According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), diabetes ranks among the top ten causes of disability in the U.S. adult population. Furthermore, diabetes is implicated in at least three other major causes of disability including...
Diabetes is a systemic disease characterized by increased blood sugar, also known as hyperglycemia. It causes damage to many of the body's organs including the eye. Effects increase with age as the damage accumulates. According to a February 2008...
In the condition dry eye syndrome, the available tears do not provide enough moisture for the eye, according to the MayoClinic.com. In some cases, the eye does not produce enough tears and in other cases, the tears that are produced are not very...
Herpes zoster, or shingles, can occur in any person who ever had chicken pox. Shingles is the reactivation of the same herpes virus at a later date; it presents as a skin rash consisting of blisters. This rash can occur on any part of the body,...
Viral encephalitis is a medical condition characterized by severe brain inflammation caused by a virus. A number of viral infections, such as herpes simplex virus, measles, Epstein-Barr virus and varicella zoster virus, can cause brain...
Lasik eye surgery corrects astigmatism, nearsightedness and farsightedness by reshaping the clear cornea at the front of the eye. The procedure involves cutting a flap of surface corneal tissue, applying a laser to the exposed cornea and replacing...
Surgery on the eye, like any other surgery, has risks. Some procedures may use lasers, often a less invasive procedure than an incision. When someone requires eye surgery, the doctor discusses the risks related to that particular procedure. The...
Eye surgery, also called ocular surgery, is performed on the eyes by an ophthalmologist. The various eye surgeries include laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, or LASIK eye surgery, cataract surgery and eyelid surgery. LASIK eye surgery is the...
People with diabetes are at high risk of eye complications, from minor to severe, reports the Diabetes Teaching Center at the University of California, San Francisco. A severe complication of diabetes is blindness; however, most eye disorders are...
Many people take aspirin, which is often abbreviated as ASA by those who work in the medical field. Aspirin helps relieve pain, but it also acts as a blood thinner. Since it has these blood thinning properties, doctors often recommend that people...
Cataract surgery, performed on over 3 million people in the United States each year, has a low rate of serious complications and generally excellent results. Over 95 percent of cataract surgeries result in improved vision, the All About Vision...
First, understand that Lasik is surgery. There are risks with any surgery you undergo. Keeping that in mind, fewer than 1 percent of patients who undergo Lasik surgery have serious complications that are not repairable with further surgery. If...
Like any procedure, eye surgery comes with possible risks and complications. Complications will often vary between different procedures, but some risks may occur with each type of surgery. Before proceeding with any eye surgery, the patient should...
High blood pressure or hypertension can cause damage to many organs and areas of the body including the eye--especially if the pressure is poorly controlled. Hypertension damages blood vessels by thickening their ways and impacting the amount of...
Some people have eyelid surgery to remove excess skin that hangs over the eye and prevents a full field of vision. Other people have lid surgery to improve appearance. In both cases, the eye lid surgeon will evaluate the lids, determine the best...
Dry eyes can have many causes, from a decrease in the production of the aqueous fluid that provides moisture to the eye, to suppression of the blinking reflex. Eyelid inflammation, environmental factors or surface injury to cornea can also cause...
The shingles virus, or herpes zoster, is the same virus that causes chickenpox--HV3. The virus that attacks the skin and the nerves can spread from the eye to the face, leading to complications. Shingles can occur at any age and in people with...
Vision problems are one of the most common complications of diabetes. The longer a person has diabetes, the more likely he will develop a complication with his eyes. Although total blindness is rare and occurs in less than 2% of diabetics, the...
LASIK surgery is a type of corrective eye surgery that eliminates the need for further visual assistance such as eyeglasses or contact lenses. LASIK (an acronym for laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) is performed when a doctor uses an eximer...
Doctors perform laser eye surgery to treat eye conditions and diseases. Some people, however, elect to have laser eye surgery in order to correct their vision, which may help reduce the need for eyeglasses or contact lenses. Regardless of why a...
According to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, almost 150,000 eyelid procedures were performed in 2009, mostly on women. Plastic surgery on the upper or lower eyelids, called blepharoplasty, repairs drooping eyelids that can...
PRK stands for photorefractive keratectomy, a type of laser repair for nearsightedness and astigmatism. According to Refractive Surgery News, PRK is the second most common type of laser eye surgery after LASIK and is used in instances where LASIK...
About 700,000 Americans undergo laser eye surgery annually to correct nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, and about 0.2 and 2 percent of all patients experience serious complications, notes the American Academy of Ophthalmology....
Diabetes causes a group of eye problems that impact different areas of the eye. Rapid changes in blood sugar levels can cause vision to fluctuate even if no eye disease is present. The eye complications are common; development of these...
Blood sugar, also known as blood glucose, has a major affect on the development of diabetes. If you have diabetes, controlling your blood sugar is an essential aspect of managing your disease and preventing health complications such as kidney...
Diabetes often causes damage to the retina, the area of the eye responsible for vision. Cataracts and glaucoma also occur more frequently in diabetics. There are two forms of diabetic retinopathy: non-proliferative, the less damaging and more...
You rely on your contact lenses to provide crystal clear vision that you can wear daily. However, contacts require careful maintenance to prevent protein buildup. Proteins are naturally found in your tears and can bind to your contacts, according...
In an article published in 2001 on the Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundation website, Dr. C. Stephen Foster notes that 5 percent of patients who develop ulcerative colitis will develop recurrent uveitis--an inflammation of the layer of tissue...
Diabetes, a disease characterized by high blood glucose levels, can lead to serious eye complications. The changes caused by diabetes aren't obvious until damage has already been done, which is why the American Diabetic Association (ADA)...
