Useful Information If You Have Major Concerns About The Health Of Your Eyes

By Author: Kerri Lissa
Total Articles: 20
Comment this article

This can often prove to be very dangerous especially as you age because if you experience a problem with eyes or vision and you don't consult an ophthalmologist, you risk causing serious, long-term damage. So if you're worried about the health of your eyes then take a look at the article below courtesy of eyesite.org:

There are many clinics within a range of locations. In the main treatment clinics are located in large metropolitan areas such as Sheffield, Glasgow and Leeds. If you are searching for eye surgery close by then laser eye surgery in London could be the place for you. Due to their excellent reputation, the clinics will have long waiting lists that you can be added to. A positive aspect of this is that the treatment clinic staff have a huge amount of experience. In some cases, they can even be affiliated with licensed opticians hence a sensible idea could be to ask your own optician for their views before looking for an eye surgeon.

Lasik eye surgery is a variety of refractive surgery that helps to fix hyeropia, astigmatism and myopia. That means this surgery is an useful alternative to wearing glasses ...
... or corrective lenses, which many people do not like to wear everyday. In certain aspects the procedure is similar to other surgical corrective options like photo-refractive keratectomy and refractive surgery, making it a common answer to solving bad eye sight. It involves surgically remodelling the cornea, in particular reshaping its curvature. There is a small probability that the eye will reject the surgery and revert back to its original state, however any other side effects will be at a minimum.

Although, you may think that cataracts is a condition that only affects senior citizens in fact children can be affected as well. Their medical name is congenital cataracts and they develop either shortly before or after birth has taken place. The key symptom of the condition include the clouding of the eye ranging from mild severity to total opacity. Other symptoms are near-sightedness or myopia - due to increased lens focus -, difficulty in perceiving the colour blue and a progressive yellowing of the lens. A cataract operation or surgery are two treatment options. If treatment is not provided loss of vision and even blindness can result. In older people the lens can shrink and swell.

Patients require a cornea transplant or graft when their cornea becomes permanently possibly through disease or external damage. If, for example, if a patient is struck by Fuchs dystrophy (a slow progressing corneal disease that affects both eyes) or Keratoconus (a disease which causes the cornea to thin and change shape) then a cornea transplant may be required. A cornea transplant is where the damaged part of the cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue in order to restore the damage - the graft coming from a deceased donor. cornea transplant or keratoconus surgery are often categorised as the most severe treatment options for cornea disease - this is because in most cases conditions can be treated by simply wearing corrective lenses.

In the UK, higher educational courses can offer postgraduate degrees in ophthalmology. These institutions include the Royal College of Edinburgh, The Royal College of Ophthalmologists and the Royal College of Glasgow. A qualification must be held by an ophthalmologist in order to pursue that line of work in Great Britain. Following the passing of the exams, most of the students usually gain a placement within the National Health Service to develop both practical skills and gain experience. In fact, a great number of the larger laser eye specialists offer training programs to help people become entirely qualified ophthalmologists. However, most of the time these are vocational courses which can only be taken after a postgraduate qualification.

The type of technology being utilised by ophthalmologists will alter depending on the specific condition being treated. In the instance of invasive cornea surgery a Ziemer LDV Femtosecond precision laser will be used. This piece of equipment enables a surgeon to operate on an eye without the need for a blade. There is also OCT (Ocular Coherence Tomographer), a new form of non-invasive imaging technology, that is being used more and more for detailed mapping of the size, shape and contours of the eye. for those that suffer from more complicated conditions there is Anti-VEGF drugs and Fluorescein angiography treatments. These are simply a few choice examples of the procedures and equipment that are currently in use by qualified ophthalmologists.

Macular degeneration is a condition which affects older adults and results in loss of vision in the macula (the centre of the visual field) due to damage to the retina. The disease doesn't affect peripheral vision, however as it progresses it can cause impaired vision, especially when trying to recognise faces. There are two main types of the progressive disease; dry and wet. The first is caused when the cells in the macula degenerate and accumulate behind the retina. Alternatively, wet macular degeneration is classed as the more serious of the two and is caused when blood vessels grow abnormally in the choriocapillaris behind the retina. As the side-effects of the disease can normally be slowed by taking vitamins or mineral supplements eye surgery is never the first option for someone who suffers from macular degeneration.

Now that you've finished reading through this article you should have a clearer knowledge of the most common eye afflictions. However, if you feel your eye condition is more serious it's best to get your eyes checked over by a trained ophthalmologist as soon as possible.