Top 10 Vision Problems!
(We wish that headline was as attractive as weight-loss tips, celebrity meltdowns and baby names.)
Have you seen the success of all those blogs with “listicles” full of makeup advice, workout regimes and career hacks? We decided to spike our blog too, exploiting their format with a countdown and hot insider language. The result was, we admit, less sexy than hoped.
But the Kardashian empire wasn’t built in a day.
However, before we begin, let’s remove our tongues from cheeks: if you suspect you or anyone you know has any of these conditions, contact us or your eye doctor right away.
Caught early enough, the below all can be managed or even cured.
Now back to your regularly scheduled gossip.
The following list was borrowed from the Westchester Health blog — but only the order of the disorders, not the definitions. For those, you’re getting all the salacious hard copy of a Beyoncé/Cardi B dustup.
#10 Tearing
Not just for royal weddings any more, sudden excessive tearing in your eyes may indicate an infection. Long-term tearing could be a sensitivity to strong winds, bright lights, or fluctuating temperatures. Protective sunglasses are a good idea. Plus, they make you look as cool as Kim, Kendall, Kourtney, Khloé and, umm, Rob.
#9 Dry eyes (the reverse of team 10 — you can’t be both)
When your tear ducts can’t produce tears, you could suffer burning and itching, and even severe damage to eyesight. If even the first three seasons of This Is Us, you haven’t been able to cry, contact your optometrist or us right away.
#8. Floaters
These are icky little globs of protein that float (yes, #8’s subtitle is NOT the scientific term) across the gel in the middle of your eye. Usually they’re harmless — if annoying — but can indicate a more serious issue when accompanied by flashes of light like those you see at a TIFF celebrity sighting.
#7. Presbyopia
Similar to nearsightedness, this condition is the inability to see objects close up or small print. (Be extra careful when signing important contracts and endorsements.)
#6. Glaucoma
Too much pressure in the eye can lead to damage over time. Not the sort of pressure you experience from rabid fans and paparazzi chasing you. In fact, it can be so subtle you don’t even notice until later in life. Untreated, it can lead to blindness. NB: Ask your optometrist for a glaucoma test if you have high blood pressure.
#5. Refractive errors
If that sounds like hard math, we apologize! This condition has to do with light passing through the eye on the wrong angle. So it can’t render 20/20 vision. When it comes to eye problems, refractive errors are among the lowest common denominator. Oops, sorry it that sounds like math again.
#4. Macular degeneration
Macula sounds like a trendy weight-loss #superfood, but it’s actually part of the eye which perceives light. It can be damaged by a range of influences from smoking to aging to who your parents were. There’s no cure for such degeneration but it can be slowed.
#3. Diabetic retinopathy
This comes from too much blood in the sugar of diabetics for too long. Untreated, it can lead to blindness. If you or anyone you know suffers from any form of diabetes, keep an eye on this condition and blood sugar levels. Sorry. Maybe that should say keep an eye on or watch them. Sorry again.
#2. Keratoconus
This is a malformation of the cornea, that round gel which surrounds and protects the whole eye. In this case instead of roundness, it’s cone-shaped, keratoCONus. If not treated early, it can cause significant damage.
And #1, a worldwide sensation, cataracts!
More common in the aging and in poorer countries, cataracts are cloudy formations on the eye. A main cause is exposure to the sun. That’s why cataracts are so common. Indeed, some sources say that given enough time, everyone in the world would eventually develop them.
Remember if you have any concerns about any of these 10 most popular eye conditions (or any others) talk to your optometrist or to us.
