To know diseases

Myopia

It is a situation in which the image is focused in front of the retina and is reflected by a difficulty in far vision.
A myopic eye is usually larger than normal and is more prone to some diseases (eg, glaucoma, retinal detachment, etc.) and therefore requires special attention from the ophthalmologist.

Cataract

Any change in the transparency of the lens is called a cataract.
What causes cataracts? They are most often the result of normal aging but may also be congenital or due to a variety of other factors such as:

• Trauma,
• Chronic eye diseases or
• Systemic (whole-body) diseases such as diabetes

What are the symptoms of cataracts?
Usually the cataract results in turbidity of the image but several other complaints may result from its presence.
The diagnosis should always be made through observation by an ophthalmologist.

Strabismus

The term strabismus is used whenever there is an ocular misalignment. This ocular problem usually arises in children and in many of them can be present already at birth. It is very important to diagnose and treat this disease when the child is still small because otherwise the eyesight in one of the eyes may be irreversibly diminished. The child with strabismus tends to use less of the stray eye that gets "lazy." At this drop of vision resulting from strabismus is called amblyopia.

Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetes is a disease in which, among other changes, there is an increase of "sugar" in the blood.

This disruption can damage several areas of the body. The eyes are one of the organs that can be severely affected although initially there are no major symptoms.
Diabetic retinopathy is an ocular manifestation of the disease and is one of the leading causes of blindness.

To prevent blindness, blood sugar levels (blood glucose) should be monitored as closely as possible from the earliest stages of the disease.

Diabetic retinopathy arises as a result of changes in the small blood vessels of the retina inside the eye. The altered vessels let fluid and blood flow to the retina leading to decreased vision. In some cases abnormal vessels develop in the retina. These vessels are very fragile and bleed easily also leading to the formation of fibrous tissue that pulls back the retina.

This stage of the disease is very serious and is called proliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Astigmatism

Corresponds to an uneven visual quality depending on the visual axis concerned.
In most cases it results in an uneven curvature of the cornea causing distorted vision.
May occur alone or in association with other refractive defects.

Hyperopia

It is a refractive defect characterized by near vision impairment. Often causes eye fatigue and even headaches with the most painstaking work or reading, due to the increased focus requirement that the eyes are forced to do.

A hypermoptic eye is usually smaller than normal and the "resistance" to hypermetropia decreases with age. It can be the cause of a child's misuse of schooling.It may be the cause of a child's poor school performance.

Presbyopia (or tired sight)

Corresponds to the difficulty of sight up close that is usually felt from a certain age (around 45 years).
It is due to the loss of progressive elasticity of the crystalline due to age.

Glaucoma

What is glaucoma? It is a disease of the eyes in which there is a progressive increase of the ocular tension leading to the diminution of the vision (it may even get to blindness). There are several types of glaucoma but the most common is open-angle glaucoma.
Increased ocular tension, if not detected and properly treated, leads to slow and progressive "death" of the nerve responsible for vision (optic nerve).

These changes cause loss of vision (especially from our field of vision). Glaucoma only shows symptoms at an advanced stage of the disease and changes in vision are only felt by the patient when the optic nerve already has serious and irreversible lesions.