Making Ophthalmology Easier With Descriptions About The Most Well Known Eye Afflictions

By Author: Emilee Jaden
Total Articles: 69
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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. An ophthalmologist must have one of these qualifications if they want to work in the UK. Once these qualifications have been achieved most individuals tend to get placements at the NHS to advance their knowledge and improve their practical skills. In fact, a great number of the larger laser eye specialists offer training programs to help individuals become qualified ophthalmologists. However, these are usually vocational courses, which are taken after acquiring a postgraduate qualification.

Macular degeneration is an age-related eye condition which results in a loss of vision in the centre of the visual field because the retina has become damaged. When it develops it can cause impaired visions, specifically when reading or when trying to recognise faces. There are two main types of the progressive disease; dry and wet. The first is caused when cells thin and degenerate in the macula, while the latter is ...
... seen as more serious and is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth behind the retina which leads to leakage below the macula. As the side-effects of the disease can normally be slowed by taking vitamins or mineral supplements surgery of eye not necessarily always needed.

Although, you may think that cataracts is a condition that only affects senior citizens in fact children can be affected as well. These are called congenital cataracts, which develop prior to or just after birth. The essential feature of the condition is the clouding of the eye, varying in severity from mild clouding to complete opacity. Other symptoms include myopia (caused by increased focus of the lens) a yellowing of the lens and problems in recognising the colour blue. Treatment involves a cataract operation or cataract surgery. If treatment is not provided loss of vision and even blindness can result. In the elderly the condition leads to shrinkage of the lens and swelling.

Lasik eye surgery is a style of refractive surgery used to correct hyperopia, myopia and astigmatism. Generally this form of surgery is a worthwhile alternative to wearing lenses or glasses, which many people dislike wearing. The procedure is similar to other surgical corrective options like photo-refractive keratectomy and refractive surgery and is therefore a common solution to bad eye sight. The cornea is remodelled and its curvature is reshaped during the procedure. The possibility of the eye rejecting the surgery does exist and it could slowly return to its original condition but other side effects are minimal.

A wide range of clinics can be found in a host of locations. On the whole the surgeries for eye treatment take place in big cities like Sheffield, Newcastle or Cardiff. It makes sense then that laser eye surgery in London could be your ideal solution if looking for eye surgery. As their reputation precedes them, the treatment centres will add you to what could be a lengthy waiting list. An advantage of this means that the clinic staff are vastly experienced. In certain cases, they are linked with professional opticians therefore a sensible idea could be to ask your own optician for their advice prior to finding an eye surgeon.

The type of technology being used by an ophthalmologist will change depending on the specific condition being treated. For an invasive cornea surgical operation a Ziemer LDV Femtosecond precision laser is used. This equipment allows a surgeon to operate precisely without using a surgical blade. A new form of non-invasive imaging technology, OCT (Ocular Coherence Tomographer), is being used increasingly for mapping the shape, size and contours of an eye. Lastly, there are procedures along the lines of Anti-VEGF drugs and Fluorescein angiography for more specialist ailments. These are just a few examples of the equipment and procedures that are currently in use by qualified ophthalmologists.

A cornea transplant is required when a cornea becomes irreversibly damaged, possibly through disease. For instance, if someone is stricken with fuchs dystrophy (a degenerative corneal disease which affects both of the eyes) or Keratoconus (a degenerative disorder that affects the shape of the cornea, making it more conical than curved) 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 bring the eye back to full health. keratoconus surgery or cornea transplants are often the final option for corneal diseases - in the vast majority of cases, the conditions can be easily treated by simply wearing corrective lenses.

After reading the above descriptions you should have now have a deeper understanding of the health of your eyes and how to identify a number of key eye diseases.