the benefit of these supplements has only been demonstrated in those already with age-related macular degeneration. The AREDS2 formula may help to slow the progression of dry age-related macular degeneration.

Call us on (03) 9070 5753 today.

Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.

References

Age-related Macular Degeneration.
https://www.mdfoundation.com.au/about-macular-disease/age-related-macular-degeneration/AMD-overview/

Macular degeneration.
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/macular-degeneration

Pathophysiology of age-related macular degeneration.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3299827/#:~:text=The%20clinical%20and%20histopathological%20features,takes%20place%20in%20all%20eyes

how long is cataract surgery melbourne

How Long is Cataract Surgery Operation? Know What to Expect

October 16, 2022/0 Comments/in Cataract Surgery /by armadaleeye

Not many people enjoy lying on an operating table. If you’re particularly sensitive around your eyes, the thought of undergoing cataract surgery may be especially unappealing. However, if your eye surgeon has recommended cataract surgery at this point in time, it’s most likely because your cataracts have reached a point that can only be treated by removing them entirely.

So, how long is the cataract surgery procedure and also importantly, how long is cataract surgery recovery? Keep reading to find out.

How Long is the Cataract Surgery Procedure?

Your eye surgeon will probably tell you to allow yourself up to 2 hours in the clinic for your cataract surgery. However, the actual time spent working on your eyes is a lot less than that. If your case is reasonably straightforward with no known factors that may cause complications during surgery, it can be over as quickly as 10 minutes for each eye.

Prior to having the actual cataract surgery, your eye surgeon needs to prepare your eye. This involves dilating your pupils with pharmaceutical eye drops. Your pupil is the aperture in the centre of your coloured iris; the cataract in the lens sits behind the iris, so the pupil must be widened for the surgeon to access the lens. The eye area must also be disinfected to reduce your risk of infection. And finally (and very importantly), the operating eye needs to be numbed.

Several factors may affect how long your cataract surgery lasts for. Your time in the operating theatre may be extended if:

Your eye surgeon is less experienced. Surgeons with more years of experience under their belt may move more quickly and confidently.
Your pupils cannot be adequately dilated with pharmaceutical eyedrops alone. If the eye drops aren’t enough to widen the pupil properly, your cataract surgeon may need to apply another technique, such as iris expanders or another instrument known as a Malyugin ring.
You have a local anaesthetic injection instead of just topical anaesthetic eyedrops to numb the eye. This is simply a reflection of the time it takes to administer the type of anaesthesia. Your cataract surgeon will have his or her own preferred method of numbing the eye. Some may use a combination of both local and topical.
Your cataract surgeon encounters a complication during the surgery. Depending on your situation, a complication may be either expected or unexpected. It may require your surgeon to use additional interventions during the operation, or just move more slowly and carefully.

Is It Possible to Reduce Cataract Surgery Time?

For the most part, there is little you can do to affect the duration of your cataract operation. The various factors that influence the length of a cataract procedure are largely out of your hands, and often even out of your surgeon’s hands. However, a few steps can help to boost your chances of avoiding a protracted cataract surgery.

Disclose your full medical history to your cataract surgeon. Even if you don’t think that daily hay-fever nasal spray has any bearing on the outcome of your cataract surgery, your cataract surgeon should still know about it. You may be surprised at how many systemic medications and diseases can affect the eyes and vision. Your surgeon cannot make plans for a potential complication during your surgery if he or she is not fully aware of the status of your general health.
Adhere to any pre-operation instructions. On occasion, patients may be asked to prepare for their cataract operation. This may be for people with significant inflammation around the eyelids, known as blepharitis. Blepharitis can increase your risk of an infection during the operation and recovery stage. Other patients in contact lenses, particularly hard contacts known as rigid gas permeable lenses, may be asked to avoid wearing their lenses for a couple of weeks leading up to their appointment. If you’re at risk of swelling around the macula from the cataract operation, your surgeon may recommend you use anti-inflammatory eyedrops in the day or two leading up to your surgery.
Check-in with your optometrist or ophthalmologist regularly while waiting for cataract surgery. When your cataracts first begin developing, it’s not typically necessary to undergo an operation immediately. Many people wait happily for years or even decades before feeling that it’s necessary to have their cataracts removed. However, while it’s usually safe to delay cataract surgery as long as your vision is functional, cataracts that are allowed to reach a hyper-mature stage can increase your risk of complications during surgery and also take longer to operate on. It’s not common to see hyper-mature cataracts in Australia, but maintaining routine checks of your cataracts with your eye care professional can help ensure you get cataract surgery at the right time.
Choose a reputable cataract surgeon. A more skilled and experienced surgeon may be more likely to complete your operation in a shorter time, though, of course, this is not guaranteed. You may want to ask your friends, family, or GP for recommendations.

How Long is the Cataract Surgery Recovery Period?

A full recovery from cataract surgery is typically 4 to 6 weeks. Over this period of time, your sight and any residual prescription may fluctuate slightly as the cornea heals from its incision and the lens implant settles in the eye. However, within a few days after the surgery, most people can already enjoy quite reasonable clarity.

During your post-op recovery, it’s important to follow your surgeon’s instructions. This includes keeping the eye clean and protected and avoiding strenuous tasks or activities with a risk of eye trauma.

Call us today on (03) 9070 5753 for a consultation.

Note: Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.

References

8 tips to reduce cataract surgery recovery time.
https://www.allaboutvision.com/en-au/conditions/cataract-surgery-recovery/

Overview: cataract surgery.
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/cataract-surgery/#:~:text=Cataract%20surgery%20is%20a%20straightforward,home%20on%20the%20same%20day.

Cataract surgery and nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5531861/