Common

Eye
Disorders
 Overview
• Cataracts
• Glaucoma
• Cross Eyes (Strabismus)
• Nystagmus
• Conjunctivitis (Pinkeye)
 Cataracts

• Cataracts - are cloudy areas in the lens of

the eye that can cause changes in vision.
 Signs and symptoms
• Clouded, blurred or dim vision
• Increasing difficulty with vision at night
• Sensitivity to light and glare

• Need for brighter light for reading and other activities

• Seeing "halos" around lights
• Frequent changes in eyeglass or contact lens prescription

• Fading or yellowing of colors

• Double vision in a single eye
 Etiology
• Age
• Trauma
• Radiation
• Genetics
• Skin Diseases
• Smoking and Alcohol
• Inadequate vitamin C
• Medications
• Post-operative
• Other diseases
 Types of cataracts
• Cataracts affecting the center of the lens (nuclear
cataracts)
• Cataracts that affect the edges of the lens (cortical
cataracts)
• Cataracts that affect the back of the lens (posterior
subcapsular cataracts)
• Cataracts you're born with (congenital cataracts)
 Risk Factors
• Increasing age
• Diabetes
• Excessive exposure to sunlight
• Smoking
• Obesity
• High blood pressure
• Previous eye injury or inflammation
• Previous eye surgery
• Prolonged use of corticosteroid medications
• Drinking excessive amounts of alcohol
 Diagnosis
• Visual acuity test
• Slit-lamp examination
• Retinal exam
 Treatment

• Cataract surgery
 Glaucoma

• Glaucoma is a serious eye condition

that can cause blindness. It damages the
optic nerve, which carries information from
eyes to the visual center in your brain. This
damage can result in permanent vision
loss.

• It usually happens when fluid builds up in

the front part of eye.

• Glaucoma tends to be inherited and

may not show up until later in life.
 Types of Glaucoma
• Primary open-angle glaucoma - is
the most common form of glaucoma. It is
also known as chronic open angle
glaucoma.

• The damage is usually caused by too much

pressure within the eye (the intraocular
pressure or IOP).

• Angle-closure glaucoma - This is a

less common type of glaucoma where the
drainage is too narrow or begins to close,
impeding the normal outflow of aqueous
humor.
 Acute angle closure glaucoma
 Chronic angle closure glaucoma.
 Symptoms of Glaucoma
• Symptoms of open-angle glaucoma are:

• Gradual loss of peripheral vision, usually in both eyes

• Tunnel vision-(a condition when your eyes' field of vision is narrowed down
to an extent that you can't see sideways like you used to prior to this
condition, without turning your head sideways.) in the advanced stages

• Symptoms of Acute Angle-Closure Glaucoma:

• Severe eye pain

• Nausea and vomiting (accompanying the severe eye pain)
• Sudden onset of visual disturbance, often in low light
• Blurred vision
• Halos around lights
• Reddening of the eye
 Treatment of Glaucoma

• Medication - Eyedrop
medicine. 
• Laser surgery
 Trabeculoplasty 
 Iridotomy. 
 Cross Eyes (Strabismus)

• Strabismus (Crossed
Eyes) -is a condition in which
both eyes do not look at the
same place at the same
time.

• It usually occurs in people

who have poor eye muscle
control or are very
farsighted.
 Strabismus can be categorized by the direction
of the turned or misaligned eye:

• Inward turning (esotropia)

• Outward turning (exotropia)
• Upward turning (hypertropia)
• Downward turning (hypotropia)
 Symptoms of strabismus 

• Eyes that look misaligned.

• Eyes that do not appear to move together.

• Frequent blinking or squinting, especially in bright sunlight.

• Tilting the head to look at things.
• Faulty depth perception

• Double vision
 What causes strabismus?
• Most strabismus results from an abnormality of the neuromuscular control of eye
movement.
• Uncorrected refractive errors
• Poor vision in one eye
• Cerebral palsy
• Down syndrome (20-60% of these patients are affected)
• Hydrocephalus
• Brain tumors
• Stroke 
• Head injuries
• Neurological (nervous system) problems
• Graves' disease (overproduction of thyroid hormone)
 Diagnosis of Strabismus

• Strabismus can be diagnosed

during an eye exam.

• It is recommended that all children

between 3 and 3½ years of age
have their vision checked by their
ophthalmologist.
 How is strabismus treated?

• Glasses. Wearing glasses can sometimes correct mild

strabismus.

• Surgery on the eye muscles. This is often the only way to

improve vision and better align the eyes.
 Nystagmus

• Nystagmus -is a condition where

the eyes move rapidly and
uncontrollably.

• They can move:

• side to side (horizontal nystagmus)
• up and down (vertical nystagmus)
• in a circle (rotary nystagmus)
 Nystagmus classifications
• Congenital nystagmus - This type of nystagmus starts
in infants, usually between 6 weeks and 3 months old.
Children with this condition tend to have it in both eyes,
which move side to side.

• Acquired nystagmus - can be caused by a disease

(multiple sclerosis, brain tumor, diabetic neuropathy), an
accident (head injury), or a neurological problem (side effect
of a medication, for example).
 Causes
• Family history of nystagmus
• Albinism (lack of color, or pigmentation, in the skin)
• A wide range of eye problems in infants/children, including
cataracts, strabismus and focusing problems
• Inner ear problems, such as Meniere’s disease
• Multiple sclerosis
• Stroke
• Head injury
• Use of certain medications, such as lithium or anti-seizure
medications
• Alcohol or drug use
 Symptoms of Nystagmus
• The main symptom of nystagmus is rapid eye movement
that cannot be controlled. Usually the movement is side to
side. It can also be up and down or circular.

• In addition to rapid eye movement, nystagmus

symptoms include:

• sensitivity to light
• dizziness
• difficulty seeing in the dark
• vision problems
 Nystagmus Diagnosis
• Nystagmus is diagnosed by an ophthalmologist:

• eye-movement recordings (to confirm the type of

nystagmus and see details of the eye movements)
• an ear exam
• a neurological exam
• tests to get images of the brain,
including computerized tomography
(CT) and magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI)
 Nystagmus Treatment
• Treating nystagmus depends on the cause.

• People born with nystagmus cannot be cured of

this condition.

• Contact lenses.

• Rarely, surgery may be done to reposition eye

muscles that move the eyes.
 Conjunctivitis (Pinkeye)
• Conjunctivitis “pink eye -” it
happens when the conjunctiva is
irritated by an infection or allergies.

• The eyes are red and swollen

(inflamed).

• Some types of pink eye are very

contagious (easily spread from
person to person).
 There Are Three Main Types of Conjunctivitis
(Viral conjunctivitis)

• Viral conjunctivitis - is the most

common type of pink eye.

• This conjunctivitis is very

contagious and often spreads
through schools and other
crowded places.

• It usually causes burning, red

eyes with a watery discharge.
 There Are Three Main Types of Conjunctivitis
(Bacterial conjunctivitis)

• Bacterial conjunctivitis -
is also very contagious.

• An infection from bacteria

causes this form of pink eye.

• With bacterial conjunctivitis,

may have sore, red eyes with a
lot of sticky pus.
 There Are Three Main Types of Conjunctivitis
(Allergic conjunctivitis)

• Allergic conjunctivitis is a
type of pink eye that comes
from an allergic reaction to
something.

• It is not contagious.

• Allergic pink eye makes eyes

very itchy, red and watery, and
the eyelids may get puffy.
 Symptoms
• The feeling that something is in your eye, or a gritty sensation
in your eye
• Red eyes
• burning eyes
• itchy eyes
• painful eyes (this is usually with the bacterial form)
• watery eyes
• puffy eyelids
• blurry or hazy vision
• being extra sensitive to light
• lots of mucus, pus, or thick yellow discharge from the eye.
• Treating your pink eye usually depends on the
type of conjunctivitis :

• If the conjunctivitis is caused by a viral infection, there are no specific

treatments.
 Placing a cool, wet washcloth on your eyes can help make them feel
more comfortable.

• If the pink eye is caused by a bacterial infection, ophthalmologist may

prescribe antibiotic eye drops, depending on symptoms
 Antibiotics do not treat an infection caused by a virus or by allergy.

• If the conjunctivitis is due to allergies, use certain eye drops to help

with the itchiness and puffiness.
myopia: nearsightedness; a refractive error in which the
focus of light rays from a distant object is anterior to the
retina
nystagmus: involuntary oscillation of the eyeball
papilledema: swelling of the optic disc due to increased
intracranial pressure
ptosis: drooping eyelid
scotomas: blind or partially blind areas in the visual field
strabismus: a condition in which there is deviation from
perfect ocular alignment
astigmatism: refractive error in which light rays are spread
over a diffuse area rather than sharply focused on the
retina, a condition caused by differences in the curvature of
the cornea and lens
binocular vision: normal ability of both eyes to focus on one
object and fuse the two images into one
chemosis: edema of the conjunctiva
diplopia: seeing one object as two; double vision
emmetropia: absence of refractive error
hyperopia: farsightedness; a refractive error in which the
focus of light rays from a distant object is behind the retina
The Eye Exam
• Assessment of Visual Acuity- Eye chart

• asking the patient to follow the tracing of

a giant H with the eyes for assessing
Extraocular movements;
• The extraocular muscles are the six
muscles that control movement of the
eye and one muscle that controls eyelid
elevation (levator palpebrae). The
actions of the six muscles responsible
for eye movement depend on the
position of the eye at the time of muscle
contraction.
Eye chart
During an eye test, eye doctors use eye charts to measure
how well pts see in the distance, compared with other human
beings
The classic example of an eye chart is the Snellen eye chart,
developed by Dutch eye doctor Hermann Snellen in the
1860s. There are many variations of the Snellen eye chart,
but in general they show 11 rows of capital letters.
During an eye exam, eye doctor will ask pts to find the
smallest line of text letters that you can make out, and ask
you to read it. If pts can read the bottom row of letters,
visual acuity is very good.
The standard placement of the eye chart is on a wall that's 20
feet away pts eyes
20/20 vision is considered "normal" vision,
meaning you can read at 20 feet a letter
that most human beings should be able to
read at 20 feet.
if during an eye test you can read the big E
at the top but none of the letters lower than
that, your vision is considered 20/200. That
means you can read at 20 feet a letter that
people with "normal" vision can read at 200
feet. So at 20/200, your visual acuity is
very poor.