I received this question from a facebook fan yesterday. And practicing in Virginia Beach, where outdoor activities are such an important part of our local culture, this is a pretty common question. The yellowish, slightly
Early Pingueculum
raised areas on the white part of the eye are called Pinguecula (pin-ˈgwek-ye-la). It’s a pretty funny word, but essentially they are areas of local tissue changes from the sun’s ultraviolet (UV) light. The whitish parts of our eyes (conjunctiva) should be fairly soft, clear and flat. However, with repeated exposure to UV light, in the absence of sunglasses, parts of the conjunctiva are changed into a harder, denser nodule that takes on the yellow color that patients notice. Typically, pinguecula arise in older patients but they are not uncommon in younger adults who have a history of performing outdoor activities without wearing sunglasses.
Most often pinguecula do not produce symptoms beyond cosmetic annoyance. Although, sometimes pinguecula can develop inflammation and cause the eyes to become red and irritated. In these situations, artificial tears or prescription anti-inflammatory eye drops may be appropriate.
Advanced Pingueculum
There is no cure for pinguecula. Surgical removal isn’t advised because the nodules are benign and typically symptomless. The best course of action is UV-blocking sunglasses to prevent progression in size of the yellow nodules. With continued UV exposure, pinguecula may evolve into pterygia (tuh-rij-ee-uh) which can cause vision problems.
Pterygium
Pterygia are essentially ingrowths of vascular and fibrous material onto the surface of the cornea. These areas can become inflammed and swollen, causing mild to moderate episodes of discomfort. But more importantly, the progression of Pterygia into the center part of the cornea will result in reduced vision and necessitate surgical removal by a corneal specialist.
Thanks for the question and remember that every time you go outside to enjoy Hampton Road’s many activities to grab your sunblock and UV-blocking sunglasses (and probably a bottle or two of water!)
ce of the eye, provides the majority of the eye’s focusing power but it is a fixed amount of focus. The crystalline lens, within the eye, provides an adjustable focus which allows the eye to clearly focus on objects up close. Somewhere between 35 and 45 years, this crystalline lens starts to lose its ability to focus up close. The loss may be due to thickening within in the lens itself or stiffening of the muscle fibers responsible for flexing the lens, but either way once the process starts it typically worsens over a long period of time.
ovie theater and turns the focussing knob to a much stronger setting. The movie on the screen is now blurry. Another reason for myopia is the eye may be too long. Sounds strange, but the visual system of the eye is designed to focus at a certain distance between the cornea and the retina. Imagine that same movie theater in which the engineers have designed a projector system focussed on a screen with a set distance. But what if someone knocked out the back wall of the movie theater and moved the screen back 10 feet? It would be blurry because now the projector is over-focused for this new longer screen distance.
behind the retina instead of directly on the retina. This may happen if the cornea curvature is too flat (too weak) or if the eye is too short. Just to muddy the waters, if someone has a lot of hyperopia their far away vision can also be blurry….we’ll save that one for another blog post!
This is a great topic as more and more people buy smart phones and spend more time using applications on those phones.
muscles. This is for two reasons. First, most of us hold our smart phones at a distance much closer than we view our computers. The closer the distance, the greater the contraction of near focus. Secondly, the print or text on smart phones is typically much smaller than that found on computers. The smaller the print, the greater the contraction of near focus.
ions through their ability to interact with hormone controls. An “essential” fatty acid is one that our bodies can’t make naturally and must be obtained by consuming food. Two such categories of “essential” fatty acids are Omega-3 and Omega-6.
symptoms compared to those who only consumed tuna once a week.