Taking a Look at Cataracts

Blindness and impaired vision have been linked with poverty and can affect ones health and income status quite heavily in developing countries. Unfortunately many of the reasons for impaired vision such as blinding cataracts, are the most common form of preventable blindness in the developing world such as Pakistan (Blindness and poverty outreach). LRBT is an NGO based in Pakistan that treats and provides eye care to the residents. This NGO was established in 1984, the co-creators

The cataracts within the eye often changes in the lens of the eye. As people grow older the lens in the eye starts to change and can start to appear cloudy looking, this often happens and stops the process of the eye lens from being able to change shape or even to transmit the light properly. The cataracts may start to form between the ages of 50 and 60 years old and can often take a while to develop. If you are known to have diabetes then that also contributes to poor cataracts.

Macular Degeneration is a disease of the eye that gradually causes loss of a person’s central vision. Approximately 1.75 million Americans suffer from vision loss associated with the disease (All About Vision 1). The leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 60, Macular Degeneration, exists in two types (National Eye Institute 1). Both the wet and dry versions of the disease have similarities in risk factors, but differ in symptoms and treatments.

The research topic I will be introducing is Age-Related Macular Degeneration. This has been classified as a degenerative disorder that distresses the macula in one’s eye. AMD is unfortunately a common illness that individuals over 65 suffer from and that is a central cause vision loss. AMD doesn’t have a set disease pathway, in some individuals it advances slowly so that loss of vision does not arise for a long time. The disease can also advance much quicker and may lead to lack of vision in either or both eyes. The disease begins a blurry area near the center of one’s vision which grows larger and larger possibly causing a blank space in the eye (Boyd, 2013). Research is being done on AMD because it is a prevalent illness and has extreme consequences.

For the health condition description of age-related macular degeneration I will discuss the etiology, onset, prevalence rate, body systems, body structures, and associated deficits that come and are associated with this disease. “AMD is the degradation of the cells at the center of the retina which is the layer of tissue at the back of the eye that registers light. The macula is responsible for ventral vision, which enables us to read, drive, participate in sports, and do anything else that requires focusing directly ahead. Macular degeneration distorts the heart of the vision field” (Macular degeneration, 1998). Sunlight and smoking are both influences of the onset of AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), 2014). It is suggested to avoid intense bright sunlight which may help reduce the retinal degeneration. Hats, sunglasses and any other accessories that can help protect the eyes from the sun are suggested. Cigarette smoking has also been linked to increasing the risk of developing AMD and it is recommended that persons should stop smoking to decrease their chance of developing AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD), 2014). AMD does not develop until the sixth or seventh decade of life, although early

Glaucoma is a common and important health problem. It is one of the leading causes of blindness in Western Society (Hoskins & Kass, 1989). It is responsible for ten percent of all blindness in the United States and continues to be the second or third most common cause of blindness in the world (Bunce, Fraser, & Wormald, 1999). It is estimated that two million people in the United States have been diagnosed as having glaucoma. Glaucoma is known to affect about two percent of Caucasians beginning at the age of 40 with an increasing risk for those over the age of 60. This risk is especially high if a member of the family has glaucoma or diabetes. Further, there is a higher risk of a glaucoma diagnosis for African Americans

Macular degeneration is the second most common cause of blindness in people over the age of 50, and it is frequently related to the aging process. It is a disorder of the retina where the cells of the macula degenerate until only the periphery vision remains. Women, Caucasians, and Asian Americans seem to be more vulnerable when compared to males, Mexican Americans, and Africans. Macular degeneration specifically effects individuals ability to read, recognize people’s faces, choose clothes, view pictures, and to play or view sports. Age-related macular degeneration is divided into the three categories of early, intermediate, or advanced. 70%-90% of age-related macular degeneration are caused by the early category. It is characterized by the

Like many diseases, Open-Angle Glaucoma is very similar to other non-communicable disease, such as diabetes, where the disease causes damage prior to any observable signs or symptoms show. An early diagnosis and treatment for Open-Angle Glaucoma is critical to reserve any remaining vision. Open-Angle Glaucoma can be prevented, however, visual loss from glaucoma cannot be reversed.  “As of 2011, over 2.7 million individuals are estimated to have primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) in the United States, a number projected to increase to 7.3 million by 2050.” (Zebardast, N., Solus, J. F., Quigley, H. A., Srikumaran, D., & Ramulu, P.

Cataract is a medical condition in which the lens of the eye becomes progressively opaque, resulting in blurred vision. It si a common condition in people older than 40 and it is the primary cause of blindness in the world.

One condition your optometrist checks for during your regular eye examination is cataracts. A cataract causes clouding of the lens of your eye. You can have cataracts in both eyes or just one. A cataract can form in the center of the lens or along the edges. It may not interfere with your vision in the early stages, but your optometrist can detect it during an examination. Here are a few things to know about cataracts.

Eye color comes from the amount of melanin, a pigment found in the front part of the iris of the eye (Genetics, 2017). Lack of melanin results in blue eyes, some melanin gives green eyes, and a lot of melanin gives brown eyes. Cataracts are clouding of the lens that prevents light from entering. The cause of cataracts is unknown but there are possible reasons for it such as diabetes, smoking, and a lot of exposure to sunlight. Signs include lack of color intensity, night vision problems, fuzzy, blurry, or filmy vision. The function of the retina is to receive light the lens had focused on, switch the light into neural signals, and then send those signals to the brain for visual recognition. Most of the time eye floaters are from age related

What are cataracts? Put simply, this condition is when the lens of the eye clouds over, affecting visual acuity. Allowed to advance without treatment, it can lead to full blindness in the affected eye. Sufferers may experience blurry vision, high sensitivity to glare, poor night vision and double vision in one eye.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD) or senile macular degeneration is the leading cause of vision loss, affecting more than 10 million Americans—more than cataracts and glaucoma combined. (“Research into the Genetics of Macular Degeneration,” 2017). Macular degeneration is the loss of the central field of vision. It is estimated, by the year 2020, there will be 196 million cases of AMD worldwide (Rixon, Trevino, Attar, 2017). Degeneration of the macula occurs most often after the age of 60 years. It is considered to be an incurable eye disease (Dahl, 2017). There are two basic types of macular degeneration, wet and dry. Approximately 85% to 90% of the cases of macular degeneration are the dry type, while 10-15% are the wet type (“Exudative

Certain eye conditions are common, some developed through the natural process of aging and others caused by disease, injury and exposure to chemicals. Let's see what they

Vision challenge or impairment is when a person’s degree of seeing is very low and the affected person requires assistance in order to carry out daily routine. Significantly, for one to qualify as visually impaired there must be prove that a person cannot undertake duties by himself without necessary assistance. For a person to qualify as a visually challenged, there must be a prove that the affected eyes cannot be conventionally treated. Visual challenge cannot be corrected by surgery, refractive measures neither by medication and that is why it is termed as visual impairment. The most rampart causes of visual challenge are trauma, degenerative or congenital means and a variety of diseases. In the society,