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there are serious viral infections like a
cold sore virus in the eye called herpes
simplex keratitis that can cause ulcers
and scarring on your cornea.
Shingles or herpes zoster infection
may occur in the distribution of the
nerve supplying the skin near your eye
and can affect the eye seriously. It is
caused by a reactivation of the chicken
pox virus that you picked up as a kid
which then lives in your nervous system
for your entire life. It can be extremely
painful. So, if you get pain near the eye
followed by blisters in the same area, go
and see your doctor pronto.
The conjunctiva can also be affected
by allergies which cause the eyes to be
very itchy, red and watery. This is termed
allergic conjunctivitis and can settle with
an antihistamine tablet and/or some
anti-allergy drops from the chemist. It is
the eye’s version of hayfever and any of
the common allergens such as grasses,
pollens and dust mite can be implicated.
The wateriness comes from the eyes’
unique watering system that continually
flushes the front of the eye including
the cornea with fluid or tears in order to
remove microscopic grit, grime and bugs
hitting the eye from the environment.
In some people, as they get older, this
mechanism dries up and they end up with
dry, gritty irritated eyes all the time. This
is called dry eyes syndrome. Fortunately
there are myriad drops available for this,
effectively replacing your normal tears
with artificial ones.
Ectropion is another common lid
problem that occurs as we get older.
It comes into play when the lower lid
starts to sag, like everything else, and
eventually everts itself. This disrupts the
normal flow of tears and they continually
drip down and over the everted lid which
looks angry and red. The lid requires a bit
of a tummy tuck to tighten it up and fix
the problem.
Trauma to the eye is not uncommon
and thankfully one of the serious
mechanisms, a squash ball in the eye,
has been lessened with the advent of
wearing protective glasses when playing.
Any direct blow to the eye should be
checked out as the eye is quite a soft and
intricate organ and serious things such
as burst blood vessels inside the eye or a
detached retina can be quite damaging.
Scratches to the cornea are quite
common, particularly from sport or
when blokes are out gardening. Getting
something like a piece of grit in the eye
on a windy day generally needs to be
looked at as the foreign body can get
stuck under the lid and be difficult to get
out or it may even embed itself in the
front of the eye in the cornea. Numbing
(anaesthetic) eye drops and a deft hand
are generally needed to remove these
and in most instances your GP can do it
or if difficult to find or remove, refer you
to an eye specialist (ophthalmologist).
A word of warning though: do not grind
metal without safety goggles as bits of
metal at high velocity flying up into the
eye are very common and can be very
difficult to remove.
Probably the scariest presentation
with the least importance is when I see
blokes who come in, or more than likely
pushed in by their partner, because the
white of the eye has suddenly turned
blood red due to a burst blood vessel.
It looks quite dramatic and scary and in
most cases there is no obvious cause.
It may happen if the person strains
excessively or even coughs or sneezes
violently. It is not a bad idea to get your
blood pressure checked and if recurrent,
a blood test to check your blood counts
and clotting system. It will gradually
dissolve like a bruise over a week and
doesn’t damage the eye or vision.
Vision is the prime role of our eyes
and problems with vision can certainly
indicate serious underlying issues. Any
change in vision should be checked out
by your GP or optometrist if you have
one. Sudden loss of vision in one eye for
a variable length of time may be due to
a mini stroke caused by a clot going
to the back of the eye. Clots are more
prevalent if you have medical conditions
such as diabetes, high blood pressure,
high cholesterol or if you are a smoker.
Get it checked, even if it is transient and
goes away.
As we get older our vision may
deteriorate due to problems with the
lens. This mainly occurs due to changes
in the shape of the lens which make
it difficult to bend the light to exactly
where it is needed onto the screen or
retina at the back of the eye. This can
be corrected by the wearing of glasses
which has the correct lens to compensate
for the deficiency in the natural lens. I
am very much aware of this as I wear
glasses for both distant and near vision,
the latter being noted when I gradually
had to hold the newspaper further and
further away to read it until my arms
weren’t long enough. This is a condition
called presbyopia and generally starts
in the forties as the lens starts to stiffen
and the little muscles that can alter the
shape of the lens aren’t strong enough to
do the increased work required. Thus it
was reading glasses for me as well.
The other very common condition
affecting the lens is cataract formation.
Normally the lens is clear like glass but
for various reasons the lens starts to
develop a foggy or cloudiness within it.
The vision may gradually deteriorate and
blur and there may be sensitivity to light.
Cataracts tend to run in families and are
Conjunctivitis occurs particularly when people have
coughs and colds or when people around them cough
and splutter all over them.
BY
DR BERNIE
CRIMMINS