Get the Facts about Eye Health

Walk into any ophthalmologist's or optometrist's office and these will be the most common chronic eye conditions seen:

• Cataracts
• Dry Eye Syndrome
• Eye Floaters
• Macular Degeneration

What is the appropriate treatment for each of these conditions?

Cataracts
Inside the eye is a natural lens that helps to bend and focus light. In the normal eye of children, the lens is like clear gelatin, soft and nearly liquid. But as we get older, the lens becomes both firmer and more opaque. As this happens, it obscures the passage of light to the back of the eye, where the retina is located.

Cataracts should be treated at the earliest time that they begin to prevent clear vision. Why? Because modern cataract surgery dissolves the cataract using ultrasound and then vacuums the particles out of the eye. When the cataract starts negatively affect visual clarity, it is still relatively soft, and thus does not require much ultrasound power to dissolve it. As the cataract grows more mature, or "ripens," it becomes more difficult for the ocular surgeon, lengthening the surgical procedure, the post-operative recovery time, and increasing the risk of complications.

After the natural lens is removed, it is then replaced with an artificial lens implant that stays clear forever. Many lens implants are available, and the choice of which lens to implant should be decided with your doctor.

Certain risk factors increase the chances of developing cataracts. These include:

• Diabetes Mellitus
• Chronic use of oral or eyedrop steroids
• Anterior uveitis
• Radiation therapy to face or eyes
• Severe ocular trauma

Cataracts have proven very difficult or impossible to prevent. The National Eye Institute's Age Related Eye Disease Study, while proving the benefit of high dose nutritional supplementation in the treatment of macular degeneration, was unable to prove any similar benefit in either the treatment or prevention of cataracts. Other studies have shown questionable benefit using lutein and zeaxanthin, which are in VisiVite i-Defense Gold, Green and E-Free Formulas. However, the evidence has been neither strong nor convincing.

The slowing of the prevention of cataracts, therefore, involves these simple recommendations:

Reduce exposure to ultraviolet light by wearing high quality sunglasses

If you have diabetes mellitus, take aggressive measures to control your blood glucose levels. This will also prevent diabetic complications involving the retina.

Protect your eyes when participating in athletic events that may result in ocular injury and in hobbies or work that can cause injury, for example hammering nails.

Fortunately, cataracts are readily treatable and the vision loss completely reversible in the absence of other ocular disease.

Dry Eye Syndrome
The surface of the eye is covered with a thin layer of moisture called the tear film.

In actuality the tear film actually consists of three distinct layers:

• Mucus Layer - Consisting of mucin secreted by the conjunctival Goblet cells, mucin acts as the "glue" that holds the delicate tear film onto the corneal surface. It can become deficient due to disorders of the conjunctiva, such as conjunctivitis, conjunctival scarring from burns or chemical exposure, increasing age, Vitamin A deficiency, and more. Deficiency of this layer is measured by the eye doctor by a shortened Tear Break-up Time.
   
• Aqueous Layer - The central aqueous, or saltwater layer, makes up the largest portion of the tear film.  The aqueous layer is secreted by the Glands of Krauss and Wolfring for basal secretion, and the Lacrimal glands for reflex secretion. Common conditions that cause reduction in this layer include increasing age, female gender, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Lupus and other autoimmune diseases, dehydration, and more. Common treatments, which are often inadequate or have side effects, include artificial tear eyedrops, prescription eyedrops such as steroids and Restasis, and occlusion of the puncta and canaliculus of the inner eyelids (the small canals connecting the lids and nose) using acrylic or silicone plugs, or by cautery.
   
• Lipid Layer - The oily outer layer, secreted by the Meibomian Glands, acts as a Vapor Barrier to reduce evaporation of the Mucus and Aqueous tear layers. Since the Meibomian Glands are located in the eyelids, lid disorders and inflammation often reduce Meibomian Gland Function. These include Rosacea dermatitis, blepharitis, meibomitis and eyelid scarring. Warm soaks can help somewhat. However,  until the development of oral nutritional supplements, such as Dry Eye Relief, which strengthens the function of all three tear layers, no method of improving this tear film layer was consistently successful in improving this layer.

Eye Floaters
 

Macular Degeneration