July is Ultraviolet Safety Month, a crucial time to raise awareness about the dangers of UV rays and the importance of protecting our eyes and skin. Ultraviolet radiation, a type of energy produced by the sun, can have serious health implications if proper precautions are not taken. Why is UV safety important? What are the sources of ultraviolet radiation? How can you keep yourself and your loved ones safe from the harmful effects of UV rays? Continue reading “Ultraviolet Light Linked to Eye Disease and Skin Damage: UV Safety”
Category: Pterygium
Your Eyelids: Styes, Blepharitis, and more.
Natural Treatments for the Eyelid
For mild cases of chalazion, styes, pterygium, and blepharitis, the following are ways to naturally treat these conditions. If these issues are persistent or affecting your vision, be sure to get seen by your eye doctor.
Note that our EyeEase Formula 2 fl oz is back in stock.
Stye
A stye is a red, painful lump near the edge of your eyelid that may look like a boil or a pimple with a white dot in the center. They are the result of a bacterial infection, often a staph infection. They’re very common and most people have one at some time. Continue reading “Your Eyelids: Styes, Blepharitis, and more.”
Which Parts of the Eyes Are Associated with Which Eye Diseases?
The eyes are small, but they have many parts including the eyelids, sclera, cornea, lens, optic nerve and retina. We depend heavily on our vision. When something goes wrong, the eyes are disproportionately affected. For example, a senior at risk of heart disease is also at risk of an ocular arterial or vein occlusion. Also, the macula requires a yellow-colored nutrient (lutein and zeaxanthin) found in certain vegetables such as green leafy vegetables, red, yellow and green peppers, corn and eggs. And antioxidants found in fresh fruits and vegetables have been shown to reduce oxidative eye damage and eye disease. Continue reading “Which Parts of the Eyes Are Associated with Which Eye Diseases?”
Sun Protection for the Eyes: Prevent Eye Injuries, Cataracts, ARMD, Surfer’s Eye
The sun sustains life, but it also can harm our eyes. Unsafe sun exposure causes or may contribute to several eye conditions and diseases. It can also cause eye injuries. Earth’s ozone layer absorbs most of the ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun, but chemicals have damaged it. Therefore, we must take extra precautions to prevent cataracts, age-related macular degeneration, ocular melanoma (eye cancer), and eye injuries such as pterygium (Surfer’s Eye), photokeratitis (snow blindness), and flash blindness. The sun is also a driving hazard when low on the horizon.
The body contains its own “sunscreen,” which is melanin. Dark-skinned people have more melanin and Continue reading “Sun Protection for the Eyes: Prevent Eye Injuries, Cataracts, ARMD, Surfer’s Eye”
Dry Eye Associated with Oil Gland Dysfunction, Cataracts Surgery, Glaucoma
Researchers are examining dry eye syndrome‘s relationship to meibomian gland dysfunction and other eye conditions.
According to The Cornea & Contact Lens Society of New Zealand, “meibomian glands are the oil-producing glands located in both the upper and lower eyelids… This oil helps to stop the water in the tears from evaporating, thus helping to prevent dry eyes.” Dry eye symptoms can result when this stabilizing oil does not reach the tear film.
Spanish scientists publishing in Cornea found that nearly 50% of subjects with dry eye also had meibomian gland dysfunction.
In this study, it was also concluded that “Pterygium*, trauma, cataract surgery, pseudoexfoliation, and glaucoma are associated with signs of dry eye.”
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
*If someone has a raised, cream colored growth in the white of his or her eye, then it might be what is called a pterygium. These non-cancerous growths generally grow in the nasal side of the white of the eye. Caused by extended time spent in hot, windy environments, people who live on the equator are 10 times more likely to develop this problem than those living in the United States.
Though not dangerous, a pterygium can eventually distort vision because it can grow onto the cornea, and eventually even onto the central part of the eye which can block entering light. If removed surgically, there is a 40% chance that the problem will recur and the growth will return to be even larger and more aggressive.