Macula Degeneration.

AMD is now the leading cause of blindness in the western world. It is estimated that approximately 6-8% of people over the age of 75years have vision problems related to AMD.

If macula function is degraded, the ability to read, drive and even recognise faces can be lost.

Risk factors for AMD can be divided into 2 groups, modifiable and non- modifiable risks.

Non-Modifiable risks:

• age
• gender
• family history
• iris colour
• spectacle prescription

Modifiable risks:

• smoking cessation
• diet

AMD can be thought of in simple terms as oxidative damage and the retina especially the macula is at risk of oxidative damage.

How can you reduce your risk of AMD?

• Dietary supplements for AMD (containing macula cartenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, meso-zeaxanthin.
• Smoking cessation
• weight control
• UV protection.

Winter sun break.

For those of you lucky enough to have booked a lovely break in the sun this winter. Make sure you pack your sunglasses. Apart from making your eyes feel more comfortable and helping with glare when you're abroad sunglasses will protect you eyes from harmful U.V. It is particularly important to wear your sunglasses when you're on the water as water reflects more U.V into your eyes.

All sunglasses purchased in the U.K should be marked with a CE on the side (of the sunglasses), this means that they conform to the European standards for U.V protection. Sunglasses that don't comply with European standards could potentially do your eyes more harm than good as they dilate your pupil allowing more sun into the eyes but not necessarily protecting your eyes from U.V.

If your taking the little people in your life away on holiday with you make sure they've got their sunglasses too as a lot of the damage done by U.V is done under the age of 18years as children and young adults have large pupils, and clear crystalline lenses. U.V is thought to play a role in the development of cataracts, macula degeneration, and pterygium.

And finally if you are heading off to sunnier climes...enjoy!

New years resolutions.

Now that the Festive party season is over...now its time for the dreaded new years resolutions!

Here are a few key tips for keeping your eyes healthy:

1. Good diet: Diet plays a large role in keeping your eyes healthy. A diet rich in sugar and fats puts you more at risk of raised cholesterol and diabetes both of which have serious implications for eye health. Omega three's are important to maintaining good eye health and may even help with dry eye. Foods that are rich in omega 3's include oily fish, and flaxseed. Foods rich in lutein and xeanthanin are important for maintaining the health of the macula (and therefore reducing the risk of macula degeneration). Green leafy veg are also important for keeping your macula healthy so stock up on veg like broccoli, kale, cabbage, and spinach.

2. Regular exercise is important for maintaining good cardiovascular health, which is important for keeping your eyes healthy.

3. Some recent studies have also suggested that spending time outdoors (30mins a day) is beneficial for eye health especially for children.

4.      Sun Protection: It is important when spending time outdoors to wear a pair of good quality sunglasses to protect your eyes from ultra -violet light (U.V) as U.V is thought to play a role in the development of cataracts, macula degeneration, and pterygium. And this is even more important when playing sports on highly reflective surfaces such as water and snow sports.

5. Stop Smoking: If you can manage to give up smoking this is one of the best things you can do for both your general health AND your eye health. Smoking increases you risk of so many different eye diseases it’s hard to list them all here! But some examples include: cataract, macula degeneration, dry eye, vascular occlusions (clots), glaucoma etc....

Uvetis

Uvetis is inflammation of the uveal tract (choroid, iris etc...). It is relatively common in the western world, with 15 new cases per 100,000 per year.

The most common form of Uvetis is Acute Anterior Uvetis, and symptoms often include a painful red eye and photophobia.

Uvetis can be acute, recurrent or chronic.

There are 3 different types of Uvetis, anterior, intermediate and posterior uvetis.

There are a number of different risk factors such as HLA-B27 (human leukocytic antigen), age, race, previous ocular history, previous medical history, and medications.

There are a number of different causes for uvetis, some cases are associated with infections others with auto-immune disorders and some are just idiopathic (no cause can be found)

The quicker it is treatment is started the better. Most patients are treated with steroids and mydriatics (dilates the pupil).

Ski season.

Heading out on the Ski slopes this winter?

If you are and you’re a contact lens wearer, do you contact lenses have a U.V filter? Many modern contact lens materials incorporate U.V protection. Do you have a good pair of polarised sunglasses or ski goggles for the slopes to help with the glare and to protect your eyes from U.V?

U.V protection is really important at high altitude and when on highly reflective surfaces like snow.

U.V plays a big role in a number of eye conditions such as pterygium, cataracts and even macula degeneration.

Good quality sunglasses or ski goggles are vital in protecting your eyes from U.V damage.

And its even more important that kids have good U.V protection when skiing because they have large pupils and clear crystalline lenses, which means even more U.V reaches their retina.

For more information on which contact lenses incorporate U.V protection or advice on ski goggles/sunglasses please contact us.

Christmas time....

Christmas is just around the corner and lots of us are thinking about that one tradition of exchanging gifts.  If you're stuck for ideas we've got plenty to inspire you, we stock a wide range of accessories such as spectacle cases, cleaning kits, cloths, sprays, sports bands and magnifiers.

If you're looking for something special to give we have sunspecs by Maui Jim, Rayban and Oakley, we can even supply a gift voucher to any value you wish that can be used to purchase any of our products and services.  

Pop in and see what we have to fill those stockings!

Cataracts

The vast majority of cataracts that we see are Age Related.  Over time the lens in your eye changes because of UV light from the sun. Much like UV light can effect your skin,  it can make your lens go cloudy, a bit like fogging up a window.  This makes it difficult to see out.

What symptoms will I get?

For many years you may not notice any difference to your vision.  Your optometrist will detect cataracts up by watching the changing appearance of the lens in your eye, they may also detect a changing glasses prescription.

• Bright lights and headlights may produce glare and be quite dazzling.
• Eventually you will notice cloudy or blurry vision- things you once saw clearly may feel out of focus. 

Who may be more prone to cataracts?

• Diabetics
• Anyone with skin conditions such as Atopic Dermatitis / Eczema
• People who have suffered from ocular inflammation (Uveitis) and been treated with steroid eye drops
• Very short sighted prescriptions (-10.00D or more)

What can be done about them?

Cataracts will only be treated when they affect your vision and you get symptoms of reduced blurry vision.  For a lot of people this is a long time after they were first diagnosed with cataracts.

Cataract removal is a very common usually straight forward procedure.  It does not require an over night stay at hospital, you can be in and out in the same afternoon!

The surgeon will remove your own cloudy lens and replace it with a clear man- made lens.  This has the same effect as cleaning a dirty window, more light will get through to allow a clearer brighter image for you.

*Remember not all blurry vision is caused by cataracts so we always recommend having an eye test if you are experiencing symptoms of blurry vision.