I S there a link between the eye and many diseases occurring in the body?
The eye is the window to the body, so usually if there is anything happening to the eye, if you check very well there will is also be an underlying systemic condition. Take for instance, hypertension and diabetes that are the most common systemic condition in Nigeria, they can manifest in the eye.
Diabetes is a condition that affects the entire body system, including both the internal and external organs like the eye, kidney, heart, and brain.
Once someone is diagnosed with diabetes, we usually advise that they have regular eye checkups. They should not wait until they have any eye complaints before they make eye checkups a routine since diabetes can affect their ability to see. The same advice is extended to persons with hypertension.
What are the common eye problems in this environment?
The commonest condition we see every day is cataract. Also, we have conditions such as glaucoma, allergies, dry eyes, conjunctivitis, what is commonly termed to as Apollo, blurred vision (called refractive errors), diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. However, eye conditions like conjunctivitis and allergies are commoner in children than adults. With the dry season now here, we see no less than 3 people with Apollo every day at the eye clinic.
Can an individual have more than one eye condition that can cause blindness?
It is possible. There are instances when an individual will have both cataracts and glaucoma. In fact, sometimes one can lead to the other. Sometimes a cataract becomes so large that it blocks your eye’s natural drainage system leading to a buildup of pressure in the eye. Cataracts can also form after glaucoma surgery.
Glaucoma occurs when the pressure within the eye is elevated, which can damage the optic nerve and result in vision loss and blindness. It is a most devastating condition because it causes irreversible blindness, unlike cataract.
That is why anybody that has glaucoma that is not treating it well may eventually become blind. The idea of telling people to check their eyes and if there is glaucoma you can quickly control it is so that we can prevent blindness.
Now, the five most common diseases that can lead to vision loss or blindness are diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, cataracts, glaucoma and eye injury or trauma. Age-related macular degeneration occurs when there is damage to the part of the retina that lets us see straight ahead. It usually causes a slow, painless loss of vision.
Common symptoms of an eye problem include red eyes, pain, night blindness, headache, light sensitivity and floaters. Others include flashes, dry eyes and excessive tearing.
Are these common eye problems due to environmental or genetic factors?
Eye disease can either be inherited or due to a combination of both genetic and environmental factors. Most conditions are a combination of genetic and environmental. Take for example, glaucoma could be genetic or a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Sickle cell disease is a genetic disease that can affect the eye and cause blindness. Apollo is due to environmental contamination.
There are treatments for these eye problems. Just as cataracts, the most common cause of blindness can be treated, so also allergies in children and dry eyes in adults can be controlled with medications.
People talk about intake of garri, a product of processed cassava which goes through several processes before its readiness for consumption, as bad for good vision. Can one’s diet affect the ability to see or cause blindness?
Taking or any vegetable oil is not detrimental to good vision; it is just one of those myths. But research has proven that measles in children can affect nutrition. Children with vitamin A deficiency stand a high risk of having poor eyesight. Vitamin A is very important in eye development, including the preservation of night vision.
Can blindness be due to ageing?
It is not that age itself will lead to blindness. Blindness is a result of other conditions that come with age like cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, detached retina and diabetic retinopathy. 80% of the world’s blind people are older than 50 years. A cataract is the leading cause of blindness in older people, followed by uncorrected refractive errors, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy. These are conditions that if left untreated will lead to blindness.
Although eye issues may be an inevitable part of the ageing process, the key is early detection and treatment so that they do not lead to permanent vision loss.
What is vitriol-retinal disease?
This term does not describe a single condition, but a group of eye disease that affects the retina, the film of the eye which is at the back of the eye and the vitreous fluid around it. A vitreoretinal disease may occur following diabetes, hypertension or another health problem.
Basically, the commonest are diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration. Others include retinal tear/detachments, macular holes, cystoid macular oedema, vitreomacular adhesion, hypertensive retinopathy and sickle cell retinopathy. Premature babies can also have a retinal problem, what is called retinopathy of prematurity.
Symptoms of these diseases include a sudden increase in floaters, flashes or streaks of light which are most noticeable in dark surroundings as well as seeing a curtain-like shadow coming down across the vision. The vitriol-retinal disease is managed by vitriol-retinal experts, an area of super speciality in ophthalmology.
Left untreated, these conditions can lead to permanent vision loss if the gel is detached from the retina. The retina is the powerhouse of the eye; once the retina is gone, the eye is blind. It is like the spinal cord or the brain matter, once it is damaged, there is little that you can do. That is the end.
So, it is so important that persons diagnosed with conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, sickle cell disease have eye examinations every year even though they don’t have any eye complaints. That is the only way to detect any little changes if any and ensure that they can be treated early. There is a treatment to stop the retinopathy provided the individual controls with the systematic problem that is causing it.
However, the challenge is that many people have diabetes and they don’t know it. Individuals need to regularly have their blood sugar checked and the moment it is going up, treat it as well as have an eye examination.
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