What are the common eye conditions your optometrist will check

Beside the refractive errors (i.e. glasses prescription), we are also able to check for early, preventable eye diseases such as cataract, glaucoma, macular degeneration and retinal disorders associated with diabetes. At Specs Smart, we also have a special interest in helping people with dry eyes and ocular surface diseases.

Glaucoma

The eye has its own pressure system to maintain structural integrity. However the pressure within the eye can vary with medication we take, our general physical health, time of the day, and our body’s metabolism rate.

Ganglion cells that connect the retina to the brain naturally gets weaker when we get older, and if the pressure is too high as this happens we could be looking at an accelerated lost of the ganglion cells which results in glaucoma.

Early glaucoma sufferers don’t usually get any visual symptoms. This is thanks to the redundancy of the human body - functional lose only observable after we lost 50% of the ganglion cells. That’s why it is so important to get the eyes tested regularly.

Cataract

The crystalline lens is nicely tucked away behind the iris. It’s a soft, flexible tissue that helps us focus at near.

Throughout our life time, the lenses inside the lens capsule continue to multiply in number, this means the lens structure become stiffer and the chemical content changes as well.

When the lens become cloudy from this process, we call it cataract. But there are many other reasons that can accelerate the cell changes - these includes diabetes, prolonged steroid change, excessive UV exposure and smoking.

Many people describe vision with cataract is like “driving in a fog”, but most people remain asymptomatic with just some minor issues with glare.

Macular Degeneration

There are two types of macular degeneration: dry and wet.

Dry macular degeneration is usually age-related - and take decade to progress to impact the vision.

Wet macular degeneration ironically is sometime due to the body’s attempt to repair dry macular degeneration which cause more damage.

Macular is a small area of retina in the centre of our eye. It is highly specialized and has the highest contraction of Cone photoreceptors. This means it consume a lot of energy (to convert photons to electrical nerve impulses), but when a lot of energy is consumed, it also means a lot of waste products are produce, in this case, in the form of free radicals.

Human eyes has the mechanism to recycle and neutralize these harmful free radicals, but excessive UV exposure, genetic predisposition, or smoking can compromise this mechanism causing damages that eventually lead to degeneration.

Early detection is the key for arresting macular degeneration. Preventative measures are also recommended, such as sun protection, healthy diet and supplement for smokers, and blue light blocker lenses (although this topic is still somewhat controversial).