Common Eye Diseases

Your eyesight is one of your most valuable assets. However, many eye problems and conditions affect people and if not treated, these eye diseases and conditions may damage the eye causing partial or complete blindness.

Some of the most common eye diseases include:

• Dry Type of Macular Degeneration
• Wet Type of Macular Degeneration
• Glaucoma
• Diabetic Retinopathy
• Eye Stroke/Occlusions
• Retinitis Pigmentosa
• Dry Eye Syndrome

In this article, we will explore these eye diseases to get a clear understanding of them.

1. Macular Degeneration – Dry Type
It is a common eye disease that mostly occurs in people above the age of 50. This disease causes thinning of the macula resulting in reduced vision or blurred vision.

The disease may first attack one or both eyes, and it eventually attacks both eyes. If not treated, it worsens your vision and reduces your ability to do tasks like driving, recognizing faces, or reading, among others.

However, having this disease does not necessarily mean you will become completely blind. Since this disease causes central vision loss, you will still retain your peripheral vision. Some people only experience partial loss of their central vision, while the loss may be severe in others.

The disease’s common symptoms are:

• Visual distortion
• Central vision gets reduced in your eye or eyes
• One experiences increased difficulty to adapt to rooms or places with low levels of light
• When doing close-up work or reading, one requires brighter light
• Difficulty recognizing faces
• Decreased intensity or brightness of colors
• A well-defined blind or blurry spot in your field of vision

2. Macular Degeneration – Wet Type
It is an eye disease that creates a blind spot or blurred vision in your visual field. This disease is mainly caused by abnormal blood vessels that leak blood or fluid into the eye’s macula. The wet type of macular degeneration begins typically as the dry type.

The main symptoms of this disease include:

• Visual distortions
• Central vision gets reduced in one or both eyes
• Printed words become increasingly blurred
• One experiences increased difficulty to adapt to rooms or places with low levels of light
• One requires brighter light when doing close-up work or reading
• Decreased brightness or intensity of colors
• Difficulty recognizing faces
• A well-defined blind or blurry spot in your field of vision

3. Glaucoma
This is an eye disease responsible for damaging the optic nerve. The main cause for the optic nerve damage is the abnormally high pressure in the affected individual’s eye due to fluid build up. This eye condition can occur at any stage but mostly occurs in adults, especially those above the age of 60. The condition is the leading cause of blindness for those above age 60.

There are two types of glaucoma and neither have warning signs. This disease is sneaky, its effects occur gradually so it is very difficult to notice a change in your vision until it gets to the advanced stages. If you lose your vision to Glaucoma, it is nearly impossible to recover it, this is why it is advisable to have regular eye checks by a certified optometrist.

Below are the two types of glaucoma and their symptoms:

Primary Open-angle Glaucoma symptoms:

• No pain
• Does not cause any vision changes at first

Narrow-Angle Glaucoma symptoms:

• Eye pain that this severe
• Blurred vision that is sudden
• Eye redness
• Halos around light
• Vomiting and nausea
• Severe headache

4. Diabetic Retinopathy
This eye disease is a diabetic condition that usually affects both eyes. The disease occurs when the blood vessels in the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, also called the retina, are damaged. At first, the disease has no or a few mild symptoms, such as mild vision problems. However, as it gradually advances, it may cause blindness.

This eye disease can develop in any individual having type 1 or type 2 diabetes.

Symptoms

There are no or little symptoms in the early stages of this disease, but as the disease gets more severe, you may experience:

• Dark strings or spots floating in your vision
• Fluctuating vision
• Poor night vision
• Empty or dark areas in your vision
• Impaired color vision
• Blurred vision or vision loss

5. Eye Stroke/Occlusions
Occlusions or eye stroke is an eye disease that occurs when a vein or an artery in the retina gets blocked. It causes blurry vision in the affected individual or, in severe cases, cause blindness in the affected eye or eyes.

The damage occurs when the blocked artery or vein prevents the draining of blood from the retina. Arteries in the eye may harden pressing against a vein, thereby narrowing the vein’s opening. It results in choppy blood flow that may make the blood clot.

The disease is most likely to occur in individuals with high blood pressure, diabetes, and other conditions that affect your blood vessels.

Symptoms

• Missing or blurry vision in a part of the entire eye
• Pressure and pain in the eye
• Floating lines or dark spots in your vision

6. Retinitis Pigmentosa
Retinitis Pigmentosa, also called RP, is part of a group of rare eye genetic disorders that involves the breakdown of cells in the retina and the eventual loss of these cells.

This eye disorder is passed on from a parent to the child through hereditary genes. There are over 60 various genes that can cause the different types of Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Symptoms

• Loss of night vision
• Gradual peripheral vision loss
• Color vision problems
• Loss of central vision

7. Dry Eye Syndrome
Dry Eye Syndrome is an eye disease that occurs when there is not enough lubrication for your eyes by natural tears. Tears are made up of water, fats and mucus. There are many reasons why an individual may produce poor-quality tears or inadequate tears. The unstable flow of tears or inadequate composition of the tears creates inflammation of the eye’s surface that eventually causes damage to the affected eye.

Symptoms

• A scratchy, burning, or stinging sensation in the affected eye or eyes
• Eye redness
• Light sensitivity
• Eye fatigue or blurred vision
• Difficulty when wearing contact lens
• Nigh time driving difficulty
• Watery eyes
• An uncomfortable sensation of having something in your eye
• Stringy mucus around or in the affected eye or eyes

In Conclusion

As we have seen above, there are many eye conditions and disorders that may affect individuals. As a precaution, it is advisable to visit a certified optometrist at least once a year to have your eyes checked for the above or, any other eye condition.

There are many treatment methods for these common eye diseases. MicroAcupuncture 48 is a very successful natural method that may give you positive results.