Mittleman Eye Services
Providing lifetime of vision care in a setting of excellence
Cornea & Retina Care in West Palm Beach & Jupiter, FL
Regular eye exams are an integral part of keeping your eyes healthy and your vision clear. Eye exams check for new problems and monitor existing problems so they don’t get worse. If you wear corrective eyewear, eye exams are a good opportunity to check your prescription and explore new frames or lens options.
Cornea Overview
The cornea is the transparent, convex shield that protects the eye’s pupil and iris. It plays a key role in ensuring sharp vision by focusing incoming light on the retina. If the cornea is misshapen or becomes damaged, your eyesight will lose its clarity.
The eye’s cornea is a clear layer of tissue that protects some of the internal structures and helps to focus incoming light. Changes to the shape of the cornea can be detrimental to visual clarity.
Several conditions impact the health of the cornea. Keratitis is a painful infection that causes inflammation and can scar and otherwise damage the cornea. Treatments range from antibiotic eyedrops to corneal transplants in severe cases.
Corneal Dystrophies
A corneal dystrophy refers to a progressive condition — often inherited — in which the cornea loses its transparency due to a buildup of abnormal material. Two of the most prevalent are described below.
Fuch’s Corneal Dystrophy
The cornea has five primary layers. Fuchs’ dystrophy affects the endothelium layer, which is responsible for pumping fluid out of the central layers of the cornea. In this condition, endothelial cells die off, which can lead to corneal swelling and cloudy or hazy vision. Depending on the stage of the disease, vision may be blurry only upon waking in the morning (and slowly improving throughout the day) or persistently blurry all day.
Keratoconus
Keratoconus is the most common dystrophy. With this progressive condition, the cornea, which is usually round like a basketball, gradually thins and bulges into a more oblong shape like a football. This distortion interferes with the cornea’s focusing abilities and causes a decline in visual acuity. Severe cases of keratoconus can cause corneal scarring and require corneal transplant surgery.
Corneal crosslinking has been shown to delay the progression of keratoconus and possibly reduce or eliminate the need for more invasive treatment later on. During a corneal crosslinking treatment, the doctor administers a combination of riboflavin drops and ultraviolet light directly to the eye, which strengthens the collagen that holds the cornea together. By reinforcing the cornea, corneal crosslinking can stop or slow down the thinning and distortion that occurs with keratoconus.
Keratitis
Keratitis is an inflamed cornea. An eye with keratitis can feel irritated, experience blurry vision or light sensitivity and look red. Infectious keratitis is caused by the presence of bacteria, virus or fungi in the eye, while noninfectious keratitis can be caused by a scratch, dryness or allergies. The appropriate treatment for the condition generally depends on the root cause. People who wear contact lenses are most susceptible to keratitis because it is easier to get bacteria in the eye this way.
Pterygium
Pterygium is pinkish tissue that grows on the sclera and expands to the cornea. It is most often due to excess sun and wind exposure — common elements we experience in the West Palm Beach community. As pterygium gets bigger, it can begin to obstruct vision, but an ophthalmologist can remove the growth.
Dry Eye
Dry eye, also known as keratoconjunctivitis sicca, is an ocular surface disease that can be harmful to the cornea. Many cases occur when the meibomian glands in the eyelids are blocked and cannot function properly.
The eye’s tear film plays an important role in lubricating the eyes and promoting clear vision. The tear film is comprised of three layers: oil, water and mucus. The oily layer, which is produced by the meibomian glands, is responsible for helping tears “stick” to the ocular surface. If the glands become obstructed by thickened oil deposits, they cannot secrete oils into the tear film, and the tears evaporate too quickly. This condition is called evaporative dry eye.
Symptoms
Evaporative dry eye symptoms include the following:
- Burning or itching of the eyes
- Red eyes
- Sensitivity to light
- Blurry vision
- A “foreign body sensation” – i.e., the feeling of a piece of dirt or debris stuck in the eyes
Complications
A healthy tear film is important for ocular health. Severe cases of dry eye that are left untreated can lead to complications affecting the cornea. For example, a chronic lack of moisture can cause inflammation and ulcers to form on the cornea. Also, untreated dry eye can increase the risk of eye infections.
How to Schedule a Consultation
To learn more about the cornea and ways to treat and detect risks to its integrity, request a consultation at our West Palm Beach or Jupiter office by contacting Mittleman Eye today.
Cornea FAQs
Why is the cornea so important?
The cornea plays an essential role in sight because it refracts and focuses the light that enters the eye, which allows you to see. Beyond that, the cornea is an outer, transparent layer that protects the pupil and iris from debris and dust. It can withstand minor abrasions and repair itself.
How much does it cost to treat corneal conditions?
The cost of cornea care ultimately depends on the type of condition you have and the treatment you receive. Your medical insurance is likely to cover most types of cornea problems. If you are seeking care for dry eye, it is worthwhile to check your policy beforehand to see what exactly you are entitled to.
Mittleman Eye does offer financing options through CareCredit for patients who want to make payments toward their out-of-pocket expenses.
What is a cornea transplant?
Cornea transplant, also known as keratoplasty, is a serious surgery that replaces the patient’s damaged cornea with corneal tissue from a donor body. While most corneal transplants are successful at restoring vision, the recovery process from this surgery is significant: it can take over a year for full vision to be return. For that reason, corneal transplant is usually only suggested when other reasonable solutions have been ruled out.
Can I go blind due to a corneal condition?
Unfortunately, yes. Cornea conditions can impair your vision and, in extreme cases, even lead to complete blindness. According to the latest data, corneal blindness is the fourth leading cause of blindness in the world. (In the developed world, including the United States, it is significantly less likely thanks to the variety of treatments — including corneal transplant — available to handle these issues.)
Why is early detection so important for keratoconus?
While treatments like corneal crosslinking are highly effective at slowing and sometimes even halting the progression of keratoconus, it does not reverse the bulging of the eye. The sooner your doctor can diagnose and treat this debilitating eye condition, the more of your vision can be preserved. It makes sense to get a comprehensive eye examination at the first sign of trouble so you can undergo a non-invasive treatment like corneal cross-linking before keratoconus gets worse.
What happens if I ignore my dry eye symptoms?
Disregarding your dry eye symptoms is not a wise decision. What may currently feel like run-of-the-mill eye irritation can develop into more significant inflammation and impede the quality of your vision. Abrasions and corneal ulcers can also follow. Without proper moisture, your eyes are susceptible to infections.
Retina Overview
The retina is the screen on which the cornea projects the Technicolor cinema of your life’s experiences. The rods and cones of this sensory membrane convert images into chemical and electrical pulses that travel down the optic nerve, where neurons wait to decode the visual reality of the world around you..
The retina is the key component of the eye that enables sight. Maintaining the health of your retina is critical to protecting the longevity of your sight. The retina specialists at Mittleman Eye in West Palm Beach and Jupiter, FL are highly trained ophthalmologists with the expertise to diagnose and treat emerging problems.
What Is the Retina?
The retina is a membrane layer at the far back of the eyeball. It contains two types of photoreceptor cells: rods and cones. While the rods are useful for detecting motion and seeing in diminished light, the cones are useful for central vision and seeing colors. The retina receives light that passes through the cornea and lens and passes it along to the brain via the optic nerve. The visual cortex a portion of the brain that turns the incoming information into images.
Retinal Hazards
Not surprisingly, damage to the retina is a serious threat to your ability to see clearly, or see at all. Risks to this essential ocular structure include:
Retinal Tears
This condition can occur when the eye’s vitreous fluid shrinks in volume and begins to pull on the retinal membrane. A retinal tear may create sudden distortions in vision, such as flashing lights and shapes that appear to float.
Retinal Detachment
This occurs when fluid seeps under the retina, usually through a retinal tear, but sometimes as a result of diabetic retinopathy. The end result is that the retina becomes separated from the back of the eye, and normal vision is no longer possible. Eyesight can be permanently lost if retinal detachment is not immediately treated. Various surgical treatments exist, but a delay in seeking help will decrease the likelihood of success with these procedures.
Epiretinal Membrane Changes
Changes in the epiretinal membrane, the thin covering positioned on top of the retina. If this membrane begins to pull on the retina, blurred or distorted vision is the result.
Damage to the Macula
An injury or unusual friction between the retina and vitreous may create a defect in the center of the macula, known as a macular hole. In the case of macular degeneration, damage to the retina occurs when the center begins to deteriorate. This can create a central blind spot in the field of vision.
Retinitis Pigmentosa
Retinitis pigmentosais a genetic condition that causes progressive corneal damage, resulting in reduced peripheral and night vision.
Retinal Vein Occlusion
Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is a blockage of the main retinal vein, or a branch vein. When this happens, blood and fluid back up near the center of the retina. This macular edema affects the retina’s ability to efficiently receive images, resulting in blurry vision.
In approximately one-third of cases, RVO can lead to a type of glaucoma known as neovascular glaucoma, which dramatically raises pressure in the eye and threatens your vision.
When pressure soars to dangerous levels within the eye, blood begins to leak from the capillaries, blocking light from reaching photoreceptors and partially obscuring vision. For some patients, this kind of hemorrhaging may happen once, but for others it can become a condition that persists for months or years. Treatment involves regular injections to reduce pressure within the eye.
Symptoms of a Retinal Condition
Potential symptoms you may notice if you have a retinal disorder include:
- Blurry central vision
- New floaters that appear in your field of vision
- Seeing flashes of light
- Reduced peripheral vision
- Decreasing ability to discern colors
Please schedule a comprehensive eye examination if you are experiencing these symptoms.
Why Seeing a Retinal Specialist Is So Important
A retina specialist has an in-depth understanding of retinal diseases and vitreoretinal medicine. After completing medical school and an ophthalmology residency, retinal specialists must undergo an additional year or two of vitreoretinal training. During this fellowship, they learn how to use the latest technology that allows them to identify and properly treat retinal conditions.
Schedule a Consultation for Retinal Disease Detection
If you would like to learn more about preventing and detecting retinal risks, we invite you to schedule a personal consultation with an experienced ophthalmologist at our West Palm Beach or Jupiter office by contacting Mittleman Eye today.
Retina FAQs
Why must my eyes be dilated when the doctor looks at my retina?
When your doctor shines a light on your eye, the pupil reflexively shrinks. Dilation drops ensure that the pupil stays large and open while the doctor looks at the retina at the back of the eye. Without dilation, your doctor may not be able to diagnose a potential problem. The good news is that pupil dilation does not typically cause pain (some patients may notice a light stinging) and wears off after a few hours. Your eyes may experience light sensitivity in the meantime.
What is the macula?
The macular is at the center of the retina and is responsible for processing your central vision. Problems that may affect the macula include age-related macular degeneration (AMD), macular hole and retinal vein occlusion. All these conditions can make your central vision much less clear.
Is it true that having diabetes can harm my retina?
If you have diabetes, you are at risk for diabetic retinopathy, as well as other related retinal conditions. The best way to prevent vision loss from diabetic retinopathy is to manage your blood sugar levels and undergo regular eye examinations to ensure that your eye health remains strong. The retinal specialists at Mittleman Eye have extensive experience treating patients with diabetic retinopathy.
Is it possible to replace my retina?
Although science has advanced to the point where the cornea can be transplanted, the same is not true of the retina. Your best and only practical choice for preserving your vision is to treat the retinal disease.