Do You Know These Women Specific Eye Health Issues?
- By Germaine Shock
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- 16 May, 2017
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In honor of Mother’s Day kicking off Women’s Week, the Eye- Q blog has decided to dedicate a post solely to women’s eye health related issues. So what makes women’s eye health so special? Women are actually more commonly affected than men by a number of ocular health issues including dryness, cataracts, age related macular degeneration, and complications from autoimmune disorders such as Sjogren's or lupus. Furthermore, according to Prevent Blindness America, 66% of people who are blind or visually impaired are women.
Let’s start with that statistic - why are women more at risk for eye complications than men?Hormones
Ladies - is there anything that hormones don’t affect? Your eyes certainly don’t receive any immunity. The fluctuations of estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone caused by everything from pregnancy to hormone replacement therapy can cause a range of symptoms. Let’s take a look.
Hormone Replacement Therapy, Birth Control, & Fertility Drugs
While further research is needed, there is currently a study that suggests a link between long-term oral contraceptive use and a doubled risk for developing glaucoma. Furthermore, birth control and other hormone replacement therapies are also known to cause blood clots and strokes which not only cause vision problems, but can increase a woman’s chance for cataracts and dry eyes. Finally, fertility drugs can cause much of the same issues as oral contraceptives including blurred vision and even spots in vision.
Pregnancy
While the most common vision problems related to pregnancy are temporary such as dryness, prescription changes, eye puffiness, and light sensitivity, other more serious complications warrant the need for closer monitoring. This can include retinal damage due to gestational diabetes or preeclampsia and even an increased risk for retinal detachment. Be sure to contact your eye doctor if you are experiencing any changes in your vision while pregnant especially if you have been diagnosed with diabetes or high blood pressure.
Menopause
The shift in balance between estrogen and progesterone that the body goes through during menopause is responsible for a number of changes to the eyes - most noticeable the eye’s surface. Dry eye syndrome and uveitis (inflammation of the middle layer of the eye) being the most common.Cosmetic Contact Lens Use
Wearing and caring for contact lenses improperly or without a valid prescription from an eyecare professional can cause a lot of damage to your eyes. Unfortunately, with the popularity of fashion lenses on the rise, colored contacts are widely available through a multitude of somewhat questionable online retailers. Women are often the targets of the marketing for these lenses as they typically go hand-in-hand with popular makeup trends.
Cosmetic Use Around The Eyes
Are you using your cosmetics correctly? Misuse can lead to allergic as well as bacterial infections of the eyes and even scratched corneas. Be sure to never share your makeup with anyone, and wash your brushes regularly. You will also want to avoid waterproof mascara when wearing contacts, and always remove your makeup at the end of the day - no matter how tired you are. Taking these extra steps can help lessen your risk of injury and infection as well as extend the life of your makeup.
Eye Shape
Women Live Longer
Autoimmune Diseases
Women are more likely than men to develop autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, and Sjogren’s Syndrome - all of which can affect vision and eye health. Sjogren’s Syndrome, for example, causes damage to the glands responsible for creating tears which in turn causes severe dryness. Similarly, lupus can also cause dryness as well as painful inflammation of the eyes. Multiple Sclerosis, however, can lead to complications such as loss of color vision and possible permanent vision damage or loss.
What Can You Do?
The good news is, although you might be more at risk for certain eye health disorders, it doesn't mean you will definitely develop these issues or that if you do, you don’t have options to help manage them. Often the best line of defense is one of prevention, so here are a few ways you can stay ahead of any complications.
- Stay on top of your yearly eye health exams. Most eye conditions do not present any symptoms until they have progressed to the point of causing permanent damage and/or vision loss.
- Maintain good physical health with diet, exercise, and regular visits to your primary care doctor.
- Only purchase and wear contact lenses that are approved for your eyes specifically by an eyecare professional.
- Practice good cosmetic hygiene by checking for expiration dates on cosmetics, washing brushes regularly, not sharing makeup, and removing makeup at the end of the day.
- Consider taking supplements made specifically for eye health - of course only after speaking to your eye doctor first.
- Give your eyes regular breaks during the day especially if you spend a lot of time on a computer. Utilize the 20-20-20 rule by looking 20 feet away for 20 seconds every 20 minutes.
- Always wear 100% UV protection sunglasses when outside - even in the winter months and on overcast days.
- Protect your eyes from the harmful effects of blue light emitted from handheld devices such as cell phones and tablets. Click here
for more info on how.
Eye-Q
More than likely if you are reading this, you’ve experienced the strange sensation of an eyelid twitch. It can happen anywhere, at any time, and almost always stops the moment you try to point it out to someone else (and of course resumes the second they turn away just to make you look extra crazy). Well you aren’t crazy - at least in this case - eyelid twitches are a real thing!
Myo-what?
Better known in professional lingo as “myokymia”, this twitching sensation is the result of involuntary, spontaneous, rippling muscle contractions. These spasms can actually occur in almost any of the muscles in your body. When relating to the eyelids, myokymia is most common in your lower lids but can happen in your top lids as well.
Eyelid myokymia is typically very temporary. The twitching will usually only last for a few minutes, but in some rare cases can last for a few days or even weeks.
Your doctor will likely advise you that there is no cause for concern as common Myokymia resolves on its own without the need for treatment. Other than causing mild annoyance, the eyelid twitching shouldn’t cause any long term complications or interference with your vision.Do your eyes ever feel dry and itchy? Do you ever experience eye fatigue, redness, blurred vision, or excessive watering? You could be suffering from dry eyes - especially if you live in Oklahoma City which ranks as the 17th driest city in the U.S. And despite the name, dry eye isn’t just an annoying feeling - it’s a legitimate chronic eye disease that affects an estimated 4.88 million Americans over the age of 50 alone. And since another estimated 89% of the population have never even heard of Dry Eye Syndrome, it’s easy to see why some would just write off those annoying symptoms as a normal part of their lives.
In honor of Mother’s Day kicking off Women’s Week, the Eye- Q blog has decided to dedicate a post solely to women’s eye health related issues. So what makes women’s eye health so special? Women are actually more commonly affected than men by a number of ocular health issues including dryness, cataracts, age related macular degeneration, and complications from autoimmune disorders such as Sjogren's or lupus. Furthermore, according to Prevent Blindness America, 66% of people who are blind or visually impaired are women.
Let’s start with that statistic - why are women more at risk for eye complications than men?No, it’s not a typo. Sjogren’s - pronounced show-grins - is a type of autoimmune disorder that causes inflammation and damage to various parts of the body; most commonly the tear and saliva glands. This damage results in symptoms ranging from dryness and discomfort to difficulty swallowing and can even affect the lungs and kidneys.
So why exactly does this happen? Let’s start with a quick health lesson. The immune system is responsible for fighting disease and killing harmful viruses and bacteria. However, with autoimmune diseases, your immune system has a hard time knowing when to stop fighting and mistakenly attacks your own body. With Sjogren’s, your exocrine glands - the glands that secrete moisture such as saliva, sweat, tears, breast-milk, gastric mucous, etc - become the main targets.So it’s the weekend and the mild discomfort you were experiencing midweek has now escalated into full blown intense pain. Or maybe you were working on the yard and something flew into your eye? Or perhaps you were wearing your contact lenses for too long and your eye is now extremely red and unhappy. Who do you call? (I’ll give you a hint, it’s not Ghostbusters.) But seriously, should you go to the ER if you injure your eye in some way? The answer might surprise you.
