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Hi, :roll:
You may find this interesting.
The retina is the photosensitive layer of neural tissue on the inside of your eye rather like the film in a camera or like the pixels of a digital camera. The image of the object one looks at is projected onto the retina by the eyes lenses of which there are two:- the cornea which is the clear front surface of your eye and the crystaline lens which is just behind the coloured iris (this is where a cataract develops).
If you have normal vision the image is nice and sharp on the retina - if not you will need specs! The retina converts light energy into elecrical energy and this is relayed to the brain which then converts the information to the sense we know as vision. The retina has two types of receptor rods and cones. Rods are more numerous and more sensitve to light and therefore to movement. They are in all of the retina except a small .3mm central vision area known as the macula. The cones, which give us the ability to see detail and colour are crammed tightly into this .3mm zone in the macula and are also found elsewhere in the retina but in smaller numbers.
So what can go wrong? Quite a lot if you are unlucky but here a few of the common conditions:-
CATERACT Means there is a degree of loss of transperancy of the lens, usually age related but not usually a problem until your 70s. Surgery is very effective.
MACULAR DEGENERATION This is also usually age related and not so easily treated. The cone cells are very active requiring lots of blood flow, the by products of all this cellular activity are not always able to be transported away from the retina and become stuck thereby causing Macular Degeneration. This does not cause blindness as it only effects the central vision area however there may be a permanent loss of clear vision. This occurs over a number of years. Another type of macular problem is a rapid onset “wet” type and this needs to be treated urgenty.
LOSS OF NEURONS naturally occurs as we get older. There are a lot of extra neurons involved in vision so if you loose a few it's not usually too serious initially.
OTHER COMMON VISION THREATING CONDITIONS
Glaucoma where the pressure inside the eye is too high and gradually kills off the optic nerve. The most common type has no symptoms so it is really important to have your eye checked every two years. The other type is rapid onset over a few days and you will know something is wrong e.g. pain, blurred vision, coloured halos around lights, nausea, light sensitive etc.
Diabeties causes the small blood vessels to leak. When this happens to your retina can be damaged.
Smoking is bad news for your retina but the good news is that wine in moderation isn't.
The above are some of the more common problems and as we are living longer more of us are likely to experience 1 or more of these events. However medical science is making progress and a lot of us will go through life with very few un-treatable problems.
This is rather a long post, hope your vision didn't get blurred reading it!
Roy.
You may find this interesting.
The retina is the photosensitive layer of neural tissue on the inside of your eye rather like the film in a camera or like the pixels of a digital camera. The image of the object one looks at is projected onto the retina by the eyes lenses of which there are two:- the cornea which is the clear front surface of your eye and the crystaline lens which is just behind the coloured iris (this is where a cataract develops).
If you have normal vision the image is nice and sharp on the retina - if not you will need specs! The retina converts light energy into elecrical energy and this is relayed to the brain which then converts the information to the sense we know as vision. The retina has two types of receptor rods and cones. Rods are more numerous and more sensitve to light and therefore to movement. They are in all of the retina except a small .3mm central vision area known as the macula. The cones, which give us the ability to see detail and colour are crammed tightly into this .3mm zone in the macula and are also found elsewhere in the retina but in smaller numbers.
So what can go wrong? Quite a lot if you are unlucky but here a few of the common conditions:-
CATERACT Means there is a degree of loss of transperancy of the lens, usually age related but not usually a problem until your 70s. Surgery is very effective.
MACULAR DEGENERATION This is also usually age related and not so easily treated. The cone cells are very active requiring lots of blood flow, the by products of all this cellular activity are not always able to be transported away from the retina and become stuck thereby causing Macular Degeneration. This does not cause blindness as it only effects the central vision area however there may be a permanent loss of clear vision. This occurs over a number of years. Another type of macular problem is a rapid onset “wet” type and this needs to be treated urgenty.
LOSS OF NEURONS naturally occurs as we get older. There are a lot of extra neurons involved in vision so if you loose a few it's not usually too serious initially.
OTHER COMMON VISION THREATING CONDITIONS
Glaucoma where the pressure inside the eye is too high and gradually kills off the optic nerve. The most common type has no symptoms so it is really important to have your eye checked every two years. The other type is rapid onset over a few days and you will know something is wrong e.g. pain, blurred vision, coloured halos around lights, nausea, light sensitive etc.
Diabeties causes the small blood vessels to leak. When this happens to your retina can be damaged.
Smoking is bad news for your retina but the good news is that wine in moderation isn't.
The above are some of the more common problems and as we are living longer more of us are likely to experience 1 or more of these events. However medical science is making progress and a lot of us will go through life with very few un-treatable problems.
This is rather a long post, hope your vision didn't get blurred reading it!
Roy.
