Routine Habits like Smoking or Being Obese Can Make You Susceptible to Retinal Diseases

Do you believe it is fashionable to be obese or hold a cigarette in your palm to puff away without any concerns? You undoubtedly would have second thoughts about what you consider is fashionable if informed that your habits or lifestyle can cause vision loss to make you blind. Want to learn more about how your lifestyle habits that are causing obesity and smoking can make you blind? We recommend you continue reading this article that provides you information about retinal diseases that can affect you if you continue with your habits.

What Are Retinal Diseases?

Retinal diseases are of different types, but most of them result in visual symptoms. Any part of your retina, which is a thin layer of tissue on the interior back wall of your eye can be affected by retinal diseases. Millions of light-sensitive nerves are present in the retina, along with other nerve cells to receive and organize visual information. The information gathered by your retina is sent to your brain through the optic nerve that enables you to see.

Some retinal diseases can be treated depending on the condition affecting you, and the treatment goals could be to stop or slow the progress of the disease and improve or restore your vision. Retinal illnesses left untreated can cause severe loss of vision and blindness.

What Are the Symptoms of Retinal Diseases?

The signs and symptoms of most retinal diseases are similar. They may include having a blurred or distorted vision, visualizing floating cobwebs or specks, defects in side vision, and loss of sight. To notice the symptoms, you may have to attempt to look with each eye separately.

When to Seek Medical Attention?

You must pay any attention to changes in your vision and seek medical attention as soon as possible. It would be helpful if you visited the retinal specialist in Glendale, CA, if you notice floaters, reduced vision, or flashes because these are the warning signs of a potentially severe retinal disease.

Who Are at Risk for Retinal Diseases?

People with a family history of retinal diseases and having conditions like diabetes and other issues, having experienced eye trauma, aging, smoking, and obesity are risk factors that people must watch out for. People who have any of the conditions described should consider contacting the Glendale eye medical group for an examination, which will help them to determine whether they are susceptible or affected by retinal disease.

Common Types of Retinal Diseases

Some of the common retinal diseases that may affect people include the following:

• Retinal tear. The occurrence of a retinal tear happens when the clear gel-like substance in the center of your eye shrinks and latches on the thin layer of tissue at the back of the retina to cause a break in the tissue. It is accompanied by an onset of symptoms like flashing lights and floaters.
• Retinitis pigmentosa. An inherited degenerative condition is known as retinitis pigmentosa. Retinitis slowly affects the retina to result in loss of night vision and side vision.
• Diabetic retinopathy. The tiny blood vessels in the back of the eye can deteriorate to leak fluid into the retina if you have diabetes. This causes swelling in the retina to blur and distort your vision.
• Retinal detachment. Retinal detachment occurs when fluid passes through the retinal tear resulting in the retina lifting of a from the underlying tissue layers.
• Macular degeneration. The center of your retina begins to deteriorate when you have macular degeneration. The symptoms caused by macular degeneration are blurred central vision or a blind spot in the center of your vision. Two types of macular degeneration can affect you in the form of wet and dry macular degeneration. You may initially be affected by the dry variety, which progresses to the wet in one or both eyes.

When you contact the retina specialist in Glendale, CA, the ophthalmologist will conduct a thorough eye exam looking for abnormalities in every part of the eye. Various tests will be conducted to determine the precise location and extent of the retinal disease.

Treatments offered for retinal diseases aim to stop or slow the progress of the condition and preserve or restore your vision. However, in cases where damage has already occurred, it cannot be reversed, making early detection extremely significant. The ophthalmologist will work with the patient to determine the best treatment for the condition using various methods that are presently available.