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What is Amblyopia (Lazy Eye)?

What is Amblyopia?

Amblyopia, also called lazy eye, is an eye condition that arises due to abnormal development of the vision from a young age. It happens when the brain only learns to see blurred images on the weaker eye causing it to only process inputs from the stronger eye. Consequently, the nerve pathways between the brain and the weaker eye are not properly stimulated, resulting in deterioration of vision that can no longer get corrected with glasses. In some cases, both eyes may be amblyopic. It happens when both eyes are deprived of clear vision for a significant period, the brain no longer “recognizes” what clear vision is.

Amblyopia starts in childhood (<3 years old to 15 years old), when detected early and promptly treated, permanently reduced vision is avoidable. However, if left untreated, amblyopia can cause severe visual impairment in the affected eye, leading to blindness.

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Common symptoms of Amblyopia

Problems with depth perception (Have trouble gauging distance between objects)
Squinting or shutting one eye when focusing
Abnormal head posture/ tilt
Bumping into things on one side often

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What eye conditions may lead to amblyopia?

Refractive errors (Long-sightedness, Short-sightedness, and Astigmatism) When the brain gets a blurry image on one eye and a clear image on the other eye, it starts to ignore the blurry one. It resulted in a halt in the visual development of the poorer eye.
Strabismus. When the eyes do not line up (one eye turns in/ out), it is hard to fuse images from both eyes into a single image, causing double vision. To avoid seeing double, the brain will shut off the image from the misaligned eye.
Cataracts. A cloudy lens inside the eye causes blurry vision, leading the brain to favor the better eye.
Ptosis. A droopy eyelid can block your vision. It can lead to the deprivation of clear vision and halt visual development in both eyes.

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Why is it important to detect Amblyopia early?

Amblyopia is a preventable cause of Pediatric Low Vision, it is also treatable when detected early with the help of patching or prescription of glasses. When left untreated, their vision will be blurry even with the aid of spectacle, they might even develop strabismus. By doing a regular eye check with your optometrist, they can make sure your child sees clearly in each eye and assess the risk of the possibility of the development of Amblyopia.

Concern about your child’s eye health? Call us at 6533 0095 to book an appointment now! To find out more about our services, do visit our website at http://www.eyecare247.co/

Eye Care, Surgeries

What is Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD)?

Common Age-related Diseases – AMD

What is Age-related Macular Degeneration?

Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD) is a common eye disease that results in blurry, distorted or loss of central vision in one or both eyes due to the deterioration of the Macula. The macula is the part of the retina responsible for clear central vision.

Types of Age-related Macular Degeneration?

Age-related Macular Degeneration is common among people over 50 year old, and they exist in two forms: Dry AMD and Wet AMD. Approximately 90% of AMD patients have the dry form, which is less severe.

Dry AMD (also known as non-exudative AMD) happens due to accumulation of protein deposits in the macula causing the retinal cells above to lose their function. Most patients with dry AMD will not notice any symptoms at the early stage as the progression is very gradual and takes months to years before noticing the changes in their vision, thus regular eye check is important.

As AMD progresses over time, your vision may worsen and affect your ability to do things such as read, drive and recognize faces. 10-15% of patients with dry AMD progress to Wet AMD.

Wet AMD (also called exudative AMD) is a more sight-threatening eye condition and accounts for ~10% of AMD cases.

Wet AMD was caused by abnormal blood vessels in the retina. These blood vessels are leaky and will cause leakage of fluids or blood into the back of the eye.

Patients with wet AMD will experience more significant vision loss as compared to those diagnosed with dry AMD. Unlike Dry AMD, Wet AMD usually happens suddenly and worsen quickly, symptoms could go from blurry vision to central vision loss in a couple of days.

Risk Factors of AMD

Here are some factors that may increase your risk of getting macular degeneration:

Age – People of 50 Years old and above
Race – Caucasians are more likely to get AMD compare to other races
Smoking – People who smokes are two times more likely to have AMD compared to non-smokers
Family History – If your parents/ siblings have AMD, you are likely to have it too

Symptoms of AMD

Distorted vision, lines appears wavy instead of straight
Hazy vision
Colors appeared less vibrant
Deteriorated vision in one or both eyes
Well-define blurry zone in your central vision
Sudden onset and rapid worsening of symptoms mentioned above

You may still have early-stage Age-related Macular Degeneration despite not experiencing any of the above symptoms, a comprehensive eye examination with an optometrist or ophthalmologist is necessary to check if you have this condition.

Call us at 6533 0095 to book an appointment now! To find out more about our services, do visit our website at http://www.eyecare247.co/

Lenses

What is blue light and why does it matter?

Blue light lenses

Blue light is visible light with wave length between 380-500nm. The light is perceived as blue in colour but can also be present in light perceived as white or other colours. We are exposed to blue light on a daily basis as it comes from many sources. The biggest emitter of blue light is the sun. Other sources include the LEDs which we can find in our smartphones, computers and televisions.

Exposure to blue light has been shown to improve mood and alertness. On the other hand, prolonged exposure, especially during night time will affect our sleep. There is no evidence that suggests that blue light has harmful effects on our eyes.

Today, our society is becoming more digitally inclined. Most of us are exposed to computers and mobile phones on a daily basis. Blue light lenses have made its way into the market as a method to reduce the amount of blue light we are exposed to.

The lenses help to reduce eyestrain as well as headaches from staring at our devices for long periods of time. They work by using a special coating that absorbs and blocks certain amount of blue light from entering our eyes.

To know more about choosing the perfect blue light lenses for you, reach out to us on WhatsApp or pop by any one of our stores to find out more.

Eye Care, Surgeries, Vision

What is a cataract?

Common Age-related Diseases – Cataract

What is a cataract?

A cataract is the clouding of the transparent lens in our eyes. The lens in our eyes is made of mostly water and protein, and its function is to help focus light on the retina, allowing us to see. However, as we age, some of these proteins may clump up resulting in the clouding of the lens, forming a cataract. As time goes by, the cataract gets denser resulting in visual disturbance which eventually leads to blindness if no intervention was done.

How do I know if I have Cataract?

A common misconception of Cataract is that many of us think that we only have cataracts when our eye turns whitish on the inside, however, more often than not Cataracts are not obvious to the naked eye and require eye checks done by an optometrist or ophthalmologist to pick them up. If you are over 60 years old, you probably already have them. In fact, you can get age-related cataracts as early as 40 years old.

Apart from the misconception mentioned above, one main reason why people do not notice it when they have Cataracts is that Cataracts typically form gradually, the build-up of cataracts is so slow that most people do not realize that their vision deteriorates until it starts to affect their daily lifestyle.

Some symptoms of cataracts include:

Blurry or cloudy vision
Poor vision in low lighting conditions
The colours appear to be less vibrant
Increased sensitivity to glare
Double vision in the “ cataract” eye
Problems with near work, e.g Reading
Requires more frequent change in prescription.

How can I prevent myself from getting Cataracts?

Similar to Presbyopia (Lao Hua), having Cataracts are inevitable, but some tips to slow down the progression of Cataracts are:

protect your eyes from Ultraviolet B rays by wearing sunglasses outdoors
eat fruits and vegetables that contain antioxidants
keep diabetes and other medical conditions in check

Want to know if you have cataracts or any other age-related eye diseases? Call us at 6533 0095 to book an appointment now! To find out more about our services, do visit our website at http://www.eyecare247.co/

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