Eye On Your Health

Blepharospasm is the technical name for eye twitching, something that may be nothing more than a nuisance but also quite disruptive. Occasional eye twitching does not require treatment other than stress reduction therapy. Unless the involuntary blinking or spasms of the eyelids are associated with Tourette’s syndrome or related neurological problems, which may require evaluation and treatment, the problem is not typically cause for concern. Otherwise, twitching caused by anxiety or rest may relieve fatigue. Blepharospasm is likely caused by abnormal function of the basal ganglion, which is the part of the brain responsible for controlling the eyelids’ muscles. If so, an injection of botox into the muscles is a considered treatment before undergoing myomectomy, the surgical removal of some of the muscles and nerves of the eyelids.

Neil F. Notaroberto, M.D.
EyeCare 20/20
Slidell – Mandeville – Harahan
www.eyecare2020.org

Eye On Your Health

If you think about it, the eyes may be tasked with collecting imagery from the world around us. However, it is the brain’s job to make sense of the information collected by the eyes and enable us to see. Further, researchers wanted to know whether there is an area of the brain that is actually responsible for reading. Using functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans, it was found that people reading Braille activate the exact same part of the brain as sighted people use. This finding upends the conventional theory that the brain is divided into specialized regions which process the information they receive via one sense or another. According to this research, the brain is not so much a “sensory” machine as it is a “task” machine that can perform a function regardless of where the sensory input comes from.

Neil F. Notaroberto, M.D.
EyeCare 20/20
Slidell – Mandeville – Harahan
www.eyecare2020.org

Eye On Your Health

Color blindness may seem like a relatively innocuous malady, but it does pose some problems. Color blindness is generally passed from generation to generation and is more prevalent in men. People with color vision problems may find it difficult to distinguish between red and green stoplights and so have to concentrate more attentitively on their driving. Most color vision problems are inherited which means that the color sensing cone cells in the retina are not functioning properly, in which case there is no effective treatment other than wearing color enhancing lenses. But when color blindness is caused by cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy, addressing the underlying condition may help ease the symptoms.

Neil F. Notaroberto, M.D.
EyeCare 20/20
Slidell – Mandeville – Harahan
www.eyecare2020.org

Eye On Your Health

Ophthalmologists are often asked if a cataract must be “ripe” before surgery is elected. This notion stems from the fact that patients used to wait for their cataracts to harden, or “ripen” before they could have surgery. In those days, as various proteins in the normally flexible eye lens clumped together, and as the lens got stiffer, it was easier to remove a fairly intact lens through a relatively large incision. The best results were attained by extracting a solid lens that did not fall apart as it was lifted out. Today, lens “ripeness” is irrelevant as modern surgical procedure entails breaking up and suctioning out the clouded lens utilizing the “phacoemulsification” technique that requires a minuscule incision. There is no objective test to determine the need for cataract surgery. Patients must decide for themselves on the basis of their vision loss.

Neil F. Notaroberto, M.D.
EyeCare 20/20
Slidell – Mandeville – Harahan
www.eyecare2020.org

Eye On Your Health

It would seem apparent that seniors would know of an eye condition which is a leading cause of blindness in their contemporaries. Yet, when older individuals express their knowledge of cataracts, misinformation abounds. An unfortunate aspect of this lack of knowledge of cataracts results in preventing those who need treatment from getting it by unrealistic expectations of treatment. Simply put, the U. S. National Eye Institute states that cataracts occur when the eye lens grow cloudy. Cataracts do not grow on top the eye. Nor should you wait until the eye lens becomes completely white before seeking surgical treatment. Cataracts can be removed and replaced with a clear, man-made lens with cataract surgery. With a 95% success rate, the surgery is generally performed under light sedation as an outpatient where the patient returns home the same day.

Neil F. Notaroberto, M.D.
EyeCare 20/20
Slidell – Mandeville – Harahan
www.eyecare2020.org