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Regular eye checks should provide the basis for maintaining good eye health, as some of the serious eye conditions do not have any visible early warning symptoms. However, while prevention is the best defence, problems or injuries can occur suddenly and unexpectedly.
At Arasan we believe that the ability to recognise signs and symptoms and also knowing what to do could be crucial to preserving sight.
| Glaucoma is an eye condition characterised by loss of vision due to damage of the optic nerve. The optic nerve carries sight images to the brain, and any damage to the nerve results in damage to sight. Usually, but not always, the damage occurs because pressure within the eye increases and presses on the nerve, which damages it |
| Having a cataract is a bit like having a dirty windscreen on a car. It can make the view cloudy or foggy. When the sun is behind you, the vision through the dirty windscreen is ok, but when you turn into the sun, the view through the windscreen becomes a ‘white out’. A cataract is similar in that glare from lights, the sun when it is low in the sky and on-coming headlights can all cause problems with the vision. When these problems make normal daily activities difficult, it is time to get the cataract operated on. |
A squint is the common name for 'strabismus' which is the medical term used to describe eyes that are not pointing in the same direction. Squints are also sometimes called 'lazy eye' or 'cast' according to the direction of the turn of the eye.
The squint may be present all or only part of the time, in only one eye or alternating between the two eyes. A squint can occur for a number of reasons:
- Refractive (focusing) abnormality
- Eye muscle imbalance
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| Diabetes is a common disease and has important implications for the short term and long term health of sufferers. Fluctuations in blood sugar can cause changes in the focussing of the crystalline lens within the eye and cause temporary visual blurring, particularly if diabetic control is poor. Diabetes can also cause cataracts in young people, or accelerate the development of cataract in older people |
| The cornea is the window at the front of the eye. In the normal eye the cornea is transparent. Light is able to enter the eye through the clear cornea, pass through the clear lens to focus on the retina at the back of the eye. When the cornea is deformed or damaged from injury or disease, light the path of light to the retina is distorted. The picture that the retina passes to the brain is not clear and sight becomes distorted or patchy. |
| It is an operation in which part of your cornea is removed and replaced with a similar piece of cornea from a donor eye. Arasan Eye Bank collects and stores donor corneas for transplant. |
| When a retinal detachment develops a separation occurs between the retina and the wall of the eye at the back of the eye. This is similar to wallpaper peeling off a wall. The part that is detached (peeled off) will not work properly, and the picture that the brain receives becomes patchy or may be lost completely. An operation is necessary to replace the detached retina in it's proper position. |
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