Keep reading to learn about how macular holes and retinal tears occur and why they pose serious threats to your eye health!

What is Vitreous?

While a macular hole is different from a retinal tear, both can result due to changes in the vitreous. A gel-like substance that fills the eye, vitreous, is made up of tiny fibers that attach to your retina. 

These fibers are microscopic, but as you age, they clump together. Vitreous also shrinks with age, pulling away from the retina. Sometimes, it sticks to the retina.

What is a Macular Hole?

The macula is a portion of the retina just above the optic nerve. It enables you to see clearly in your direct line of sight. 

When vitreous sticks to the retina, this can cause the macula to stretch. The thinning macula can often develop holes or openings. 

This will affect your central vision. At first, things will look blurry, wavy, or distorted, but if the hole grows larger, blind spots or dark areas will appear. 

A macula hole will not affect your peripheral vision. A macular hole can also form if the macula swells due to certain eye conditions or if there’s an injury to the eye. 

What is a Retinal Tear? 

The retina is a thin layer of nerve cells in the back of the eye, located near the optic nerve. When the lens of the eye focuses light, the retina converts it into electrical signals that are sent along the optic nerve to the brain. 

The retina can develop a small hole or tear as the result of an eye injury or trauma or from vitreous shrinking and pulling away from the retina. This situation can lead to further complications. 

A retinal tear can allow fluid to enter beneath the retina, build up, and cause a retinal detachment. The risk of a retinal tear increases with age. 

An increase in floaters can be a sign of a retinal tear. Early treatment can prevent the tear from getting worse, which can lead to a detached retina.

What Are Some Common Symptoms of Retinal Conditions? 

An increase in floaters can be a sign of a retinal tear. So is the sudden onset of flashing lights or a dark curtain across portions of your vision. 

Early treatment can prevent the tear from getting worse, which can lead to a detached retina.

Can Retinal Tears Be Treated?

Retinal tears can be treated. The goal is to seal off the tissue around the incision so it will not grow larger and lead to retinal detachment. 

Two forms of treatment are available depending on the retinal tear. Laser surgery is used to seal the retina to the wall of the eye. Cryotherapy can also be used. 

This is the application of extreme cold to the areas around the tear. Scar tissue forms, preventing further tearing.

Are you experiencing changes in your vision? Schedule an appointment at EyeHealth Northwest in Portland, OR, today!

The post What is the Difference Between a Macular Hole and a Retinal Tear? appeared first on Eye Health Northwest.

A detached retina requires immediate attention to preserve sight. Keep reading to learn the signs of retinal detachment!

Symptoms That Can Indicate a Retinal Detachment

Floaters can often be a sign of retinal detachment. Floaters are dark spots or squiggles in your vision and are often described as looking like spiderwebs or smoke.

Having floaters does not necessarily mean you have a retinal detachment. However, raining floaters or a significant increase in floaters can indicate a retinal detachment.

Other common symptoms of retinal detachment are seeing flashes of light or a dark shadow or curtain across your vision. If you notice any of these symptoms, visit your eye doctor immediately to ensure your vision is not a risk of retinal detachment.

What Does The Retina Do?

The retina is a thin layer of light-sensitive cells in the back of the eye. A healthy retina is essential for clear vision.

The retina is responsible for converting the light that enters your eye into electrical signals. These electrical signals are then sent to the brain via the optic nerve. 

This information is then formed into an image in the brain so that you can see. 

How Do Floaters Develop?

The eye is filled with a gel-like substance called the vitreous. As the eye ages, parts of the vitreous can clump together.

When the clumps become large enough, they cast shadows on the retina. These clumps appear as floaters, like dark spots or squiggles, that slide across your field of vision when you try to focus on them.

Floaters can be a natural part of the eye’s aging process or signify something more serious, like a retinal detachment. If you notice new floaters, it is always best to be seen for an evaluation by your eye doctor as soon as possible. 

How Retinal Detachments Begin

A retinal detachment happens when the retina pulls away from the back of the eye. It’s a serious condition as it can cause permanent vision loss.

A retinal tear is another eye condition that can lead to a retinal detachment if not treated. It can occur after an eye injury when a small hole or tear forms in the retina.

A retinal tear can allow fluid to enter beneath the retina layer. If this fluid builds up, it can cause the retina to detach from the supportive tissue at the back of the eye and cause a retinal detachment. 

One sign of a retinal tear is an increase in floaters. Treating the retinal tear early can prevent it from growing larger and leading to retinal detachment.

Risk Factors For A Retinal Detachment

As you age, your risk for retinal detachment increases. You’re also at higher risk if you have an eye injury or certain procedures like cataract surgery.

Certain eye conditions like significant nearsightedness, thinning of the retina, or a history of retinal tears or detachments in the other eye can also raise your risk.

Preventing Retinal Detachment

The first line of defense against retinal detachments is knowing what to look for. Early treatment of a retinal tear or retinal detachment can preserve your eyesight. 

If you have any of the risk factors above, make an appointment with your eye doctor and report your symptoms. Your annual comprehensive eye exam is the best way to identify an eye condition early before it becomes a serious problem that threatens your sight.

Are you ready to visit your eye doctor to learn more about the signs of retinal detachment? Schedule an appointment at EyeHealth Northwest in Portland, OR, today!

The post What Are The Signs Of A Retinal Detachment? appeared first on Eye Health Northwest.

This is big news considering that more than 5 million Americans currently have Alzheimer’s disease with that number expected to increase dramatically in the decades ahead.

The technology of this new eye test is based on the simple idea of identifying beta amyloids visible in the retina. Beta amyloids have been known to be linked to the disease. The brain-clogging amyloid plaques are considered an indicator of the disease and can be seen in the back of the eye, which is considered a mirror for brain health. If the test is successful, then screening for Alzheimer’s may become as simple as having your eyes examined. 

“What makes it so unique is that the retina is actually an extension of the brain and so we think that a lot of the pathology that is occurring in the brain may also be occurring in the retina,” said New York University Langone Medical Center neurologist Dr. James Galvin. 

Australian researcher Shaun Frost tested 40 people using a liquid form of curcumin, which is the natural substance that makes curry appear yellow. Curcumin sticks to beta amyloids allowing doctors to spot the proteins via a simple eye test. Frost found that the test positively identified 100% of participants who had Alzheimer’s. 

Although Alzheimer’s disease has no known cure, early detection is the key goal in administering treatments to slow its progression. Medicines to help treat symptoms of Alzheimer’s have been shown to be more effective when prescribed during the early stages of the disease. More importantly, to develop new therapies, doctors need to be able to identify people at the earliest stages of the disease. 

Currently Alzheimer’s is detected through spinal taps or PET scans, which are invasive, expensive, and not always readily available. The developers of this revolutionary eye test say it can predict the onset of the disease 15 to 20 years before clinical diagnosis. 

The post A new eye test may detect Alzheimer’s disease decades before its onset appeared first on Eye Health Northwest.

What is a floater?

A gel-like substance called vitreous fills the majority of the eye’s volume. The vitreous is found behind the iris, pupil, and lens. It is composed mostly of water and proteins. The vitreous has a more viscous consistency than water and can be fairly sticky. On the backside of the vitreous lies the retina, which is a thin layer of nerve tissue that lines the inside of the eye.

Over time, the protein fibers in the gel coalesce, causing small floaters or strings in the vision. The vitreous also begins to pull away from the retina. Eventually, as the vitreous actually separates from the back of the eye, a Posterior Vitreous Detachment (PVD) can occur, which your ophthalmologist can see when looking inside your eye. Patients can have very different experiences as the PVD develops. Some people may not notice anything at all, while others can have a prominent jelly-like spot that can move in and out of the central vision as the eye moves. Still others can experience a dense spot or semicircular object that can interfere with reading, computer work, and other daily tasks.

Over time, the vitreous consistency changes and within it, pockets can form that have a more water-like consistency. As a result, the floaters tend to drift off center more and can become less of a nuisance. Your brain will also tend to adapt to them and notice them less. Floaters don’t actually dissolve, though, so don’t be surprised to see them if you are actively looking for them. Some patients have also reported noticing them more in the morning, as the opacities can sometimes settle over the retina overnight and therefore appear front and center when first waking up.

What about flashing lights?

The retina’s job is to sense and convert light into a signal that is then transmitted to the brain for interpretation. However, physical stimulation on the retina can also cause it to send off signals that your brain also misinterprets as light. For example, it is common to talk about seeing “stars” after getting hit in the eye – the impact can compress the eye, which causes the retina to release signals in a nonspecific way.

As the vitreous changes and separates from the retina, there can be some temporary pulling on the retina, which can also manifest as a quick flash of light. These generally occur in the peripheral vision, frequently when moving the eye from one side to another. They can also be subtle at times, only being noticeable when the outside environment is dark. Also, because the cause of this flashing occurs independent from what they eye is actually seeing, they can occur even if the eye is closed.

When is it a problem?

If the retina and vitreous are bound together abnormally tightly, there can be excessive traction on the retina as the vitreous tries to pull away. As a result, the retina can tear. This is a particularly concerning situation — a retinal tear is at risk of developing into a retinal detachment, which is a potentially blinding condition and frequently requires urgent treatment. Based on a description of the flashes, it is not possible to know whether a flash of light represents mild pulling on the retina that might resolve on its own or a retinal tear and needs urgent treatment. When the retina is torn, there can also be a release of blood or some other cells from the underside of the retina that enter into the vitreous and can look like a burst of very small floaters.

What should we do?

If you develop new floaters or flashes, it is generally a good idea to contact your eye doctor’s office and discuss your symptoms. You can reach us at 503-557-2020 or contact one of our 11 locations directly. If there were any concerns, it would be appropriate to go in for a dilated examination to make sure there is no retinal tear or detachment. Often times, despite the symptoms, the exam does not reveal anything that needs treatment, but we still need to be very cautious because the potential vision loss from not finding a tear or detachment early is very serious.

Can we get rid of floaters?

Unfortunately, there is no simple way to remove floaters. Further, there are no effective medical supplements, nor anything we can do that can delay or prevent vitreous changes. The good news is that floaters generally do become less bothersome over time, but that timeframe can be months to years, and some people remain consistently bothered. One method to get rid of floaters is a vitrectomy, which is a surgical procedure in which the vitreous is removed and replaced with a modified saline solution. Because of the invasive nature of this procedure, the risks must be carefully discussed between you and your doctor. Some physicians have discussed using a laser to break down the dense vitreous condensations. This treatment remains controversial, as there are not many studies to verify its safety and effectiveness.

If you have any questions about flashes or floaters or concerns about your eye health, please contact us at 503-557-2020.

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