Alzheimer’s Disease & the Peripheral Retina

Your eyes can tell us a great deal about your overall health. In fact your eyes may turn out to be a “window” to brain degenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s Disease. Researchers reporting in the Journal of Ophthalmic Research demonstrated that carefully examining and imaging the peripheral retina could identify a greater number of drusen which might be a marker for Alzheimer’s Disease. In addition they found that that while it is normal for blood vessels to get thinner as they approach the peripheral retina, Alzheimer’s patients had a significantly greater rate of thinning as the blood vessels were more peripheral in the retina. While peripheral retinal imaging is not a diagnostic measure for Alzheimer’s Disease, peripheral retina examination ad imaging of change in the eye could serve as a tool for disease progression in the brain.

Learn more at Alabama Eye & Cataract Center, P.C. in Birmingham at 205-930-0930, visit Alabama Eye & Cataract Center, Google or www.facebook.com/alabamaeyeandcataractcenter.

Michelson Laser Vision, Inc. and Alabama Eye & Cataract Center, P.C. are leading eye care centers in Birmingham located at UAB-Highlands, 1201 11th Avenue S, Suite 501, Birmingham, Alabama 35205 and staffed by UAB Medicine eye doctors and eye specialists.

Risky Contact Lens Behaviors

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) there are more than 41 million contact lens wearer above 18 years of age and the majority engage in behaviors that put them at risk for serious eye infections. Further, there are more than 3.5 million adolescents 12-17 of age of which 85% admit to at least one behavior that exposes them to increased risk of a contact lens related eye infection. The clearly risky behaviors include sleeping in lenses, exposing lenses to water, not adhering to replacement schedules, and reusing disinfecting solution. Contact lens related eye infections, which can lead to serious outcomes, including blindness, are preventable with good hygiene and wearing habits such as replacing the storage case regularly, not sleeping or even napping in lenses, not swimming in lenses and especially not exposing them to lake or pond water and preferably not even tap water.

If you or someone you know is a contact lens wearer please make sure they use the necessary behaviors and care of their lenses to prevent risking an eye infection. To learn more call us at Alabama Eye & Cataract Center, P.C. in Birmingham at 205-930-0930, visit Alabama Eye & Cataract Center, Google or www.facebook.com/alabamaeyeandcataractcenter.

Michelson Laser Vision, Inc. and Alabama Eye & Cataract Center, P.C. are leading eye care centers in Birmingham located at UAB-Highlands, 1201 11th Avenue S, Suite 501, Birmingham, Alabama 35205 and staffed by UAB Medicine eye doctors and eye specialists.