Eyes & vision
If you are concerned about your child not seeing well, it is time to figure out what and when you should do to reassure yourself (or a concerned grandma). First of all, talk to your pediatrician. While they are not eye doctors, pediatric doctors know enough about vision and eyes to do the initial check.
Farsightedness is an eye vision condition meaning a person can see better in a far, and has low vision near. Hyperopia is a professional medical term for farsightedness, and means a refractive error is interfering with visual acuity.
Optic neuritis is an inflammation of the optic nerve. As optic neuritis affects the ability to see, it is most frequently called an ophthalmology problem. Indeed, when an optic nerve is involved, it is almost always a symptom of the systemic disease. Optic neuritis can be most often seen as a complication of a multiple sclerosis. An eye doctor needs to get involved to manage the vision and inflammation of the optic disc. A neuro-ophthalmologist is a specialist who treats optic neuritis. The main symptom is sudden vision loss and pain in one eye that is worse with eye movement.
Keratopathy is a medical term describing abnormal changes of the cornea – a protective smooth layer covering the eye inside the eyelids. There are multiple problems and diseases that can cause keratopathy. They are divided by ophthalmologists into types based on mechanism causing it.
Keratitis is an inflammation of the cornea. This eye condition is diagnosed when certain signs are found on the eye exam: corneal swelling (edema), infiltration of inflammatory cells, and ciliary congestion.
Iridocyclitis is an ophthalmology term that means that certain internal structures of the eye are inflamed. Iridocyclitis is a part of uveitis, another medical term describing the inflammation of the inner portion around the iris but behind cornea.
Lagophthalmos describes the incomplete or abnormal closure of the eyelids. A full eyelid closure with a normal blink reflex is necessary for the maintenance of a stable tear film and healthy ocular surface.
Hypertensive retinopathy is the term that is used to describe the eye changes that happen in people who have high blood pressure. Hypertension is the name of the condition when the blood pressure is higher than normal for a prolonged period of time. It has profound effects on various parts of the eye, and in particular on the retina (the part of the sensitive inner eye lining that is responsible for vision).
Dacryocystitis is also known as blocked tear duct. Dacryocystitis is an infection in the tear duct/sac – a passage canal which connects the eye to the nasal cavity inside the facial bone. The inflammation is due to an obstruction in the duct when the flow of the tears in the lacrimal sac is affected.
Retinal dystrophy is a disease which is genetic (past-down) and depending on the type of photoreceptor affected there are different groups it can fall into. There are rod and cone photoreceptors which are the primary cell units that convert light energy into an image recognized in the brain due to the retina
Iritis is a term describing inflammation of the eye structures surrounding iris. Iritis is used interchangeably with another condition called anterior uveitis. Uveitis is more involved inflammation of the eye that can affect the optic nerve, sclera, and retina. In a way, this terminology is important to the ophthalmologists to describe the segments of the eye that are inflamed.
Farsightedness is the common term for a vision condition when children cannot see near object well. In a way, this is a very simplistic explanation of an eye refraction error. Let’s explore it better.
Anisometropia occurs when eyes have unequal focusing because two eyes have different refractive power. The word comes from two Latin words – aniso = different and metropia = measure. This typically occurs because there is asymmetry present in the eyes. The difference between the eyes usually causes blurry vision and viewing of objects unequally. For example, in one eye an object may appear smaller than it appears in the other eye. The general vision in unequal and disproportionate in some structural fashion. Although this condition can be present at birth, it is often not diagnosed until sometime during childhood.
Age-related macular degeneration is a common, chronic, progressive degenerative disorder of the macula that affects older individuals and features loss of central vision as a result of abnormalities in the photoreceptor/retinal pigment epithelium/Bruch’s membrane/choroidal complex often resulting in geographic atrophy and/or neovascularization.
Asthenopia is defined as fatigue, or overtiring of the eyes, and commonly known as eyestrain which can be caused by overuse of the eye structures (in particular – muscles). Often asthenopia is not a serious condition and can resolve by resting the eyes. Why are we even talking about it? Because with the development of our world into an electronics-driven society we are facing new problems with our body.
Albinism, from the Latin albus, meaning “white,” is a group of genetic conditions when decreased or absent melanin in the skin, hair, and eyes produces characteristic pale appearance.