A Journey Through the Human Eye: How We See

Amazing facts about our eyes

On the face of it, our eyes are just simple orbs in our head, but the fact is that they’re very complex organs. There are seven main parts in the eye that play a role in transmitting information to the brain, detecting light, and focusing. A problem with any of these parts means a problem with your vision.

Our eyes are very complicated and amazing. They seem pretty simple, but there’s really a lot to know about how they function.

You may think you know them pretty well, but here are some fun facts you may not know about eyes:

1. The average blink lasts for about 1/10th of a second.
2. While it takes some time for most parts of your body to warm up to their full potential, your eyes are on their “A game” 24/7.
3. Eyes heal quickly. With proper care, it only takes about 48 hours for the eye to repair a corneal scratch.
4. Seeing is such a big part of everyday life that it requires about half of the brain to get involved.
5. Newborns don’t produce tears. They make crying sounds, but the tears don’t start flowing until they are about 4-13 weeks old.
6. Around the world, about 39 million people are blind and roughly 6 times that many have some kind of vision impairment.
7. Doctors have yet to find a way to transplant an eyeball. The optic nerve that connects the eye to the brain is too sensitive to reconstruct successfully.
8. The cells in your eye come in different shapes. Rod-shaped cells allow you to see shapes, and cone-shaped cells allow you to see color.
9. You blink about 12 times every minute.
10. Your eyes are about 1 inch across and weigh about 0.25 ounce.
11. Some people are born with two differently colored eyes. This condition is heterochromia.
12. Even if no one in the past few generations of your family had blue or green eyes, these recessive traits can still appear in later generations.
13. Each of your eyes has a small blind spot in the back of the retina where the optic nerve attaches. You don’t notice the hole in your vision because your eyes work together to fill in each other’s blind spot.
14. Out of all the muscles in your body, the muscles that control your eyes are the most active.
15. 80% of vision problems worldwide are avoidable or even curable.

Who knew your eyes could be so amazing and complex? Make sure to give them the attention they deserve by seeing your VSP doctor for a comprehensive eye exam every year.

Chalazion

Chalazion is also known as a meibomian gland lipogranuloma, is a cyst in the eyelid that is caused by inflammation of a blocked meibomian gland, usually on the upper eyelid. Chalazia differ from styes (hordeola) in that they are subacute and usually painless nodules. They may become acutely inflamed but, unlike a stye, chalazia usually point inside the lid rather than on the lid margin. There is no role of bacteria in causing Chalazion. But the site affected by Chalazion can get bacterial infections. This lump is small but in some people this lump is quite large and that can give them blurred vision or distorted vision. It can give sharp pain along with inflammation. When the lump gets drainage on its own, then one gets relief from this condition. But in some rare cases Chalazion becomes chronic and patients want to remove it.

For treating the Chalazion, eye specialists will give warm compresses so as to cause the spontaneous drainage. The antibiotics are of use when it is infected. Doctors can also perform surgical operation to make the lump open and drain it manually. It is not a major operation though. In people suffering from rosacea, uncorrected refractive errors are more prone to get Chalazion again and again. There are some common causes behind the occurrence of Chalazion.

Causes of Chalazion

1. Blockage in the oil gland.
2. Viral infections
3. Low immunity levels
4. Rosacea
5. Blockage of the sebaceous glands.
6. Uncorrected refractive error.

Symptoms of Chalazion

1. Swelling on the eyelid
2. Eyelid tenderness
3. Sensitivity to light
4. Increased tearing
5. Heaviness of the eyelid

Treatment of Chalazion

1. Place warm and wet compresses on the affected eyelid for about 15 minutes. Repeat this procedure several times in a day. 
2. Put some antibiotic drops in the eye. Make sure that you have doctor's prescription for the antibiotic eye drops. 
3. Avoid rubbing or touching the Chalazion, as this could make the Chalazion lump bigger. Make sure that your children also are well advised to do so, in case they have got Chalazion. 
4. Before touching your eyelids wash your hands with soap, so as to avoid any kind of bacterial infection to the eyes. 
5. Your eye doctor might give you steroid injection in the nodule to help resolve it faster.
6. In case of chronic Chalazion, your doctors will advise you to undergo surgery.

Chalazion will take few weeks time to get cured completely. Hence your main duty is to take care that the affected eyelid doesn’t get any other kind of secondary bacterial infection. For this you should try to maintain good hygiene while cleaning your face and eyes. Clean your eyes softly so that the lump doesn't get rubbed. This is not a contagious condition; hence there is no need to worry. If your child has got Chalazion, then assure them that it will go after few weeks. Tell them not to touch the affected eyelid. 

Book an Appointment today for complete eye checkup at Diveeksha Eye Clinic an ISO 9001:2008 certified eye clinic located in Sector- 20, Noida.

Amblyopia

Amblyopia, also known as lazy eye, is an eye disorder characterized by an impaired(decreased) vision in an eye that otherwise appears normal, or out of proportion to associated structural abnormalities of the eye. It has been estimated to affect 1-5% of the population.

In amblyopia, visual stimulation either fails to transmit or is poorly transmitted through the optic nerve to the brain for a continuous period of time. It can also occur when the brain "turns off" the visual processing of one eye to prevent double-vision, for example in strabismus (squint/crossed-eyes). It often occurs during early childhood, resulting in poor or blurry vision. Amblyopia normally affects only one eye in most patients. However, it is possible, though rare, to be amblyopic in both eyes, if both fail to receive clear visual images.

Detecting the condition in early childhood increases the chance of successful treatment, especially if detected before the age of five. The earlier it is detected, and the underlying cause corrected with spectacles or surgery, the more successful the treatment in equalizing vision between the two eyes.

Mechanism of Amblyopia

Amblyopia is a developmental problem in the brain. The part of the brain receiving images from the affected eye is not stimulated properly and does not develop to its full visual potential. The critical period of visual development in humans is up to 2 years of age.

Facts of Amblyopia

If not got detected in its early stage, Amblyopia can cause marked decrease of vision along with decreased depth perception. 

In recent research on this condition, it is been found that it is easier to correct this condition in children than in adults. 

Without doing a complete eye check this condition will never get detected. Infants and pre-school going children should go for complete eye checkup to rule out this condition. 

Symptoms of Amblyopia

Many people with amblyopia, especially those who only have a mild form, are not even aware they have the condition until tested at older ages, since the vision in their stronger eye is normal. However, people who have severe amblyopia may experience related visual disorders, most notably poor depth perception. Amblyopes may suffer from poor spatial acuity, low sensitivity to contrast and some "higher-level" deficits to vision such as reduced sensitivity to motion. These deficits are usually specific to the amblyopic eye. Amblyopes also suffer from problems of  binocular vision such as limited stereoscopic depth perception and usually have difficulty seeing the three-dimensional images in hidden stereoscopic displays such as autostereograms. However, perception of depth from monocular cues such as size, perspective, and motion parallax remains normal.

Types of Amblyopia

Amblyopia has three main causes:

1. Strabismic: by squint/strabismus (misaligned eyes)
2. Refractive: by anisometropia (high degrees of myopia/nearsightedness ,hyperopia/farsightedness, or astigmatism in one or both eyes)
3. Deprivational: by deprivation of vision early in life by vision-obstructing disorders such as congenital cataract 

Treatment of Amblyopia

Treatment of strabismic or anisometropic amblyopia consists of correcting the optical deficit (wearing the necessary spectacle prescription) and often forcing use of the amblyopic eye, either by patching the good eye, or by instilling topical atropine in the good eye.

Eye patching is usually applied on a part-time schedule that is about 4-6 hours a day. Treatment is continued as long as vision improves. It is not worthwhile continuing to patch for more than 6 months if there is no improvement.

Deprivation amblyopia is treated by removing the opacity as soon as possible followed by patching or penalizing the good eye to encourage use of the amblyopic eye. The earlier treatment is initiated, the easier and faster the treatment is and the less psychologically damaging. There is also a greater chance of achieving 20/20 vision if treatment is initiated as early as possible.

Early diagnosis increases the chance for a complete recovery. This is one reason why we recommend that children have a comprehensive eye examination by the age of 6 months and again at age 3. Lazy eye will not go away on its own. If not diagnosed until the pre-teen, teen or adult years, treatment takes longer and is often less effective.

Book an Appointment today for complete eye checkup at Diveeksha Eye Clinic an ISO 9001:2008 certified eye clinic located in Sector- 20, Noida.

How to use eye drops and ointments

How to apply eye drops?

• Wash hands
• Tilt your head back and look at the ceiling
• Gently pull the lower eyelid down until it forms a small pocket, or pouch.
• Squeeze the bottle or the dropper to release a single drop into the eye. Take care not to touch the eye or eyelid with the nozzle of the bottle.
• Release the lower lid and close eyelid for 30 seconds. Dab excess with tissue.

Special precautions:

• In order to keep the eye drops clean: 
• do not allow the nozzle to touch the eye or anything else
• do not allow other people to use your eye drops
• replace the cap of the eye drops immediately after use
• discard the eye drops four weeks after first opening
• If you are using more than one kind of eye drop in the same eye, wait five minutes between drops.
• If you are using both drops & ointment in the same eye, always use the drops first and wait five minutes before applying the ointment.
• If you wear contact lenses, you should stop wearing them for the duration of your treatment unless otherwise directed by your doctor.

How to apply eye ointment?

• Wash hands.
• Tilt head back and look at ceiling.
• Gently pull the lower eyelid down until it forms a small pocket, or pouch.
• Hold the tube parallel to the eye to avoid injury. Squeeze a line of approximately ½ cm (¼ inch) of ointment into the pouch without touching the eye, lid or lashes.
• Release the lower lid and allow to blink. Wipe away the excess ointment with a tissue.

Post operative care after Cataract Surgery

Precautions to be taken after surgery:

1. Use the eye drops and medicines as prescribed by the doctor. 
2. Avoid rubbing or squeezing your eye.

Protection: As advised by your doctor, you may wear the protective eye shield at night for first week. Dark eyeglasses may be worn during the daytime, especially outdoors, to avoid any discomfort that you may have from bright light and also to prevent any injury to eye.

Face wash: For the first few days, avoid splashing water directly into the eye. You may use a clean, soft, wet towel to wipe your face.

Shaving: Shaving of the beard is permitted after the operation.

Bathing: Body bath (below the neck) may be resumed after the first day, but avoids taking a shower or a bath in the bathtub for the first week after surgery.

Head bath: One may wash the hair with the head tilted backwards to avoid any water splashing into the eye.

Games: Normal daily activities including walking, reading and watching television may be resumed soon after the operation. However avoid strenuous activities like jogging, lifting weights, swimming, gardening, aerobics, contact sports etc. for 1-2 months.

Sex: You can resume your sex life a week or two after the operation after consulting your doctor.

Makeup: Avoid eye makeup for 6 weeks.

Diet: There are no dietary restrictions and you may take your routine diet. However, the restrictions as per you pre-existing medical problems, if any, are to continue. Avoid constipation by taking high fiber diet and plenty of fluids. Avoid excessively oily and spicy food.

Driving: Avoid driving unless the surgeon permits you.

Job: You may get back to your job in 1-4 weeks after surgery depending on your profession. Ask your surgeon about this.

Normal symptoms: The following symptoms are normal and are not a cause for alarm. These are slight redness, mild watering, mild irritation, glare and slight drooping of upper eyelid. These will remain to some extent for 6-8 weeks.

Alarming symptoms: In case of any pain, injury, decrease in vision or flashes of light in the operated eye, contact your surgeon immediately.

Procedure for cleaning the eye:

1. The operated eye needs to be cleaned at least twice a day.
2. The attendant performing this task should wash the hands with soap and water and dry them with a clean towel.
3. You may use the disposable tissue supplied at the hospital for this purpose. Alternately you may place cotton in a clean vessel cover it with a lid for 10 minutes, let it cool down, take the cotton out, squeeze the excess water and use the same to clean.
4. Cleaning the lower lid is done by asking the patient to look up and wiping all the secretions sticking to the lower lid margin.
5. Cleaning the upper lid is done by asking the patient to look down and doing similar procedure.
6. Similarly the outer and inner corners of the eye are cleaned.
7. Once the margins and corners are cleaned, the eye drops can be instilled and then the surrounding areas can also be cleaned.

General instructions for instilling medicines in the eye:

1. Always instill drops before ointment.
2. Leave a gap of 5 minutes between two medications.
3. Keep the eye closed for 5 minutes after applying the medication.
4. Once opened the eye drops are discarded after 10 days.
5. Replace the cap of the bottle immediately after use.
6. Make sure that the right drops are being used for the right number of times.
7. If similar medication is advised for both eyes, it is advisable to have separate bottles for the two eyes.
8. Unused eye medication, once opened is discarded and never used for other persons.

General instructions:

1. Do not rub the eyes
2. Do not lift heavy weights
3. Do not allow the eye to get injured- the eye shield is meant to protect the eye from physical hurt.
4. Avoid too many visitors for fear of contacting infection- especially avoids visitors with conjunctivitis, cold etc.
5. Do not play with children since there is possibility of getting hurt in the eye.
6. Do not strain at toilet. If needed please take laxative.
7. Avoid use of snuff.
8. Cigarette smoking should be avoided.
9. Alcoholic beverages are best avoided.
10. Avoid using handkerchief to mop the eye. Use sterile tissue only.

Conjunctivitis - Eye Flu or Pink Eye

What is Conjunctivitis?

Conjunctivitis (also called pink eye) is the most common eye infection. It causes soreness and swelling (inflammation) of the skin that lines the eyelid and the white part of eyeball (the conjunctiva). When small blood vessels in the conjunctiva becomes inflamed, they are more visible. This is what makes the eye appear reddish or pink.

Infectious conjunctivitis can be highly contagious and spread from one eye to the other and all around the family if precautions are not taken.

Types of Conjunctivitis

The four main types of conjunctivitis are:

1. Bacterial conjunctivitis usually infects both eyes and produces a heavy discharge of pus and mucus.
2. Viral conjunctivitis typically begins with one eye and causes lots of tears and a watery discharge.This is probably the most contagious form of pink eye.
3. Allergic conjunctivitis produces tearing, itching and redness in both eyes and sometimes an itchy, runny nose.
4. Giant papillary conjunctivitis is another form of pink eye. It is most frequently associated with the long term use of contact lenses.

Symptoms of Conjunctivitis?

1. Eye redness
2. Something in the eye
3. Drainage from the eye
4. Swollen , red eyelids
5. Itchy or burning eyes
6. Crusty eyelids
7. Lots of tears
8. Sensitivity to light 

What you should not do—Don’ts

1. People with conjunctivitis should avoid public places and handshakes, sharing their clothing, bedding or sunglasses.
2. Do not rub your eyes
3. Temporarily avoid the usage of contact lenses.
4. Do not share your eye drops- it can cause cross contamination.
5. Do not use steroid eye drops or over the counter medicines from the chemist without consulting an ophthalmologist.

What you should do—Do’s

1. Frequent washing of hands with soap and water or sanitizer should be ensured by patient and everybody else around them.
2. Frequent eye wash with cold filter water and cold compresses with ice packs helps in relieving the symptoms.
3. To wipe eyes, use tissue paper and dispose it properly in the dustbin.
4. Wear sunglasses to avoid glare and accidental eye contact with fingers.
5. Antibiotic and anti-inflammatory eye drops to be used as prescribed by the eye specialist preferably have a separate set of eye drops for each eye. 

If you are suffering from Conjunctivitis, Meet our eye specialist today for a free consultation and eye checkup. - Click here Book an appointment now! (it's FREE)