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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