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Show ! Your Doctor ! Says . . . J 1 ht tultvHiTiK ts one of a series of ait til m written fc members of the Utah State Med it at A suctattvn and , published in cooperation with vour j local netfipapei 7 het artitles are scheduled to apptar eery other eek thiouzhuut the eat in an effort to better acquaint you uith problems of I health, and designed to impioye the well brtnz of the people of Utah. I Eye Conditions Which Should Have Medical Attention Curiuus complaints, some trivial some urgent, bring patients to the eye physician. There may he only the seeing, momentarily and in certain cer-tain lights, ol branching vessels in the retina; 01 one may see curious moving particles when looking at the summei sky ot a brightly lighted light-ed wall surface. These lattei represent rep-resent images of blood cells traveling travel-ing in capillaries of the retina which seem to go whirling along for a short way then disappear. The seeing of each of these Dhe-nome- j is normal undei such circumstances. cir-cumstances. Light flashes, produced by sudden pressure upon the eye. may be of no consequence; but their occurence undei other conditions, con-ditions, as when entering a darkened dark-ened room or leaving it, may indicate indi-cate threatened hemorrhage into the eye, or even beginning detachment detach-ment of the retina. If such an experience is repeated the eve M.D. toms arise rrom many causes some of which get steadily worse with any delay In obtaining propel treatment. There may be only soreness sore-ness of the eyes to movement ot them, which often accompanies acute inflammation of the optic nerve, but may stem from other less serious conditions. Eyes that seem to have too little tears and which give distress when first opened in the morning should have attention, as this may be the first indication from a long-continued and trying general disease of which the eye trouble is only a small part. An impression of too much secretion se-cretion of tears may come from partial or complete blocking of the tear duct in one or both eyes. This results in the tears overflowing the lids and running down the face. There are many causes of such a problem. In young children it usually usu-ally means failure of the lower end of the tear duct to open, and attention atten-tion should be given to correct it. All of these conditions are curable, but some of them are difficult. There are many things that cause acute inflammation of the eyes, and they range all the way from so-called "pink-eye," an inflamed in-flamed state of the membrane lining lin-ing eyelids and covering over the white part of the eyeball, to iritis and glaucoma both of which may cause total blindness when neglected. neglect-ed. A scratch, burn or bruise of the cornea, or clear part of the eye, when infected, may cause an ulcer which is painful and may result in a permanent scar. This can occasion oc-casion considerable loss of sight, and prompt treatment will usually prevent such damage. Occasionally individuals are born I should be consulted at once. Small I hemmorrhages into the back of the eye may be made known by the I seeing of "webs" or floaters" or a I "black object" at the side, which I disappear when one looks where it seemed to be. Following the light flashes, separation sep-aration of the retina will usually be manifested by a veil-like cut in the field of vision of the affected . eye. This seems to increase in size from morning to evening. Appearance Appear-ance of any such thing means urgent ur-gent need of specialized attpntinn to prevent complete detachment and loss of the eye. Any lowering of visiotLat distance, dis-tance, especially if it comes on within a few hours or days, may mean that a disease, such as diabetes dia-betes or high blood pressure, is affecting af-fecting the retina and choroid. Chronically lowered acuteness ot vision should be studied to discovei the cause, since it may be helped by glasses or some other means In a person of middle age of beyond, be-yond, this may occur from begin ning development of cataract m from some condition involving blood vessels to the retina. Sudden loss of sight in one or both eve.-is eve.-is a serious matter and should he seen by an eye physician at the earliest possible moment. Painful andoi red eyes should have medical care, as these svnip- with poor vision due to some malformation mal-formation or failure of development. develop-ment. Such things may often be helped much, and any child or adult who sees poorly should have careful examination by an eye physician phy-sician to determine the cause and to give whatever help may be available in overcoming the condition. condi-tion. Crossing of the eyes results from lack of proper coordination of the muscles that move them. This is a curable abnormality, and its victim vic-tim shouM have the attention of a medical -specialist as soon as possible pos-sible after the deviation is first observed. Immediate treatment or surgery may not be indicated, in the case of a young child, but it should be under the supervision of a practitioner with special training in this field. Seeing double usually results from recent upset in coordination coor-dination of the eye muscles. Headache comes from a long list of causes. Disturbed eye function, while not as commonly responsible as is supposed, does play a part in the causation of many headaches. Marked sensitiveness to light m;iv he a symptom of a general disease, or it may be only a personal per-sonal handicap. Where severe de-giee de-giee it such a state exists it should he investigated to determine its possibilities. Occasionally, lack of some .it the elements of the vitamin vita-min H complex is at fault. |