Common eye conditions

There are lots of medical conditions that will affect your sight and if identified early these can be treated and managed. Poor eye sight can be a major contributor to falls and accidents and, sometimes sadly, they can leave a devastating effect on the person and those who care for them.

Here are some common eye conditions:

Glaucoma: This is the name for a group of eye conditions in which the optic nerve is damaged at the point where it leaves the eye. This nerve carries information from the light sensitive layer in your eye - the retina, to the brain where it is perceived as a picture

Cataracts:Cataracts are opacities (cloudiness) in the eye lens. Light passes through the lens to reach the back of the eye so changes in the transparency of this lens affect the vision.

Macular degeneration:This is the most common cause of sight loss in the over 60's and occurs when the part of the eye responsible for central vision - the macula - is damaged.

Diabetic retinopathy:Diabetic retinopathy is the term used for the changes that can happen at the back of the eye as a consequence of alterations in the network of blood vessels in those suffering with diabetes.

Stroke: The vision can be affected by stroke and parts of the visual field (the whole picture of the vision we see) may be missing or there may only be a small fragment missing, which does not cause the patient too many problems. However half of the picture can be missing.