E24|7 safety: Hot weather impact on eyes
High temperatures, extremely bright sunlight, hot air currents, and dry air are all factors that have direct impacts on the body in general and the eyes in particular. Individuals in areas where summer heat doesn’t exceed 35 degrees can feel these changes, so what would be the impact of these changes in the UAE, where temperatures rise dramatically.
Some of the precautions that can be adopted to reduce the direct negative impact of such weather are the use of headgears of light colors and hats to protect the face and the eyes from the sun. Sunglasses that contain ultraviolet (UV) protective filters can also be used for protection.
In some cases, the harsh weather can cause eye diseases such as keratoconus.
Perhaps many of us have heard the term keratoconus, but few of us know it in detail; not because it is a rare disease, but because of the variant rates of being affected by it. Keratoconus was discovered by a German doctor who has presented early descriptions of the condition during a medical meeting in 1748. He was followed by a British doctor who described in 1854 this disease very clearly and distinguished it from other diseases related to the cornea. He diagnosed it by double vision and weakness in the cornea.
In modern days keratoconus disease is diagnosed as structural changes that occur inside the cornea and might cause blurred vision that weakens rapidly, and visual acuity becomes weak despite the distances of objects, especially at night.
For some people, the vision in one eye becomes weaker than the other, while others experience abnormal sensitivity to light, as well as tingling and muscle fatigue. This disease is caused by changes and sensitivity in vision and weakness in the protein corneal tissue as a result of increasing the effectiveness of enzymes that cause the protein that build the cornea (eye collagen) to dissolve. As a result, the corneal tissue becomes thinner and the pressure inside the eye causes the cornea to extend out gradually forming keratoconus.
Eye rubbing is one of the things that cause keratoconus disease, as well as the wrong choice of contact lenses, allergic eye infections, and chronic inflammation of the eye. In most cases, there is no apparent cause for this disease.
As for the therapy, it includes several things and depends on the stages of development, its severity, and the visual capabilities of the patient. If the disease was in its infancy, eyeglasses or contact lenses can be an appropriate solution to improve vision, however as the disease progresses, the treatment include several methods such as:
• Implanting solid rings in the cornea.
• The treatment of keratoconus by orthogonal nodes (through the formation of orthogonal nodes between the perpendicular collagen fibers in the cornea).
• Implanting a new cornea.
One of the most recommended places for accurate treatments of keratoconus is Dubai. If you have one of the above-mentioned symptoms, it is better to visit a specialized center, like Spanish Center, to undergo a comprehensive examination and proper treatment.
Finally, as we said before, prevention is better than cure. So we must conduct periodic checkups to make sure of our vision safety.
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