Here is our updated concise summary on foods PROVEN to preserve eyesight (13)

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The two best gifts you ever received - you reopen them every morning. (7)

The two best gifts you ever received - you reopen them every morning. 

So true - and so special ! 

Never take your eyes and vision for granted - be grateful every day, and look after them.

Picture source

Permanent correction of vision, removing the need for spectacles or contact lenses. (22)

What do we want from our vision ?

1. We want to open our eyes each morning and see clearly, at all distances, without spectacles or contact lenses

2. We want to walk around without spectacles or contact lenses.

3. We want to drive without spectacles or contact lenses.

4. We want to read without spectacles or contact lenses.

So the goal is for everyone to see everything clearly at all times and at all distances, without assistance from spectacles or contact lenses.

These days we have lenses that can be implanted permanently into the eye to correct the focus, so that you no longer need spectacles or contact lenses.

The lenses we have available today, for implanting into the eye, are far better than those available even a few years ago. Your lens can be chosen from any of a variety of lenses; for the information on the latest lenses available, please feel free to contact the St. Albans Eye and Vision Clinic on:
Tel: +44 (0)1727 812925
Email: contact@StAlbansMedicalCentre.com
www.StAlbansMedicalCentre.com

The operation is painless and highly effective. It safely and permanently removes the need for spectacles or contact lenses.

So we can now bring near-perfect vision without spectacles or contact lenses, to almost anyone regardless of age or spectacle-prescription.

How does this work ? - read on:

The normal eye that needs no spectacles or contact lenses:

So, in the normal eye, the rays of light from each point on the object being viewed converge to a single point on the retina which is the layer lining the back of the eye which detects the image.

The rays of light from different parts of the object are focussed to different points on the retina so that an image of the object is produced on the retina. In fact the image on the retina is upside down and back to front;
however, because the brain has all our lives "seen" objects upside down and back to front, it appears normal to us and we are able to use the image to interact accurately with our surroundings.

The most common cause of blurred vision is focussing error (= "Refractive error"):

Short-sight:

When people are said to be "short-sighted" (= Myopia) this is almost always because the eye is longer than normal so that the focus of light from objects is in front of the retina so that rays of light from each point on the object are spread over the retina in a "blur circle" which means that the image is blurred:

Long-sight:

When people are said to be "long-sighted" (=Hypermetropia = Hyperopia) this is almost always because the eye is shorter than normal so that the focus of light from objects is (theoretically) behind the retina. This means that, once again, rays of light from each point on the object are spread over the retina in a "blur circle" which means that the image is blurred:

Astigmatism:

Sometimes the focussing problem is not simple myopia or hypermetropia, but rather the transparent window on the front of the eye (the "cornea") is rugby ball shaped instead of the more normal spherical football shape. This is called Astigmatism, and it causes rays of light in different meridia of the image to be focussed at different distances:

Presbyopia (= age-related requirement for reading spectacles):

Even if our vision is clear when young, as we move towards middle-age the natural lens loses its elasticity and the eye becomes unable to see near things clearly without reading spectacles. This is called presbyopia.

Correcting the above refractive errors with spectacles:

All of the above refractive errors (myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism and presbyopia) can be corrected with spectacles or contact lenses. These work by altering the directions of rays of light before they enter the eye, so that after the incorrect focussing mechanism of the eye has finished acting on the light, the rays of light are focussed correctly on the retina.

But, as discussed in the post two days ago, both spectacles and contact lenses cause certain problems and are therefore not ideal.

Lens implants:

The ideal situation is for everyone to see everything clearly at all times and at all distances, from the moment they wake each morning until last thing at night, without assistance from spectacles or contact lenses. The goal is a one-off treatment that will restore spectacle-free near and distance vision for the rest of a person's life.

And we can achieve this by implanting the lens/contact lens into the eye so it stays there permanently.

The operation has been refined over the last twenty years, and at the St Albans Eye and Vision Clinic, U.K. (tel: +44 (0)1727 812925, Email: contact@StAlbansMedicalCentre.com) is undertaken absolutely painlessly in a few minutes, under injection-free local anaesthetic.

Modern lens implants can correct for all the above refractive errors: Myopia, Hypermetropia, Astigmatism, Presbyopia.
Truly back to the vision of a young person, spectacle-free.

Refractive (= focussing) errors, and how spectacles and contact lenses work. (20)

The normal eye that needs no spectacles or contact lenses:

So, in the normal eye, the rays of light from each point on the object being viewed converge to a single point on the retina which is the layer lining the back of the eye which detects the image.

The rays of light from different parts of the object are focussed to different points on the retina so that an image of the object is produced on the retina. In fact the image on the retina is upside down and back to front;
however, because the brain has all our lives "seen" objects upside down and back to front, it appears normal to us and we are able to use the image to interact accurately with our surroundings.

The most common cause of blurred vision is focussing error (= "Refractive error"):

Short-sight:

When people are said to be "short-sighted" (= Myopia) this is almost always because the eye is longer than normal so that the focus of light from objects is in front of the retina so that rays of light from each point on the object are spread over the retina in a "blur circle" which means that the image is blurred:

Long-sight:

When people are said to be "long-sighted" (=Hypermetropia = Hyperopia) this is almost always because the eye is shorter than normal so that the focus of light from objects is (theoretically) behind the retina. This means that, once again, rays of light from each point on the object are spread over the retina in a "blur circle" which means that the image is blurred:

Astigmatism:

Sometimes the focussing problem is not simple myopia or hypermetropia, but rather the transparent window on the front of the eye (the "cornea") is rugby ball shaped instead of the more normal spherical football shape. This is called Astigmatism, and it causes rays of light in different meridia of the image to be focussed at different distances:

Presbyopia (= age-related requirement for reading spectacles):

Even if our vision is clear when young, as we move towards middle-age the natural lens loses its elasticity and the eye becomes unable to see near things clearly without reading spectacles. This is called presbyopia.

Correcting the above refractive errors with spectacles:

All of the above refractive errors (myopia, hypermetropia, astigmatism and presbyopia) can be corrected with spectacles or contact lenses. These work by altering the directions of rays of light before they enter the eye, so that after the incorrect focussing mechanism of the eye has finished acting on the light, the rays of light are focussed correctly on the retina.

So that's OK then ? Not really - both spectacles and contact lenses cause certain problems:

It may be that in a few years' time we'll look back at the concept of spectacles and consider it ridiculous that we perched lenses on our noses to correct the vision. Just a thought.

So neither spectacles nor contact lenses are ideal. The ideal situation is when the eye is focussed as clearly as possible as soon as the eye is opened each morning, without the need for spectacles or contact lenses.

The next post will talk about the ways in which we can correct the focus of the eyes so there is no longer any need for spectacles or contact lenses.

Or for more information contact the St. Albans Medical Centre, U.K. on telephone: +44 (0)1727 812925 or email: Contact@StAlbansMedicalCentre.com

Practice your "inner bat" (18)

This is amazing, and its good to know that there is still hope should we ever lose our eyesight...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22805748

Use your 'inner bat' to navigate

Bats are known for using sound to navigate successfully, and new research suggests we could all use our 'inner bat' to get around.

BBC.CO.UK

Will eating carrots help me to see in the dark ? The myth: Yes The truth: NO (17)

If you eat more carrots, it will NOT improve your vision in any way; despite the abundant myths, this is a fact.

Why do people say it will ? Because carrots contain vitamin A, and because vitamin A is required for vision, people quite reasonably conclude that eating carrots means better vision. But this is one of the long-standing myths that needs de-bunking. So here goes:

The retina is the light-sensitive layer (in the back of the eye) that detects the light and sends the image back to the brain so you can "see". Detection of the image requires production of pigments within the retina, which are made from Retinol (Vitamin A). Vitamin A is made in your liver from Beta carotene which is found in vegetables, especially kale, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, sweet potatoes, carrots. Vitamin A is also of course available already formed in animal products especially, of course, the liver (see above); and it is one of the fat-soluble vitamins so it is also found in oily fish, whole milk, butter and cheese.

But vision requires only a small amount of Vitamin A each day, and our livers store vast amounts of the stuff - so unless you have a very deficient diet for years, such as is very occasionally seen in severe alcoholics, you will have plenty of Vitamin A on board with no risk of Vitamin A related vision deficit. Extra vitamin A in the diet is no advantage to vision.

That said, beta carotene is one of the anti-oxidant substances that protect all of our body cells against the oxidative stresses of daily life. So it's a good addition to our diet for general health reasons.

In developing countries the situation is very different - prolonged nutritionally deficient diets there cause many health problems which, for Vitamin A deficiency include:
Impaired vision in dim light (= "night-blindness")
Dry eyes; can be so severe that the cornea (the clear window on the front of the eye) becomes opaque
Increased susceptibility to skin damage from sun
In children: reduced growth, restricted bone development
Increased susceptibility to infection

In developing countries, a carrot a day would be a fantastic improvement to their diet.
In developed countries, a carrot a day would be general good dietary advice, but not for reason of vision.

Too many carrots (more than about one large carrot per day) causes carotenaemia - not a big health risk, but it makes your skin yellow !

The blog you're reading now is the place to come for proven facts on how to care for your eyes and your vision, so they last your lifetime - which is essential. (8)

If you want proven facts about how best to care for your eyes and vision, together with references to the scientific evidence underpinning those facts so you can have confidence that the steps you're going to take are going to work, this blog you're looking at now is the place to come.

Scroll up and down, use the search facility top left, and click some of the links to view information presented by other eye and vision professionals who are doing the same thing - bringing evidence-based useful information to you.

We and our doctors will keep on searching, sifting the evidence-based facts from the ocean of hearsay myth out there, and we'll bring you the proven information in readily digestible form so you can use it to care for your eyes and your vision.

That's our mission.

To good vision - for life - for everyone.

The Eye Care and Vision Team
St. Albans Medical Centre
St. Albans, U.K.

Tel: + 44 (0)1727 812925
Email: Contact@StAlbansMedicalCentre.com

A new source of reliable, evidence-based information on how to look after your eyes and vision so they can last your lifetime. (6)

This is the latest version of the new and updated blog from the Eye Care and Vision department of St. Albans Medical Centre, St. Albans, UK.


We post here only proven information, with references to the supporting evidence, so that you can rely on it when choosing how to care for your eyes and vision. Actually PROVEN information is relatively scarce, so we don't post often - but what we do post is proven fact that you can rely on to look after your eyes and your vision for life.


Your vision is arguably your most important asset. Most people would prefer to lose anything rather than lose their eyesight.


We are living longer, so it is important to do the things that we know prolong the life of our eyes and our vision.


This is the stuff we teach our patients every day - we want you to benefit too!


ENTER YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS above for our regular FREE posts and emails, with all the authoritative supporting evidence, each time we present a reliable proven fact concerning how to care for your eyes and vision. Stay informed - you owe it to your eyes, to your family, and to yourself.

Eyelid lumps caused by Blepharitis (4)

In the last few posts on this blog, we've been discussing Blepharitis, the most common cause of irritating eyes. Now to complete the subject of blepharitis, we'll just cover the best ways to treat the two most common types of eyelid lumps, both of which are caused by Blepharitis. Most people will suffer one or more of these at some time or other, and knowing how to treat them, and how important it is to commence treatment the day they appear, is key to resolving them promptly and successfully.

Chalazion (= Meibomian Cyst) (= Internal Hordeolum)

These are accumulations of oil within the larger oil-producing glands of the eyelids:

 You can distinguish these from styes (see below) by their position further away from the lid margin - higher in the upper lids and lower in the lower lids.

To treat these cysts, warm compresses (part of the treatment for Blepharitis) are the most important thing - what you're trying to do is to melt the oils that are blocking the meibomian gland ducts and preventing the produced oil from leaving the gland. You need 10 - 30 minutes of very warm compresses on the chalazion, several times per day if you are to have any chance of getting rid of it without an operation; this is actually quite difficult to achieve with hot wet flannels - the flannels cool too quickly, and water gets everywhere especially if you try to lie down for the 10 minutes which is the most comfortable way to do this treatment. A more convenient way to do this heat treatment is to purchase one of the commercially available heat pads that you microwave for approx. 30 seconds and then apply to the eyes using an elastic strap round the head - you can then sit or lie back and allow the heat to do its work.
After each heat treatment, massage gently downward from above the chalazion toward the lid margin; this will encourage movement of the liquefied oil out of the gland.

If all the above fails to make any headway in shrinking and resolving the chalazion, then an eye specialist can do a small operation to remove it - it's not very traumatic surgery, but it's still worth giving the above non-surgical treatments a good try first ! But if you do need to have one removed, St. Albans Medical Centre has a painless, 2-minute method of removing any lumps on or around the eyelids - click HERE for their website.

Stye (= External Hordeolum)

These are small infections within the tiny oil-producing glands on the lid margin.

In much the same way as chalazia (see above), they're caused by blockage of the gland ducts by solidifying oils, thereby blocking the exit of oil from the gland and causing the oil to accumulate within the gland. So once again treatment involves warm pads to melt the oils, followed by massage from above the lump, toward the lid margin. However, because the glands involved in Styes open out into the hair follicles rather than onto the skin surface, it is possible to facilitate emptying of the gland by pulling out the appropriate eye lash. However, you should then continue to treat the blepharitis with warmth, massage and cleaning (see post below on how to control your blepharitis).

For both Chalazia and Styes

One of the most important factors to bear in mind is to start treating a chalazia/stye as soon as it begins to appear i.e. within a day or two; at this very early stage the lump just contains liquid oil/pus, and can drain quite easily with hot compresses and massage. If they are left for weeks or months, then a solid granulomatous component appears within the gland, making them much more difficult, or impossible, to empty completely.













Pictures courteusy of Medicinenet.com, with thanks. You can visit their excellent site by clicking here

Most people have at least some Blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelid margins) - here's why you must treat it ! (2)

Most people's blepharitis is just a mild irritation - an occasional itch on the eyelids, overcome by a quick rub or scratch. They look in the mirror and think "Oh, my eyes look a bit tired". Generally it will look no worse than this:

- just moderate redness of the lid margins, with perhaps some flaking.

Nevertheless, scarring deep within the lid margin is occurring even in these relatively mild cases, eventually causing the lid margin to "notch" and the eyelashes to twist and turn in abnormal directions - after years of this the lashes can begin to rub against the eye -

and this is when the situation has become really serious - eyelashes rubbing against the eye causes scarring of the cornea which is the normally transparent window on the front of the eye that needs to be absolutely clear for you to see clearly.
It takes many years for blepharitis to cause this serious situation - but we're all living longer, so we need to be caring for our eyes and vision in the expectation that we have many years to live; you don't want to spend the last years of your life coping with health problems that could have been avoided with a bit of care earlier in life.

So, blepharitis needs to be taken seriously, even if it's relatively mild - in its early stages is when treatment is easiest and most effective - and that way you will avoid the above problems in future.

In the next post, we'll present the different ways of treating blepharitis, the treatment methods we know are best and, as always, the evidence that supports what we're saying.

If you have long-term itchy, uncomfortable eyes/eyelids, the most likely cause is Blepharitis. (1)

The most common reason for people to have long-term itchy or slightly uncomfortable eyes is inflammation in the skin around the bases of the eyelashes i.e. at the lid margins, and is called Blepharitis.

Blepharitis is not usually due to tissue infection, but rather is due to inflammation only. However, organisms (usually bacteria or yeasts) on the skin surface do play a part in causing the inflammation.

It can develop at any age, and symptoms can include:

• itchy, sore and red eyelids that stick together
  
• crusty or greasy eyelashes
• a burning, gritty sensation in your eyes
• increased sensitivity to light (photophobia)
• swollen eyelid margins
• finding contact lenses uncomfortable to wear
• abnormal eyelash growth or loss of eyelashes in severe cases

In most cases both eyes are affected, but one eye can be more affected than the other. The symptoms tend to be worse in the morning.

Blepharitis is usually a long-term condition. Most people experience repeated episodes, separated by periods with reduced symptoms.

Blepharitis isn't contagious.

What causes blepharitis?

Blepharitis is usually an interaction between oils produced by the eyelid glands and the bacteria/yeasts that live on the glands. Occasionally an aggressive bacterium (Staphylococcus Aureus) is a significant part of the cause, and in these cases a few days of treatment with antibiotic (ointment rubbed into the lashes twice per day) is very helpful.

Blepharitis can be divided into three types: Anterior, posterior, and mixed (anterior and posterior). The subdivision into these three types is not clinically very useful because 

i) the mixed type is by far the most common, and

ii) the treatments outlined above are used effectively for all three types.

Sometimes blockages in the Meibomian glands are associated with a skin condition called rosacea. If too much oily substance is being produced, this may be caused by seborrhoeic dermatitis which commonly affects other areas of the body (e.g. the face and/or scalp) and many people with itchy eyelids due to blepharitis also have itchy, flaky ("dandruff") scalp.

When to get medical advice

See your high-street optician (optometrist) or an eye specialist if you have persistent symptoms of blepharitis that aren't being controlled by simple eyelid hygiene measures.

If you have severe symptoms (for example severe redness or lid swelling), contact your optometrist or GP immediately. If this isn't possible, visit your nearest accident and emergency (A&E) department.

How blepharitis is treated

A tendency to blepharitis can't be cured, but the condition can be completely controlled - it's exactly the same idea as washing your hair regularly to prevent itching and inflammation of your scalp, and a daily eyelid-cleaning routine can help control the symptoms and prevent permanent scarring of the eyelid margins.

There are three main steps to eyelid hygiene that should be performed, morning and evening to start with, and then most people find that about three times per week is enough to keep control of it: 

• using a warm compress – to make the oil produced by the glands around your eyes more liquid so it can flow out of the glands instead of blocking them. Heat pads that can be warmed in the microwave and rested on your closed eyelids have been proven to be very effective in reducing/removing symptoms and preventing long-term complications of blepharitis.
• gently massaging your eyelids – to push the oils out of the glands
• cleaning your eyelids – to wipe away any excess oil and remove any crusts, bacteria, dust or grime that might have built up

More severe cases may require antibiotics that are either applied to the eye or eyelid directly, or taken as tablets.

Complications

Blepharitis isn't usually serious, although it can lead to a number of further problems.

In the next post (above) we'll begin to look at the more serious problems that can occur if blepharitis remains untreated for years, and therefore why the relatively simple treatments outlined above should be commenced whilst the condition is mild - if you have irritating eyes, don't put up with it - get it sorted.

How is the name "Blepharitis" derived ?

Inflammation is the response of the body to noxious stimulus (chemical/injury/infection).

The Greek word for eyelid is "blephar" and the suffix "-itis" (again from Greek) is appended (as it is to the name of any body structure) to indicate inflammation. 

Authoritative government source: 

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Blepharitis/Pages/Introduction.aspx