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60 E L EC TR I C AL CONNEC T I ON

AU T UMN 20 1 7

THE EYES HAVE IT

I

looked at Bruce, eye to eye.

“You have to stop doing it Bruce or

you’ll go blind!”

“I know Bernie, my old man told

me that when I was a little tacker,

and he wasn’t referring to smoking,”

Bruce replied.

Bruce suffered from diabetes,

high blood pressure and an elevated

cholesterol level which were all being

controlled by various pills... but he had

gone back to smoking. I had his latest

report from his eye specialist in front of

me and it wasn’t a good read. He had a

moderate degree of eye damage caused

by the effects of his diabetes called

diabetic retinopathy. The cigarettes

certainly weren’t helping the condition.

When vision is lost for various medical

reasons it is very difficult to get it back

so prevention is important. And vision is

such a cherished sense.

THEANATOMYOF THE EYE

Basically the eye is a glorified camera.

Light passes through the front glass or

cornea. The shutter is called the iris and it

allows variable amounts of light through

to the lens that then focuses the light to

the screen or retina at the back of the

eye, especially to a small area called the

macula. The macula has a concentrated

number of nerve cells present which

passes the information to the brain via

the optic nerve.

What conditions do I see as a GP

relating to the eyes? Probably the

commonest would be infections. The

thin covering of the eye is called the

conjunctiva and various bugs such

as viruses and bacteria can go splat

against it and cause an infection

called conjunctivitis.

Conjunctivitis occurs particularly

when people have coughs and colds or

when people around them cough and

splutter all over them. The eyes get sore

and gunky (discharge) especially in the

morning and it may be hard to open

them when you wake up as the lids stick

together. Cleaning with some warm salty

water may help but antibiotic drops or

ointment may be required. It is a good

idea to go and get the eyes checked as

VISION CAN SO OFTEN BE TAKEN

FOR GRANTED BUT AS

DR

BERNIE CRIMMINS

EXPLAINS, IT

DEFINITELY SHOULDN’T BE.

BLOKE’S HEALTH