No complaint doesn’t equal no problem - Just because your child has not voiced an issue doesn’t always mean they aren’t having one. A good majority of the time vision and eye problems will go undiagnosed/overlooked because a child simply doesn’t know how to explain that they are having trouble. What’s more, if they have had an undiagnosed visual need for most of their lives, they won’t realize the blurriness they see isn’t that way for everyone else or that an unblurry world is even a possibility.
Disease detection - Eye exams don’t only check to see if there is a need for glasses. The health of the eye both inside and out is a major component of your visit. Many eye diseases do not present any symptoms at all until irreversible damage or vision loss occurs. Furthermore, the eyes aren’t only the windows to your soul, they can also tell your eyecare provider a lot about the health of the rest of your body as well. For example, did you know diseases such as diabetes can be detected through eye exams? Even brain tumors are often first diagnosed by a trip to the eye doctor.
Early correction of visual needs - Addressing problems such as a lazy eye or eye turn early can oftentimes help to correct the issue or at least keep things from progressing. The same can sometimes be true of children who need to wear reading glasses at a young age - if their visual needs are met and tracked early on, they may outgrow the need for glasses.
Poor vision can lead to poor performance in school - Undetected vision and eye conditions can obviously impact your child’s life in a multitude of ways. If they are struggling in school - especially if they have always been a good student- this could signify an underlying visual need that isn’t being met. This could range between anything from a need for glasses to an eye muscle that isn't functioning correctly.
Curious what some signs might be that your child could need glasses or other vision therapy? Here are a few common symptoms to be on the lookout for.
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.
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