Do you feel that your cornea loosing the clarity as it was before? You may be a victim of granular dystrophy. So in order to keep your vision fit till 50, get your eye treated until its too late.
Granular dystrophy is a eye condition in which cornea becomes opaque due to the incurrence of granular spots formed over the cornea. On the basis of position of the spots the eye condition is classified into three parts:
- anterior or frontal corneal dystrophy
- stromal or central corneal dystrophy
- posterior or back corneal dystrophy
This is mainly a genetic disease, which does not result into any type of inflammation. In many cases it may be caused due to a mutation caused in the gene bigh3 which helps to maintian corneal transparency. A person contract this disease at a very early age, at 20, and the person starts to see his or her vision getting imperfect gradually.
The person will see images similar to as bread crumb like opaque spaces, later on if untreated, it will lead to complete blindness.
Medical Care
When recurrent erosions occur with this condition, they are treated like any other form of recurrent erosion.
Under care of an ophthalmologist, bandage contact lens along with antibiotics can be prescribed; alternatively, patching with an antibiotic ointment can be used. Some physicians treat recurrent erosions with frequent antibiotic ointments while awake.
Once the acute episode of recurrent erosion has resolved, preventive treatment may include sodium chloride 5% drops or artificial tear lubricating drops during the day and lubricating ointment at bedtime.
If recurrent corneal erosions occur despite medical therapy, then excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) may be considered.Surgical CareExcimer laser PTK is quite effective at removing opacities from the superficial cornea. When deep opacities are causing significant visual symptoms, corneal transplantation may be required.
Excessive corneal erosions or visual decrease from superficial opacities can be treated with PTK. Excimer laser PTK removes superficial opacities, smooths the corneal surface, and allows the epithelium to re-adhere more tightly.
If the visual acuity drops and most of the opacities are deep, lamellar or full-thickness corneal transplantation can be performed. Although the success rate for corneal transplantation is very high, granular deposits recur with time. Fortunately, when the deposits recur, they tend to be superficial, and amenable to treatment with excimer laser PTK.
Filed under Corneal Transplantation, Featured Article | Tags: Cornea, Corneal Transplant, eye, genetic disease, granular dystrophy, laser, mutation | Comment Below
Related?
Eye grafting helped blind women to restore her eye sight backSeptember 2nd, 2008 Organ transplant has proved to be a life saving surgery many times. This time this unique gift is been received by Debbie Harris, 50.
Eye bank that provides most corneas for transplantJune 20th, 2009 N.C. Eye Bank is claimed to be the provider of most corneas of any in world. As per the statistics the eye bank provided corneas for 3,440 transplants in 2008, the most of any eye bank in the world, according to the Eye Bank Association of America.
New Artificial Eye (Retina) to Give Back Sights to BlindsJuly 15th, 2006 Glasgow University scientists have developed an artificial retina that may give back sights to many blind people who lose their sight when the light sensitive part of the eye, the retina, is damaged. Dr Keith Mathieson, who is leading the research, said that they are trying to make the brain fool into believing the retina is still working by implanting a microelectronic device that works in a similar way to a digital camera, into the eye.
Corneal blindness could be cured by stem cell therapyJanuary 20th, 2009 Vision loss is a serious condition that dramatically affects the lives of millions of people around the world. Diseases affecting the cornea are a major cause of blindness worldwide, second only to cataract in overall importance.
Achromotopsia - often doctors fails to detect, want to know why?June 30th, 2009 ARE you colorblind from birth? Are you sure that it is not Achromotopsia? Many occasions the doctors also go wrong in diagnosing this disease. So checkout what is in store you to clarify.
Beware of glaucoma, the lurking, sneak thief of sightJanuary 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Beware of glaucoma, described as 'the sneak thief of sight,' because it strikes quietly and without pain, one of the leading causes of blindness in the US. Unfortunately, the bulk of Americans or 91 percent erroneously believe that glaucoma is preventable, according to the latest survey by the American Optometric Association (AOA).
Corneal Transplant Could be Revolutionised With a New TechniqueFebruary 20th, 2006 Mr Tappin, consultant ophthalmologist at St Peter's Hospital, said, he was the only person to treat diseased corneas by replacing the innermost cells instead of grafting the entire cornea. Traditional transplants worked by replacing the whole cornea - the layer at the front of the eye - with one from a donor, but recovery took longer.
Texas Medical Center determined to fight back children eye cancerMarch 26th, 2009 Researchers and physicians from Texas Children’s Cancer Center, the Children’s Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Methodist Hospital and Baylor College of Medicinea, have came together to to create the Retinoblastoma Centre of Houston to treat children who are suffering from the dreaded eye cancer.
