Each year over the holiday, Thousands of adults and children are seriously injured as a result of fireworks and pyrotechnic devices. Many burns and injuries affect eyesight, permanently damaging and in some cases blinding the victims. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 20-25% of all fireworks related injuries involve the eyes.
Believe it or not, sparklers are the highest cause of fireworks injuries for children under five requiring trips to the emergency room. Another surprising fact is that 1/2 of the fireworks related injuries are to the bystanders. Be safe and attend a professional fireworks display in your area. More information and a list of fireworks displays in the Northeast Tarrant County is available.
Categories: Eye Care · Vision
Tagged: announcement, fireworks, safety
We are frequently asked to explain how glaucoma causes blindness. Glaucomatous damage to the eye is caused when the pressure within the eye is greater than the optic nerve can tolerate. How does the pressure cause blindess? The simple answer is we don’t know exactly, however there are two main theories as to why the damage occurs. Neither theory fully explains how the optic nerve damage occurs in the different types of glaucoma.
The Vascular Theory of Glaucoma
The premise of the vascular theory is that high pressure inside the eye restricts blood flow to the optic nerve causing the optic nerve to slowly die from lack of oxygen and nutrients.
The Mechanical Theory of Glaucoma
Physical damage is the underlying hypothesis of the mechanical theory of glaucoma. It is thought that the high pressure damages the optic nerve fibers.
So Which One Is It?
That’s a good question the leading researchers can make a convincing case for both theories and neither theory, by itself can completely explain how glaucoma damages the eye. In reality both probably play a role in how an eye is damaged by glaucoma.
Categories: FAQ · Glaucoma · Optic Nerve
Tagged: blindness, blood pressure, Glaucoma, hypertension, Optic Nerve
I have mentioned to many of our dry eye patients that a cream with testosterone was being researched and would give us another avenue of relief for our patients. Argentis has licensed a testosterone-progesterone therapy for dry eye syndrome. Argentis is licensing this compound from the Southern College of Optometry. I expect this compound to be very helpful for patients with dry eyes and look forward to prescribing it for our patients. It is not available for us to prescribe yet, however we will update this entry as soon as it is.
Categories: Cornea · dry eye syndrome
Tagged: dry eye syndrome, eye, keratitis sicca, Vision
