Q: What is a cataract? A: A cataract is defined as a clouding of the lens of the eye that causes reduced vision. Q: What causes a cataract? A: Aging is the usual cause of cataract. Sometimes cataract may be caused by an injury to the eye or as a result of some other eye disease. Occasionally it may be due to the prolonged use of steroid medications. Patients with diabetes may develop cataract at [...]
What are eye/intravitreal injections for? Intravitreal injection is given into the eye near the retina. Retina is the neural layer on the back of the eye. Diabetic retinopathy and AMD (age-related macular degeneration) are two common conditions affecting the retina. Eye drops cannot treat these conditions because the required concentration of drugs does not reach the back of the eye. For the drugs to reach the retinal layer, we need to inject them into the [...]
There are two main purposes of anesthesia for cataract surgery. The first is that the patient should not feel pain. This is the primary reason and is very important from the patients’ perspective. Ophthalmic surgeons call it ‘sensory anesthesia’. The other important aspect of anesthesia in cataract surgery is that the eye should not move during surgery. The eye is supposed to be static so that the surgeon can visualize the tissues better and does [...]
The most common cause of bulging eyes (proptosis/exophthalmos) is Grave’s disease, an autoimmune disease. It causes enlargement of the muscles which are responsible for eye movements. Additionally, the vascular congestion and swelling around the eyes cause pressure effects and pushes the eyeballs forward. Grave's eye disease is 3 to 10 times more common in females than in males. The mean age of appearance of Grave's thyroid disease is about 41-42 years. This disease is usually self-limited [...]
No. High eye pressure or intraocular pressure (IOP) is not always harmful and not always associated with glaucoma (damage to optic nerve). The normal range of intraocular pressure is traditionally considered to be between 10 and 21 millimeter of mercury (mmHg) but there are people who have high IOP but no glaucoma. This condition is called as ‘Ocular Hypertension’ (OHT). On the other hand, there are some people who have normal eye pressure but they [...]
We need reading glasses to correct presbyopia. Presbyopia is a condition which appears around the age of forty years in which distance vision is good but objects at close distance are blurred. This condition is related to age and is clinically similar to hypermetropia (far-sightedness) which is found in younger age group. Click here to know more about presbyopia. Symptoms of Presbyopia Around the age of 40 years, you may start noticing that you cannot [...]
In a traditional cataract surgery, the opaque natural lens is removed and it is replaced with an artificial lens. The power of these intraocular lenses (IOL) is individualized and calculated before the surgery. The power of the lens is meant for vision for distance only. For all the near work, which includes reading, you need to wear glasses to see well. The good news is that we now have multifocal and bifocal IOLs which [...]
It is commonly believed that high eye pressure causes glaucoma. This article highlights the role of ocular perfusion pressure in the causation of glaucoma. Dr. Weinreb and his colleagues have suggested how low ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) is responsible for the development and progression of glaucoma. What Is Ocular Perfusion Pressure? Ocular perfusion pressure is the difference between intraocular pressure (eye pressure) and blood pressure. If the eye pressure is high and blood pressure is [...]
Before you understand what presbyopia is, understand the following basic concepts first: 1. The eye is like a camera. The camera has two main parts. One is the lens system at the front part which focuses the light/image on the film of the camera (or an electronic sensor in modern cameras) which itself is the second part and lies at the back of the camera. The eye has a similar refractive system (cornea and lens) [...]
It's a question quite often asked by those who have cataracts of various degrees. Such questions arise because of patients' lack of understanding of factors which determine when a cataract should be removed. Such questions also probably arise because of an assumption that there is a set of medical rules which prescribe surgery only in some medical scenarios and not in others. There are also some patients who think that the doctor will decide whether [...]