Armadale Eye Blogs Archives - Page 5 of 5

Signs of Glaucoma That You Need To Lookout For

October 31, 2020/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by The Armadale Eye Clinic Team

Glaucoma is a category of eye disease known as optic neuropathies. The optic nerve of the eye is responsible for carrying signals received by the sensory retina at the back of the eyeball all the way to the visual processing centres of the brain for what we call sight.

Considering that 2 out of every 100 of Australians will develop glaucoma in their lifetime, it’s not unlikely that you perhaps already know someone who has been diagnosed with the disease, or at least you’ve heard of the term. But what is glaucoma and how is treated, and more importantly, are there any early signs of glaucoma that you could look out for?

What Causes Glaucoma?

Glaucoma is diagnosed when the optic nerve suffers progressive damage due to an increase in the pressure of the eye, known as the intraocular pressure. In order to keep a healthy optic nerve, the normal intraocular pressure range is typically quoted as between 10-21mmHg (millimetres of mercury), however, it’s important to note that this does not mean that someone with intraocular pressures within this range will never develop glaucoma or someone with pressures slightly higher than this will definitely have glaucoma.

At a basic level, the intraocular pressure is determined by the balance of fluid production and drainage within the eye; this fluid is known as aqueous humour, and is different from the tears you secrete on the surface of the eye. If aqueous drainage is hindered for some reason, or if production is excessive, this will cause the intraocular pressures to rise.

Glaucoma is an extremely complex disease and doctors do not fully understand all the factors that interact and contribute to its development. We know that age plays a big role, particularly past the age of 50. People who have a direct family member with glaucoma are ten times more likely to develop it themselves, suggesting a genetic factor. Through research we have also noted various other associations with the risk of glaucoma, including the presence of sleep apnoea, diabetes, and myopia (short-sightedness).

The Signs of Glaucoma

Unfortunately, glaucoma has a nickname – the sneak thief of sight. This is because in the vast majority of cases, glaucoma, at least in the early to moderate stages, is actually asymptomatic.

In fact, half of people who have glaucoma are unaware they have the disease. There is a specific type of glaucoma called acute angle-closure glaucoma that can present with noticeable symptoms, such as severe pain, a red eye, and hazy vision, however, most people with glaucoma will have no warning until the more advanced stages of the disease when there is already marked vision loss.

The reason for this is because the optic nerve itself feels no pain from any damage, and the loss of vision from glaucoma typically begins in the periphery. If you think about which areas of your vision you’re most aware of, it’s your central vision – when you want to pay attention to something or someone, you will tend to look directly at it.

Peripheral vision is still important, such as noticing the movement of something coming towards you out of the corner of your eye, but we are less likely to be aware of changes and deterioration to the extremities of our visual field, particularly if they occur as slowly over time as happens during glaucoma. By the time a person with glaucoma does become aware that their peripheral vision has deteriorated, the disease is already likely in its advanced stages.

Because of this, regular eye exams with an eyecare practitioner, whether your local optometrist or, if you have strong risk factors for glaucoma, an ophthalmologist, is your best chance of diagnosing any glaucoma while the disease is still in its asymptomatic early stages. A thorough eye exam is able to detect the signs of glaucoma before you become aware of any issues and will involve tests such as:

Measuring your intraocular pressure
Examining the features of your optic nerves including its size and colour
Taking scans of your retinal nerve fibre layer to detect any areas of thinning and damage
Performing a visual field test to map the sensitivity of your peripheral vision

If glaucoma is detected, your eyecare clinician can commence appropriate glaucoma treatment immediately.

Glaucoma Treatment

Luckily, the treatment of glaucoma is often quite effective. Although there is no currently existing cure that can reverse any vision loss that has already occurred or get rid of glaucoma altogether, timely glaucoma treatment aims to prevent or at least slow further vision loss.

A great deal of research is going into treatment for glaucoma as we understand more about the disease. All therapies aim to improve the balance between aqueous outflow and production, thereby reducing the intraocular pressure. Currently, available treatment options include:

Eye drop medications – these are instilled at least once a day and will need to be taken long-term to keep the eye pressures under control
Laser treatment – known as laser trabeculoplasty, some patients only require this once-off while others may need a repeat application a few years later
Surgery – there are various effective surgical techniques to improve the drainage of aqueous humour from the eye, such as the insertion of a stent or shunt

Each treatment has pros and cons and one may be more suitable for an individual compared to another. The most important thing to remember is undiagnosed glaucoma cannot be treated – regular eye tests are your best bet at catching it early.

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

Macular Degeneration – Symptoms, Risk Factors, and Treatment

October 18, 2020/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by The Armadale Eye Clinic Team

Age-related macular degeneration is considered to be the leading cause of legal blindness in Australia, accounting for half of all cases of blindness. Unfortunately, the vision loss caused by macular degeneration is irreversible and there is currently no cure that can guarantee to halt the progression of any vision damage.

However, there are some steps that can be taken to reduce your risk of developing the disease or suffering further vision loss in the presence of existing macular degeneration.

What is Macular Degeneration?

The macula is the anatomical part of the eye responsible for your central vision. The retina is the sensory layer of tissue lining the inside of the eyeball; the macula is a part of this that contains the highest density of photoreceptors, the sensory cells that detect and respond to light before the signals are converted to neural impulses that are then sent onward to the brain for visual processing.

Macular degeneration is a disease that results in damage to the retinal tissues that support the high-energy function of these photoreceptor cells, known as the retinal pigment epithelium. Although there is still much more to understand about exactly why and how the damage occurs, we know that during age-related macular degeneration, metabolic waste material known as drusen begins to accumulate beneath the retinal pigment epithelium, interfering with the health and function of these tissues.

The resultant effect is that the photoreceptor layer, dependent on a healthy retinal pigment epithelium, also becomes damaged, leading to the characteristic macular degeneration symptoms of central vision deterioration. In more advanced stages of macular degeneration, known as the neovascular form, new blood vessels form under the retina, which is fragile and can leak blood and fluid, causing severe retinal damage and vision loss.

There are several risk factors associated with the development of age-related macular degeneration. Some of these are modifiable lifestyle choices while others are simply the luck of the draw.

Age – the risk of macular degeneration increases with increasing age
Family history of the disease – those with an immediate family member with macular degeneration are 50% more likely to develop the condition themselves
Smoking – cigarette smoking has been linked with a 3 to 4 times increased risk of developing macular degeneration compared to a non-smoker, and smokers are also at risk of encountering the disease 5 to 10 years earlier than a non-smoker with all other things being equal
Systemic conditions – certain diseases, such as obesity and hypertension, have been linked to an increased risk of macular degeneration

Macular Degeneration Symptoms

In most cases, macular degeneration symptoms occur gradually, and an individual with the disease may not even be aware of any changes to their vision for years. Macular degeneration symptoms can also be non-specific, meaning that they are not unique to macular degeneration and may be dismissed by a patient thinking they simply need an updated spectacle prescription.

Typically, macular degeneration symptoms can include:

Blurring of your central vision – this may not be immediately identifiable, but instead you may first begin to become aware of increasing difficulty with specific tasks that require detailed vision, such as reading text or recognising faces from a distance
Distortion in your vision – because of the formation of drusen disrupts the uniform, smooth layers of retinal tissues, you may see straight lines as wavy or curved
Dark patches in your vision – significant areas of photoreceptor damage and death will result in complete loss of vision in that particular area of your retina, which you may perceive as a black hole in your field of view
Sudden loss of central vision – in the case of wet macular degeneration, the loss of sight can be quite dramatic if a large retinal bleed were to occur

Your peripheral vision is likely to remain unaffected. Macular degeneration symptoms can differ in severity between the eyes, and in some cases may only present in one eye while the other eye experiences no issues at all.

Treatment

Currently, there is no treatment for dry macular degeneration. Management is aimed at addressing modifiable factors such as cigarette smoking and cardiovascular disease in an effort to slow the rate of vision deterioration. There are also nutritional factors that have been shown to be beneficial for the health of the macula, such as increasing your dietary intake of the antioxidants zeaxanthin and lutein.

For the wet form of macular degeneration, modern therapies are most commonly in the form of an injection of medication into the eye rather than retinal surgery. These medications are known as anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) drugs and are designed to block the proteins produced by the retina in wet macular degeneration that trigger the formation of new blood vessels.

Laser retinal surgery procedures such as photodynamic therapy are very rarely used in the modern management of macular degeneration nowadays; in specific cases it may be used as an adjunct treatment if the condition cannot be controlled entirely with anti-VEGF injections.

Another type of laser retinal surgery known as laser photocoagulation employs the use of a high-energy thermal laser that aims to destroy and seal leaking blood vessels. However, this treatment also results in damage to the surrounding retina and so is only used in the minority of cases where the formation of new blood vessels occurs in the retina some distance away from the crucial central vision.

As early intervention can help to identify what steps can be taken to reduce your risk of progressive vision loss from macular degeneration, it’s important to maintain regular eye examinations with your eyecare provider.

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

Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment – Causes and Symptoms

September 18, 2020/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by The Armadale Eye Clinic Team

An estimated 5% of the Australian population have some type of diabetes. However, this prevalence is considered to be an underestimation as many Australians live with undiagnosed diabetes; experts estimate this rate to be around 1 undiagnosed diabetic for every 4 adults with known diabetes. Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a metabolic disease involving a deficiency in the production and/or function of the hormone insulin. This results in an elevated concentration of glucose (sugar) in the bloodstream, which damages the blood vessels throughout the body as well as the organs and other anatomical structures that are dependent on this blood supply.

Diabetes-related complications include:

Increased risk of a heart attack
Increased risk of a stroke
Reduced blood flow to the feet and legs, resulting in peripheral arterial disease
Diabetic kidney disease
Dental problems
Damage to the nerves throughout the body
Increased risk of eye disease, including diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic Retinopathy

The retina is the sensory tissue lining the inside of the back of the eyeball and is responsible for detecting light and forwarding these signals onto the brain for the perception of vision. Throughout the retina and surrounding anatomical structures are many tiny blood vessels that help to support the high energy activities of this part of the eye. Elevated blood glucose levels have the potential to damage these retinal blood vessels, resulting in an eye disease known as diabetic retinopathy.

There are two broad categories of diabetic retinopathy – non-proliferative and proliferative. During the non-proliferative stage of the disease, an ophthalmologist or optometrist examining your retina may detect signs such as:

Tiny haemorrhages or yellowish deposits called exudate throughout the retina due to leaking damaged retinal blood vessels
Areas of swelling known as oedema in the retina, also due to leakage of fluid from damaged vessels
Areas of whitening known as ischaemia, due to restriction of blood supply to that part of the retina
Other visible changes to the blood vessels throughout the retina

If the case of advanced diabetic eye disease, proliferative diabetic retinopathy is diagnosed by observing the formation of new blood vessels in the retina. Because these new vessels are fragile and poorly formed, they are at risk of causing a large haemorrhage in the eye, which may fully or partially obscure your vision. Though vision loss directly from a haemorrhage may be temporary until the blood can be cleared, the presence of new blood vessels may also result in further complications such as retinal scarring and distortion, a retinal detachment, or glaucoma. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy always requires treatment, typically in the form of retinal surgery.

Diabetic Retinopathy Treatment

In the milder stages of retinopathy, you may have few or no symptoms at all and diabetic retinopathy treatment is not warranted. Those early signs of diabetic eye disease can be managed by good overall diabetes control. However, if you develop fluid swelling around your macula, which can occur even in the non-proliferative stages, you will notice a blur or distortion to your central vision as we are most aware of this part of our field of view. Depending on the severity of the swelling, your eye doctor may recommend simply monitoring your retina and allowing time for the swelling to self-resolve, or may recommend diabetic retinopathy treatment in the form of laser retinal surgery or eye injections to protect the vision and prevent further retinal damage.

Laser retinal surgery aims to seal off leaking blood vessels in a process known as photocoagulation. In a way it can be thought of as applying laser burns to select areas of the retina to weld closed the damaged blood vessels. Laser retinal surgery may also be used to reduce the trigger for new vessel growth during proliferative retinopathy by deliberately burning and scarring areas of retinal tissue, thereby reducing the oxygen demand of that part of the retina. Though there may be some loss of peripheral vision from this treatment, it helps to preserve the rest of your sight, particularly your crucial central vision.

Medical diabetic retinopathy treatment in the form of eye injections is also used in cases of macular swelling or proliferative retinopathy. The medications used are often a class of drug known as anti-VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor), which work by blocking the chemicals released by the tissues of the eye that stimulate the growth of new blood vessels.

In the case of a very large haemorrhage inside the eye as a result of proliferative retinopathy, your eye surgeon may recommend a procedure known as a vitrectomy, which involves the complete removal of the vitreous gel that usually takes up the space in the back half of the eyeball. By removing the vitreous, the blood obscuring the retina can also be cleared, restoring your vision.

Other complications as a result of diabetic retinopathy need to be treated as they arise. In the case of a retinal detachment this requires retinal surgery; in the case of glaucoma your ophthalmologist may discuss with you a number of appropriate treatments, such as eye drops or glaucoma surgery. People with diabetes are also at a greater risk of developing cataracts, which are treated with surgical removal.

People with diabetes are encouraged to have regular eye tests with their optometrist or ophthalmologist, even if your vision seems normal. Even moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy can occur in the absence of any noticeable symptoms, but to an eyecare professional this can help to signal that your overall diabetes control needs to be revised.

The best way to avoid needing any sort of diabetic retinopathy treatment is to manage your diabetes well from the beginning, whether that’s with diet or medications as advised by your GP, diabetes educator, or endocrinologist.

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

difference between long and short sightedness melbourne

The Difference Between Long and Short Sightedness Explained

August 18, 2020/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by The Armadale Eye Clinic Team

Unfortunately, no, long sightedness is not exactly as simple as being the opposite of short sightedness. People with long sightedness can in fact often still see up close, and those with short sightedness are often quite content with their long-distance vision even without glasses or contact lenses. The terminology can be a little misleading as the difference between long and short sightedness is not quite as straightforward as it may sound.

Let’s differentiate first these two refractive errors and later discuss what’s the right eye treatment for them.

Refractive Error and Anatomy

Vision is dependent on multiple factors, some of these simply anatomical and others cognitive. From an anatomical point of view, the refractive components of the eye – that is, those parts of the eyeball involved in the bending (refraction) of light – include:

The tear film – the thin layer of fluid at the very front surface of the eye. In addition to providing protection and lubrication for the eye, it is also the first surface that light passes through to form vision.
The cornea – the clear dome of tissue that sits over the coloured iris. The cornea is designed to be optically transparent to allow full transmission of light; its curvature is also largely responsible for how light is refracted.
The crystalline lens – this sits just behind the coloured iris and is held in place by the ciliary muscle and zonular fibres. This arrangement allows the lens to flex its shape to adjust the focus of light in a process called accommodation. We accommodate when we want to bring the focal point of light forward within the eye, such as when we are looking at something up close.

The term “refractive error” covers both long sightedness, short sightedness, as well as astigmatism, and occurs when there is a mismatch between the refractive power based on the eyeball’s refractive components and the eyeball length, known as axial length.

The Difference Between Long and Short Sightedness

Long sightedness goes by a few other names – far-sightedness, hyperopia, or hypermetropia. Although it may seem most intuitive to simply think of long sightedness as the ability to see at long-distance but not at close, most younger patients are actually quite clear and comfortable at all viewing distances.

Long sightedness is a situation where the axial length of the eyeball is too short for its refractive power; that is, when the eye is relaxed, light is refracted to focus at a point behind where we want it to be for clear vision, which is the retina at the back of the eye.

However, a patient with an active accommodation system and long sightedness is able to control the focus of their crystalline lens in order to bring forward the focal point of light entering the eye, landing this point right on the retina for clear vision. This does mean that even for long distance viewing, a long sighted patient is always exerting some accommodative effort to clear their vision; this effort is increased when viewing closer objects.

To add to the complexity, around the mid-40s a natural age-related phenomenon sets in – presbyopia. This refers to the progressive inflexibility of the lens inside the eye, and eventually accommodative ability is lost entirely. The combination of the age of the patient and the degree of the far-sighted prescription therefore is what really determines how clearly someone can see at a certain distance.

For example, a 20-year-old patient with a low long sighted script will be quite happy at both short and far viewing distances while a 20-year-old with moderate long sightedness may be fine for long-distance vision but struggle with eyestrain and headaches during reading; a young patient with very high hyperopia can have blur at both distance and near vision. Alternatively, a presbyopic 50-year-old patient with low hyperopia may see quite clearly for far-distance while still having difficulty reading up close.

Luckily, short sightedness is much easier to explain. Also known as near-sightedness or myopia, short sightedness occurs when the axial length of the eyeball is too long for its refractive power; that is, when the eye is gazing into the far distance, light will focus to a point in front of the retina. However, as an object approaches closer, the nature of optics means the image created by this object moves further back into the eye and may eventually focus onto the retina – this explains why people with short sightedness can often see well up close but require spectacles to clear their far vision.

Presbyopic patients with short sightedness will find at some point that they prefer to remove their distance spectacles in order to see clearly for reading up close; an alternative to this is the use of multifocal glasses that contain both distance and near vision sections within the lens. Depending on the degree of short sightedness, some patients may be happy without any vision correction, such as a young person with a low degree of short sightedness who may feel they see well enough at distance without correction, and are also able to accommodate to see clearly for reading.

Although understanding the difference between long and short sightedness may not have been as simple as you expected, both types of refractive error can be addressed with various strategies including glasses, contact lenses, or refractive surgery.

Call us now on (03) 9070 5753 for more info.

What Is Laser Eye Surgery? – What To Expect

July 30, 2020/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by The Armadale Eye Clinic Team

The eye is an amazing organ with multiple parts all working together to receive light, convert it to neural signals, and send this signal onwards to certain areas of the brain for visual processing. However, when even just one of these anatomical components doesn’t quite function as it’s supposed to, we end up with various eye diseases, vision problems, and, for millions around the globe, refractive error. Although the term ‘laser eye surgery’ can refer to not only laser surgery for vision correction but also for the treatment of eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, many people will equate laser surgery with the idea of surgical correction of refractive error. So, what is laser eye surgery and what can it do for you?

Starting with Refractive Error

Before going into the details of exactly what is laser eye surgery, it would help to first understand the problem that refractive laser eye surgery attempts to address – refractive error.

Refractive error refers to a state of the eye when the light entering its front anatomical components fails to be bent (refracted) in such a way so as to focus to a sharp point on the retina at the back of the eye. The mismatch between the refractive power of the eye and eyeball length can result in prescriptions for farsightedness, nearsightedness, or astigmatism.

The result of refractive error is blurry vision, either for only certain distances or for all distances. The vision correction provided by optical aids such as glasses and contact lenses works by adjusting the refraction of light as it passes through the lens so that by the time it passes through your own refractive anatomy – namely, the cornea and the crystalline lens – it will be able to focus perfectly onto the retina, resulting in clear vision.

However, there are some shortcomings of spectacles and contacts, such as inconvenience in certain situations and the ongoing costs of maintaining these aids as they wear down or run out. So, in the 1980s the first laser eye surgery procedure was approved for surgical vision correction.

What is Laser Eye Surgery?

Laser eye surgery is a form of vision correction using laser technology. While optical aids such as glasses and contacts are worn externally, laser surgery procedures surgically adjust the anatomy of the eye itself to change the way light passes through it.

The goal of refractive laser eye surgery is to provide vision correction that significantly reduces a patient’s dependence on glasses or contacts. This may look different from individual to individual. For some people, this may mean excellent unaided vision for all long-distance viewing such as when playing sport or driving, and for occasional near activities such as reading they are quite happy to put on reading glasses. For other people, such as those who spend the majority of their time reading or sewing, they may prefer to have perfect vision for near work and wear glasses for driving and movies instead.

Depending on the type of refractive error, age of the patient, and the laser surgery technique used, some lucky patients may find themselves with clear vision for both distance and near activities without needing any glasses.

How Does Laser Eye Surgery Work?

The cornea is located at the very front surface of the eye, that clear dome of tissue that covers the colored iris. The crystalline lens is hidden just behind the iris and is responsible for adjusting its shape with the help of muscles to accommodate for focusing on near objects.

Refractive laser surgery treatments are targeted at reshaping the cornea to change the passage and refraction of light through this surface. There are other refractive surgery methods that involve the crystalline lens but these aren’t typically considered laser procedures – operations such as cataract extraction or refractive lens exchange (RLE) are also able to effectively correct the eye’s refractive error and reduce a patient’s need for optical aids.

There are two types of medical laser tools that are used for refractive laser eye surgery, though not all laser surgery methods require the use of both – these are the femtosecond laser and the excimer laser.

Here’s a brief summary of a few of the most well-known laser eye surgery procedures.

Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK)

PRK involves manual removal of the superficial layers of the cornea known as the epithelium, which can be done mechanically or chemically. This then exposes the deeper tissues of the cornea known as the stroma. An excimer laser can then be applied to reshape the stromal tissue in a process known as photoablation.

Laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK)

This may be the most well-known laser eye surgery procedure. Similar to PRK, an excimer laser is used in photoablation of the corneal stroma, but instead of entirely removing the epithelial layers, a hinged flap of superficial corneal tissue is created instead. This flap can then later be repositioned after photoablation and allowed to self-seal, which has some benefits in recovery time. Traditionally, this corneal flap was created using a bladed tool, but more recently some surgeons are preferring to use the femtosecond laser to form the flap.

Small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE®)

One of the most recent advancements in refractive surgery, SMILE® offers a minimally invasive way of surgically correcting refractive error. Using a femtosecond laser, a sliver of tissue called a lenticule is formed within the cornea and then removed via a keyhole incision in the outer layers. This causes minimal disruption to the corneal layers, maintaining better structural integrity.

If you’re interested in laser eye surgery and how it can improve your lifestyle, book your initial appointment with us now and call us now: (03) 9070 5753.

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

Presbyopia

August 27, 2019/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by The Armadale Eye Clinic Team

We all develop presbyopia when we get to between 45-50 yeas of age. Presbyopia is the loss of the ability to focus up near. This is the perfect opportunity to visit your Optometrist for a full eye health check!

Multifocal Intraocular Lenses: Getting It Right

July 3, 2019/0 Comments/in Armadale Eye Blogs /by The Armadale Eye Clinic Team

Multifocal intra-ocular lenses offer the opportunity to have cataract surgery and have great vision for distance, intermediate and near. There are a few golden rules to follow to make sure you have a good outcome from this surgery…