cataracts

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Cataract Awareness Month 2014 – when actually is it or maybe was it?


Cataract Awareness Month

Cataract Awareness Month

Well better late than never ( or maybe too early!)

As you can see by some of the links Cataract Awareness Month kicks off in just two days time. (Or does it?)

As I mentioned before cataracts are a big issue for my family. Both my parents have had cataract operations as have two of my aunts.

I covered what to expect from a cataract operation in a previous post which you can check out here. It also gives an overview of of what a cataract actually is.

If you want to find out a bit more about Cataract Awareness Month itself then I can suggest you visit the Friends for Sight site.

Here you will notice something that rather confuses me. This page says the month is in June while Vision Texas give August as the month.

Which is correct? Does anyone care? More to the point does it matter?


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Do you have UV protection in your glasses? Check out this post to find out why you need it!


UV radiation protection in glasses

UV radiation protection in glasses

Of course, the effects of Ultraviolet radiation (UV) exposure to skin are now widely known, however the risks of UV exposure to eyesight are not as well known, with research suggesting just 10% of the respondents are aware that UV increases the risk of eye damage. The study suggests one in ten didn’t know that eyes are up to 10 times more sensitive to UV damage than skin.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) , UV damage is the most preventable factor of developing cataracts. Exposure to the sun’s UV rays also increases your risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) – the UK’s leading cause of blindness.

In past days many opted not to pay extra for UV protection when buying prescription glasses for themselves and their children. Children are particularly susceptible when it comes to UV. Evidence suggests up to 70% more light reaches a child’s retina than an adult’s and that 80% of a person’s lifetime exposure to UV eye damage happens before the age of 18.

Robert MacLaren at Professor of Ophthalmology, Oxford University comments: “Ultraviolet rays are absorbed at the front of the eye and can cause damage to the surface of the eye leading to irritation and redness. This damage may become permanent after years of exposure to ultra violet light – leading to cataracts or age related macular degeneration. Protection from UV in your everyday glasses gives you the best opportunity to avoid eye health issues in the future. It’s encouraging to see this initiative to improve eye health and I hope other opticians will follow suit.”

Do you have UV protection in your glasses? Please share in the comments box below!


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Blueberries. How are they good for our health?


Berries

Berries

Since we began this blog we have been looking at foods as well as medications as a way of treating different medical conditions.  And one (well actually there are several) names keeps on coming up.

Blueberries!

So we thought we would take this opportunity to look in more detail at the possible health benefits of the blueberry.

So here goes.

  1. Blueberries can act as anti-oxidants.  To find out more please have a look at our previous blog on anti-oxidants – https://patienttalk.org/?p=252.
  2. It may well be that they can promote weight loss.  In particular with abdominal fat.
  3. They seem to be a great stress buster.  Have a look at https://patienttalk.org/?p=229 for more information.
  4. Being high in Vitamin C blueberries are great for cardiovascular health.
  5. Eye health – it seems blueberries could be useful for helping to slow down cataracts (https://patienttalk.org/?p=471) and macular degeneration.
  6. Digestive ailments.  Because they are so high in fibre they are great if you are suffering from constipation.
  7. Bladder infections.  Blueberries operate in a similar fashion to cranberries.
  8. Cancer.  It is possible that blueberries have anti-cancer properties but these are very much under investigation.

So it seems that blueberries deserve their title as a Superfood.  And this is where you come in.  Do you include blueberries in your diet?  Do they have a positive effect?

And most importantly can we have your recipes for blueberries.  It would be great for our readers to get your recommendation here.

Thanks in advance


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Cataracts- what to expect from a cataract operation!

Optic Neuritis

Optic Neuritis

A couple of weeks ago I found myself attending the eye departments of the local hospital with my daughter.  While waiting for her to be seen by an optician I cast my eyes over a leaflet produced by Moorfields Eye Hospital on the subject of Cataracts.  Moorfields is, apparently, the oldest and largest eye hospital in the world with a background in research and patient orientated services.

As readers of this blog may have noticed I am often critical of a lot of medical education provided to consumers both in the UK, the EU and North America so I was delighted when I read this little pamphlet.  In my view it is one of the best examples of a concise and straight forward explanation of medical issues I have come across.

So I felt that this blog would be a great opportunity to share with our readers some of the key point in the booklet.

So what actually is a cataract?  It “is the clouding….of the lens inside the eye.  It causes gradual blurring of vision and often glare”.

A cataract means that the eye’s lens becomes cloudy which “prevents light rays from passing on to the retina”.  The retina being the back of the eye.  Therefore the picture that your retina gets is blurry.  It is worth noting that cataracts form over a long period of time.

Typically cataracts are age related and using the eyes will not make them worse.  Lots of people don’t know they have cataracts until they are told so by an optician.

It is worth noting that diabetes significantly increases the chance of cataracts.

So how is a cataract treated?  When the cataract starts to cause problems with daily life the usual treatment is surgery.  At present there is no known preventive measure for cataracts.  Modern surgery has proven to be highly effective.

The most common type of cataract surgery is called phacoemulsification and does not involve an overnight stay in hospital.  The procedure uses sound waves to first soften the lens which is flushed out using water.  The back membrane is left behind while the lens is replaced by a new plastic one.

The operation is mainly performed under a local anaesthetic given by either eye drops or an injection.

One of the big pluses of the operation is that it helps clear up a number of other sight problems such as short sightedness.  Most people afterwards will only need reading spectacles.

More information on Cataracts can be found at the Moorfields web site which can be reached at http://www.moorfields-private.co.uk/EyeConditionsTreatments/cataracts.

So over to you?  Have you had a cataract operation?  How did it go?  Did you have any complications?  Please use the comments box below to tell the story of you cataract surgery.  It will be of great use to anyone who will have such surgery in the future.

Many thanks in advance.