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Showing posts from November, 2015
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Why Do I Have To Get My Eyes Dilated? It’s true that having your eyes dilated during your routine eye exam can be a bit inconvenient. Not only does it take time, but once it’s over, you have to wear a pair of sunglasses in order to avoid that dreadful light sensitivity, and you may even have to organize transportation from a friend or family member. But dilating your eyes is one of the most important aspects of your eye exam, and wholly worth the trouble. By using special eye drops to dilate your eyes, your optometrist has the ability to see not only the outer surface of the eye, but also through the pupil, to the retina, and all the way to the back of the eye. This makes for a much more thorough look at your overall health. Through this process, your optometrist can examine your optic nerve and blood vessels and discover issues such as retinal thinning, tears, or holes that can lead to retinal detachment or blindness.  In addition to eye-related diseases such as glaucoma, cataract
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Why Is My Eyelid Twitching? You’ve likely experienced it at least once in your lifetime—suddenly your eyelid starts involuntarily twitching in spasms for no apparent reason. When this happens, it’s called myokymia. It’s a common phenomenon, but what causes it? There is no single, definitive cause for myokymia, but it seems to be rooted in such circumstances as lack of sleep, too much caffeine, increased levels of stress, or prolonged eye strain.  Most often, intermittent myokymia is harmless and will resolve on its own. But if spasms persist, you can try alternating hot and cold compresses to soothe the overactive nerve that’s responsible for the twitching.  Occasionally, myokymia can be a sign of dry eye, light sensitivity, pink eye, or be the side effect of certain medications. If you experience myokymia that continues for more than a week, or your eyelids completely close when spasms occur, call your eye doctor for an examination. In rarer cases, myokymia could be the result