young girl having her eye checked

Common Eye Conditions You Should Know

We often live our days without even thinking about our eyes until something happens to them. If you have an eye condition, you need to deal with it immediately. Otherwise, you may put your vision at risk. Here are some common eye conditions you ought to know.

Refractive Errors

One of the most common issues a person can have with their eyes is refractive errors. If your lens, cornea, and eyeball are not shaped properly, it will not let rays refract or bend and land on the retina to reach the brain. When this happens, you will have blurry vision.

You can have nearsightedness and farsightedness. If you have nearsightedness, the light rays fall short on the retina, which means you can only clearly see things that are nearby. On the other hand, light rays overreach the retina for farsightedness, which means you can clearly see things further from you.

You could also have astigmatism. When you have astigmatism, light rays unevenly fall on the retina’s surface, which can make your vision go out of focus. If you have presbyopia, you have a difficult time looking at things nearby, and this usually comes with age. Similar to farsightedness, the light rays overreach the retina, which makes activities such as reading challenging.

Meibomian Gland Dysfunction

woman rubbing her eyesMeibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) is a blockage or abnormality with the meibomian glands. The gland secretes oils that avoid the tears from evaporating quickly. When you have MGD, the glands do not produce enough oil for the tears. That is why it is often associated with another issue called dry eye syndrome. If you suspect that you have MGD, you must find a qualified professional to help you get MGD treatment.

Glaucoma

If you have glaucoma, your eye’s optic nerve got damaged, and it will worsen over time. There can be a pressure build-up in the fluid of the eye that can damage your optic nerve that delivers imagines to the brain. There are two types of glaucoma, which are angle-closure glaucoma and open-angle glaucoma. No matter which type you have, you must address the issue immediately. Glaucoma can easily lead to permanent blindness within years.

Cataracts

If the eye lens has cloudy parts, then it is called cataracts. Since cataracts affect the eye lens, light does not smoothly pass through the retina. People who have cataracts may see a glare or halo around lights at night and may not see clearly. To help deal with the symptoms of it, people can get brighter lighting, magnifying lenses, anti-glare sunglasses, and new eyeglasses. However, the only solution to get rid of cataracts is surgery.

Dry Eyes Syndrome

The reason we have tears is to keep our eyes lubricated. If there are not enough tears, you can get dry eye syndrome. You may experience eye redness, burning, stinging, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, eye fatigue, etc. These symptoms can worsen due to specific triggers, like an air-conditioned room. Since there are many ways to treat it, you should talk to an ophthalmologist to discuss the best treatment option for you.

We need to take care of our vision before it is too late. Have a regular checkup with your doctor to keep your eyes healthy. Your doctor can also detect any eye problem at the early stage so it can be treated before it gets worse.

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