Health’s Blog

by: Kevin Stith

For Wet AMD, a treatment known as Photocoagulation has been found to be effective for sealing leaking or bleeding vessels. In this process, the choroidal neovascularizations (CNVs) or abnormal blood vessels are sealed off and destroyed by a high-energy laser beam which may prevent continued damage to the macula and arrest further vision loss. However, it�s important to note that even if laser treatment of this type is successful, CNVs may recur.

Photocoagulation is used only when the CNVs are not located directly under the Fovea. Another treatment called Photodynamic therapy or PDT is used in this circumstance. PDT is designed to halt or slow down the progress of vision loss and relatively painless. In this procedure, a light-sensitizing drug called verteporfin (Visudyne) is injected into the bloodstream, which settles in the CNV. As non-thermal light is directed at the macula, it activates the drug releasing substances that obstruct the growth of CNVs under the macula transforming them into a thin scar.

by: Kevin Stith

Wet macular degeneration develops when new blood vessels, known as choroidal neovascularizations (CNVs) grow from the choroid underneath the macular portion of the retina. These abnormal vessels may leak fluid or blood causing the central vision to blur, as the macula begins to bulge or lift up. Under these circumstances, vision loss may be rapid and severe. This exudative form of macular degeneration may also show signs of the dry form.

Due to fluid accumulation, patients of the Wet form of AMD may see dark spots in the center of their vision. Moreover, straight lines may become wavy or crooked since the Macula is no longer smooth. Peripheral vision is not affected most of the time. The Wet form of Macular Degeneration may also result in legal blindness, defined as 20/200 vision or worse.

Nishanth Reddy

In most cases, contact lenses will considerably improve your vision without having to get glasses, which is reason enough to invest in a pair of contacts. They are very lightweight, and they provide you a full range of sight and mobility.

Cheap contact lenses can be found on the Internet, or at your local optician’s office. They won’t set you a back a lot of money, yet they will give you the vision you need. Contacts are a great alternative to glasses, particularly for those who need glasses but hate to wear them. In you buy cheap contact lenses, it is an ideal solution to glasses, – at a price, anyone can afford.

In several different ways, you can buy contact lenses. You can order them online, which is what the majority people tend to do. Companies such as contacts.com offer hundreds of contact lenses and prescriptions, which they transport right to your door. When you order online you can get a great price, and then have the contact lenses brought right to you - with no travel or waiting in line required to get your contact lenses when you need them.

Mitamins Team

by: Kevin Stith

Lasik is similar to PRK (photorefractive keratectomy) except that Lasik is a much more complex procedure, since it is executed for all degrees of shortsightedness.

Robert Elias Najemy

1. MALFUNCTIONING OF THE KIDNEYS may in various ways disturb the proper balance of water in the body. The kidneys determine the electrolyte balance in the liquids of the body, and thus will affect how much water will be retained in the body and how much will be expelled from the body. If the kidneys have heredity weaknesses, or are tired, or imbalanced because of life factors, then too much liquid may accumulate in the body increasing the blood pressure. One factor may be inefficient salt excretion. On the other hand, the kidneys may simply be very tired and overworked because of a heavily toxic diet with large overdoses of SODIUM. A direct relationship between the intake of high sodium foods and high blood pressure has been established.
It seems also that the kidney is responsible for producing various chemical substances, which in a certain way control the blood pressure and the tension of the walls of the arteries and veins in the circulatory system. Well-functioning kidneys are essential for control of proper blood pressure.

2. MALFUNCTIONING OF THE ADRENAL GLANDS may also be the root cause of disturbances in the blood pressure. Disturbances in the pituitary gland and hypothalamus can affect the functioning of the adrenals in a negative way, creating high or low blood pressure. In general, any malfunctioning of the endocrine system may result in blood pressure problems. It is also likely that this disharmony in the endocrine system may in turn be the result of emotional or mental stress, or unhealthy living habits.

3. THE NERVOUS SYSTEM may give messages of contraction to the arteries and veins causing the pressure to rise as the volume of the circulatory system is decreased. The reasons why the nervous system may do this may be different in each person, but in most cases they are psychosomatic.

4. OUR DIET affects our blood pressure. It is logical to believe that the substances of which the blood is constituted will affect the amount of liquid held in the blood and the tension of the walls of the blood vessels. This is especially true in cases where toxic waste products tend to accumulate on the walls of the blood vessels, destroying their flexibility and narrowing the opening and thus the volume of the vessels. The pressure in these vessels increases.

5. OUR ENVIRONMENT creates various stress conditions, which may force our bodies to react with a rise in blood pressure. The pressures we feel at work, at home, in the society are transferred through the endocrine and nervous system into a tension and pressure within our body.

6. OUR WAY OF REACTING TO LIFE will play perhaps the most important part of all. An individual who feels secure, relaxed and self-confident in the face of responsibilities and stressful situations will obviously be able to maintain a normal healthy condition, independent of the external pressures. It has been shown in thousands of cases of people who had high blood pressure that when they learned how to relax they were able to keep the problem under control often without the use of medical drugs.

7. There are OTHER CAUSES, which we have not mentioned here.

by: Kevin Stith

Dry macular degeneration occurs when the RPE or retinal pigment epithelium cells begin to atrophy (deteriorate) and lose their pigment. This deterioration is associated with the formation of small yellow deposits under the macula, known as Drusen. This leads to the contraction and drying out of the macula impairing its main function. Only one eye may be initially affected but in most cases, both eyes eventually become involved.

When people develop dry macular degeneration, the waste disposal system of the RPE or retinal pigment epithelium cells starts to deteriorate and waste starts to accumulate in the RPE. Aging also dramatically contributes to this accumulation. Soon, the normal function of the RPE is disrupted and the light-sensitive cells of the macula begin to degenerate.

by: Kevin Stith

As people age, the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), which supplies nutrients from the choroid (layer of blood vessels that nourishes the cones and rods of the retina) to the retina and helps remove waste products, may deteriorate. This results in the formation of waste deposits and the light-sensitive cells of the macula may be damaged due to lack of nutrients. The normal signals sent through the optic nerve to the brain by these cells become disrupted and the vision becomes blurred.

According to the estimate of Archives of Ophthalmology in 2004, approximately 1.75 million U.S. residents have indicative symptoms associated with AMD or age-related macular degeneration. The number is expected to grow to almost 3 million by 2020 according to this estimate.