Archives for 2007

Do you suffer from an eye related disorder? If you don’t, more than likely someone that you know and love already does.

Whether it be the development and or worsening of near sightedness or far sightedness; or more serious conditions that develop due possibly to genetics, health disorders like diabetes, or even those caused by medications that we must take for other disorders, there’s a good chance that many of us will suffer the affects of the aging eye.

I wanted to take a moment to tell you about an excellent resource called The Eye Digest. The Eye Digest is a publication created by the University of Illinois Eye & Ear Infirmary and it contains a wealth of information about the effects of the aging eye and serious disorders that many affect your vision as you age.

I can honestly say that I believe this is an excellent resource for those that would like to learn more about vision, symptoms of vision disorders, eye care and the diseases that affect the eye. As a nurse, I am confident that the information provided on the Eye Digest is accurate.

Vision Basics

All of the articles that you’ll find within the Eye Digest are in depth, well researched articles. Along with full discussions of major eye disorders, you’ll see that there’s a section called Vision Basics where you’ll find information that discusses vision myths, nutrition and vision, flashes and floaters, 20/20 vision, the eye and medications that you might take and many other basic vision related data.

One of my favorite articles in the Vision Basics section is one that’s called “Did you ever wonder …” which contains answers to questions such as “why do I see spots after looking at a bright light?”, “why your nose runs when you cry”, “twitching eyelids” and many other interesting questions and answers about things that affect our eyes or vision on a regular basis.

Age Related Eye Diseases

As I started this article by saying, there are a number of serious aging eye related disorders that may affect us or our loved ones as we age. Here’s just a few facts from the front page of the Eye Digest:

The leading causes of vision impairment and blindness in the US are primarily age related eye diseases. Cataract affects nearly 20.5 million Americans age 65 and older. About 2.2 million Americans have been diagnosed with glaucoma, and another two million do not know they have it. More than 1.6 million Americans over age 60 have advanced macular degeneration. Diabetic retinopathy affects more than 5.3 million Americans age 18 and older. The number of Americans with age-related eye disease is expected to double within the next three decades.

Heredity, aging and diseases that affect the eye

My mother actually suffered from Macular Degeneration. She was lucky in that she never fully lost her vision, but she did lose quite a bit of her vision and it made life quite difficult for her in her later years. She also had late onset diabetes which added to her vision problems.

Eye disorders seem to run in my family. My mother was near sighted and my father was far sighted. Both of their vision disorders worsened as they aged, and my mothers vision problems were compounded by the onset of diabetes and macular degeneration. My siblings and I all have vision problems as well. There’s five of us and four have near sightedness and one is far sighted. I wouldn’t doubt that many of you reading this also have a family history of eye disorders.

I have Crohn’s disease which is an autoimmune disorder that also goes by the name of inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn’s can affect the eye in a number of ways, for most, it’s the medications that they take that cause eye problems – such as dry eye and glaucoma. Unfortunately I’ve had a form of iritis develop as a result of my Crohn’s disease. Iritis and Uveitis are one of the few eye disorders that do not seem to be discussed in depth, from a disease perspective rather than a medication related perspective, on the wonderful aging eye digest.

Considering that my family has a history of eye disorders, and that I have my own particular eye related problems, it’s in my best interest to learn more about eye disorders that might affect me as I age. It’s probably in your best interest to learn more about the aging eye, vision disorder symptoms and any preventative measures that you can take to protect and preserve your eyes health as you age too.

Age Related Eye Diseases

The Eye Digest has some of the most in depth information that I’ve found on the most common and often most serious vision problems that can affect people as they age. Large sections of the digest are devoted to providing informative articles on disorders such as Dry Eye, Cataract, Glaucoma, and one disorder that I worry might affect me later in life since my mother had it – macular degeneration, which can start out by causing a blurring or darkening of a persons central vision.

All of the articles and sections on these major eye disorders are accompanied by diagrams, charts and in some cases video. Each disorder discussed on the Eye Digest has a section which discusses the disorder, and others sections that discuss the symptoms of the disorder, eye exams which help diagnose the disorder and possibly prevent permanent vision problems if the particular disorder is caught early (glaucoma), medical and surgical treatments (if available), and new developments in the treatment and diagnosis of these disorders.

Additional information and resources

Along with major eye disorders the Eye Digest also discusses a number of other problems that affect the aging eye, and has a section on low vision and visual aids, aging eye answers, as well as links to other eye and vision related sites.

You’ll also find information on LASIK treatment too. Lasik is becoming a viable and more commonly used treatment for some vision problems, especially myopia (near sightedness).

In Conclusion

As you’ve likely guessed by now, I think this is an important topic as many of the diseases and disorders of the eye discussed on the Eye Digest could affect us or those whom we love as we age. If you are concerned about any vision related symptoms that you might be having, or know someone who has vision problems I strongly suggest that you visit and bookmark this site.

Please let others know about the eye digest if you feel that the information and articles on the site might help them.