The term ‘swollen eyes‘ is often used to describe a range of eye swellings caused by a number of conditions. It is important to first differentiate whether the swelling is around the eye  (above, below or around the eyeball), a swelling of the eyelid or swelling of the eyeball itself. Other signs and symptoms may also assist with identifying the causative factors and this includes an itchy, red eye or darkening of the swelling itself as in trauma or a ‘black eye’.

continue reading Swollen Eyes & Swelling of the Eye

1. Non-Washed Eyes

Thick fat from oil glands in inner eye corner may cause itchy eyes if not washed off in the morning. Sweat from the face or hands while rubbing eyes also cause itchy eyes.

2. Foreign Body

A small object or fly, falling in the eye usually causes intense itch and watery eye. Pulling the lower eyelid down, or inverting the upper eyelid up may help in location the object that can be then removed by a cotton stick. This also helps in in-turned eyelash.

WHAT IS LASER EYE SURGERY?

Refractive or Laser Eye Surgery (LES) is a laser reshaping of cornea thus changing its focusing power (1), (pictures 1,2). For patients with moderate refractive errors this ambulatory procedure is a quick way to get free of glasses or contact lenses.

Picture 1. Eye doctor performing laser eye surgery
(source: whmc.af.mil)

COST OF LASER EYE SURGERY 

The cost of LES can vary widely but it is rarely under $1,000 per eye (2).

REFRACTIVE ERRORS TO CORRECT WITH LES

The light from an observed object penetrates through the cornea, lens and viscose liquid of the eye globe, refracts, and focuses on retina as an image. In farsightedness - hyperopia the eye globe is too short, and since the lens cannot refract the light from near objects enough, the light will fall behind retina and give a blurred image. In presbyopia (farsightedness of the aged) the lens becomes rigid and cannot refract the light from near objects efficiently, so it will  again focus behind the retina. In nearsightedness (myopia), the eye globe is too long and light from distant objects will focus in front of the retina, so images of distant objects will be blurred. In astigmatism blurred vision is caused by irregularities in the corneal or lens shape (3). All mentioned refractive errors can be corrected with laser eye surgery.

continue reading Corrective Laser Eye Surgery