Glaucoma is a formidable and a very serious illness which is equally common among people of different countries no mater they are the inhabitants of the north or south, or from cities and villages, or mental workers towards physical labor ones. The name “glaucoma” comes from the Greek origin. It arose because sometimes the pupil area glaucomatous eyes have a yellowish-green color (In greek “glaukos” means “light green”). This thing happens during an acute attack of glaucoma. Currently, glaucoma is perceived as the main cause of incurable blindness and profound disability. You have to know the fourth part of the blinded from various diseases are patients who have lost vision from glaucoma.

The cardinal sign of glaucoma is violation of the regulation of intraocular pressure. Increased intraocular pressure for the second time leads to the development of all the other symptoms characteristic of the glaucomatous process.

The boundaries of normal intraocular pressure normally ranges from 18 to 27 mm Hg. The so called “top ophthalmotonus” for the most of people is in the early morning and later during the day the intraocular pressure is reduced by 2 – 5 mm Hg.

Glaucoma treatment

The most common treatment of congenital glaucoma is the surgical one. In fact, before that you are supposed to take the drug treatment with 1 – 2% solution of pilocarpine and 2 – 3% solution of atseklidiya or 0.25% solution optimola.

The so called youth glaucoma means that developed glaucoma at a young age. There is a hereditary transmission and usually the sick persons are the ones who are under 30 years. The clinical picture is diverse i.e. in some patients with marked changes in the iris, the other symptoms progressed slowly, the cornea of normal size, anterior chamber depth.

Basic principles of medical treatment of primary glaucoma

• local application of pilocarpine, optimola, klodilina,
• in the absence of compensation glaucomatous process for the deterioration of visual function the surgery is needed.

Currently, pharmacological treatment of glaucoma conducted in three main areas:

• normalization of intraocular pressure (therapy of local and general);
• treatment, contributing to improve the blood supply of the inner shells eye and optic nerve;
• treatment aimed at normalizing the metabolism in tissues of the eye to influence the degenerative processes typical of glaucoma.

Secondary glaucoma

Glaucoma may develop at different times after the removal of cataracts. Sometimes glaucoma may be as a manifestation of primary open-angle glaucoma and not diagnosed before cataract extraction. Treatment is done with 1 – 2% solution of pilocarpine joined with 0,25 – 0, 5% solution of clonidine 2 – 3 times per day and a 50% solution of glycerol or glycerin with ascorbic acid and fruit syrup.

Secondary glaucoma, disturbed circulation in the vessels of the eye, orbit and intraocular hemorrhages occur more frequently in the central vein thrombosis of the retina, with fewer violations of the venous circulation in the orbit (inflammation, swelling, throbbing enzoftalmy, edematous exophthalmos), with obliteration of the veins after diathermy coagulation of the sclera and its resection, with intraocular hemorrhages.

Therapeutic agents can help relieve hemorrhage: local – instillation of 3% solution of potassium iodide; 0,1% aqueous solution of lidasa or ronidazy; intramuscular use of lidasa, vitreous body.

Conjunctivitis disease comprise about one third of all eye diseases. Amongst them the leading place is in favor of inflammatory infectious conjunctivitis.

Acute and chronic conjunctivitis may have contagious nature caused by viruses and bacteria. Well, there may be also conjunctivitis caused by physical and chemical hazards as well as allergic conjunctivitis and conjunctivitis in common diseases.

Infectious conjunctivitis have expressed greater prevalence of contagious especially in kindergartens, nurseries, schools, educational institutions and industrial enterprises. Conjunctivitis are often caused by staphylococcus also.

Acute conjunctivitis starts first in one but soon comes to the other eye. Patients complain of a sense of debris or so called “sand” in the eye followed by pain and redness in the eyes as well as a watery or mucous-purulent discharge from the eye. Waking up in the morning, the patient normally had difficulty opening his / her eyes as the eyelids glued together with dried pus on the eyelashes. This may be preceded by entering the eye dust, cooling or overheating, swimming in non-flowing water and the general weakening of the organism, diseases of the nose, cold in the chest, etc.

For treatment of acute conjunctivitis in order to remove purulent discharge it is necessary to conduct by frequent washing of the eyeball. For the successful treatment they use 2% solution of boric acid and solution furacilinum of 1:5000 or 1:5000 of potassium permanganate solution (pale pink in terms of color). When doing washing the eyelids one should be well diluted and use a rubber spray.

Between washing the conjunctivitis cavity should be done in 2 – 3 hours antibacterial drops. As is often acute conjunctivitis caused coccal flora, the most appropriate to apply the sulfonamides and antibiotics: 30% solution of sodium sulfacyl and 1% solution of tetracycline and 1% solution of tetramitsina.

In acute conjunctivitis in any case it is not possible to apply the bandage on the eye patch since under the bandage blinking is not possible which contributing to the evacuation of the conjunctival cavity of purulent discharge.

Overall treatment normally should be done in a long time period and during the treatment some drugs which have the lack of effectiveness must be replaces in 1 – 2 weeks. You are to use 1% of erythromycin ointment and 1 % emulsion of chloromycetin.

Prevention of acute conjunctivitis is to comply with the rules of personal hygiene and do not touch eyes with dirty hands, do not apply common goods. All persons who were in contact with the patient, prophylaxis is recommended for 2 – 3 days instilled into the eyes of a 30% solution of sodium sulfacyl, in other words albutsid. Also, one should change daily towel and linen until the termination of purulent discharge and it is strictly prohibited to use common items of daily use. Infection can occur from an infected person via dirty hands, as well as by airborne droplets.

Most acute conjunctivitis are caused by adenovirus and may occur in the form of fever with the rise of temperature, inflammation of the upper respiratory tract and increasing the submandibular lymph nodes.

Catarrhal conjunctivitis is the most mild manifestation of the disease and lasts an average of 5 – 7 days. Full recovery might be achieved in 15 days.

Pseudomembranous form of decease is rather rarer. The thin transparent covers are usually soft, grayish-white and easy to remove moist cotton swab. However, in some cases form a fairly dense fibrinous covers with difficulty separating from the subject of inflamed mucosa. After removing the exposed surface of the transparent cover can bleed. Follicular form is characterized by rash follicles or vesicles on the conjunctiva of the cartilage and transitional folds. Follicles may be many in quantities and large and sprinkle the entire loosening mucous membrane century. The disease is very similar to the initial stage of trachoma.

Treatment of conjunctivitis

The following remedies are successfully applied:

• Florenalum (0,1% solution in drops),
• Oxolinum (0,1 – 0, 2% in the form of burial),
• Tebropheum (0,1% solution and 0.5% ointment Nye)
• Gludantanum (0,1% aqueous solution in drops 6 times a day).

Sulfanilamide (30% solution of sodium sulfacyl) and antibiotics do not have a specific effect on the adenovirus, but they are appropriate for the prevention of secondary infection. The best effect is observed with drugs tetracycline and chloromycetin because these antibiotics have strong virus-stopping effect.

The overall resistance to adenovirus infection increases dibasol, salicylates, vitamins and desensitization drugs.

Сonjunctivitis, caused by physical and chemical hazards, is in most cases professional chronic diseases of conjunctiva. The polluted air, dust, smoke and vapors of various chemicals can cause chronic conjunctivitis. The harmful effect of these agents to be observed in various industrial enterprises here are coal, cement, flour milling, sawmilling, many kinds of chemical industry, where workers have to deal with acids, alkalis, pairs of other compounds.

Complaints of patients include redness, feeling debris eye, tearing, burning, heaviness in the eyelids, growing in the evening. In the morning at the inner corner of eye slit is collected and separated in the form of lumps of mucus.

Treatment of chronic conjunctivitis is more often implies the use of drops and cold compresses of binding agents (infusion of tea, 0.25% solution of resorcinol), with exacerbations and the presence of discharge – 30% solution of sodium sulfacyl and antibiotics. Desinfecting ointments are usually applied nights. In case of professional conjunctivitis it is required to to comply with preventive measures to eliminate the impact of harmfull influence.

Take care of your eyes if working a lot at the computer

For people who spent too much time at the computer it is essential to obey the following rules:

• The screen of your monitor is to be positioned somewhat above the level of your eyes. In this case the eyes do not experience slight tension and it is a bit easier for the eye muscle to reflect the information.
• The working place should have a reasonable lightning which is not very bright but at the same time the light should not fall directly into your eyes;
• In order to bring outside brightness towards the brightness of your computer screen the walls within the room might be painted in blue color;
• When you are to work at the computer for several hours please do not forget to make a pause of about 15 minutes for every hour.



Gymnastics for computer addicted men and those who have to work at PCs.

1. Please do some strong blinking for a couple of minutes and then open your eyes widely for a minute rest.
2. The rotation of the eye (look up, down, left and right without turning his head), first in one, and then in another direction.
3. Frequent blinking for 1-2 minutes.
4. Massage closed eyelids in a circular motion of fingers in a minute.

The stress state of the eye undermines the nervous system of man. When the work is the eye is restored, significant changes for the better occurred in the entire nervous system.

Suggestions of lads from Silicon Valley

If you are doing a software job handling a numerous tasks conducted with the help of PC then it is more likely your eyes will get infected with appearance red streaks. In this case it is worth doing and practically necessary to take working breaks towards the computer in order not to lose good eyesight.

In fact, the symptoms of eye fatigue are as follows: evening tiredness followed by reddening of proteins characteristic of headaches at moments when the eye is affected by intense pain directed through the forehead to the crown. Such kind of overall condition looks rather unhealthy and can not endure for a long time being. In order to put things together and achieve normal functioning one has to observe the rules of simple hygiene. The main objective is to ensure that your eyes do not experience overextend and regular rest.

First point to be followed up says: your job should be sufficiently lighted up. In other words make sure that the light rays do not fall directly in your eyes. Thus, you have to install properly the screen just in the center comprising about up to 20 inches below your eye sight with selection the appropriate and correct distance which is not less than 50 cm. If the situation does not match with the above mentioned requirements please replace the screen not in the horizontal position, but with somewhat slant angle convenient to your eyes. If at the certain distance you still experience slight difficulties and not clearly see the images you are to select the better and larger font size.

Second point is such that while working at the computer for every 2-3 hours you\\’ d better put on special perforated goggles that relieves spasms of eye muscles. Such kind of glasses are available in any shopping center so it is not tough to obtain. Apart from the above said you have to close your eyes for a few seconds in order to give the eye muscles a relaxation period and unwind. Please, do not forget conduct breaks for every 40 minutes so that things will work out properly.

Suggested gymnastics for the eyes

Everyone knows since childhood period that gymnastics for eyes is an effective instrument and measure against future troubles that may occur. So, here is a number of items to be considered in order to have your eyes in a good condition all the time.

• Close your eyes without straining the eye muscles and make them widening and look into the distance on top of the monitor. Has to be repeated up to 5 times.
• Stare at the tip of your nose with moving your glance into a long distance. To be repeated 4-5 times.
• Make a circular motion with eyes with turning your head from side to side i.e. from one direction to the other one.
• Conduct diagonal movement with the help of your eyes in the both sides.
• Up side down movement which is to be repeated up to 4 times.
• Look at the index finger which was initially removed from the eye at a distance of 25-30 cm, and then without taking his eyes from his finger close to the tip of the nose.
  Simple and accessible to everyone, even though these exercises are carried out within a minute, but the benefit did not bring small eyes.
Read more on how to take care of your eyes

Eye exercises – combating farsightedness

• Take a deep breath with your eyes being closed as strongly as possible (under somewhat pressure). Then tighten the muscles of the neck and face or head while holding your breath for over 2 or 3 seconds, then exhale quickly keeping your eyes wide open as you exhale. To be repeated about 5 times.
• You are to close your eyes conducting slight massage of your eyebrows and the lower part of the eye sockets in a circular motion i.e. from the nose to the temples.
• Please, close your eyes providing a relaxed condition of your eyebrows. Then move your eyeballs from left to right and backwards. The exercise has to be repeated at least 10 times to get a sufficient result.
• Put your thumb at a distance of about 30 cm from your eyes while looking with both eyes at the end of the finger for about 5 seconds and then close one eye for about 3 seconds and then watch fixedly by two eyes and close another eye afterwards. Repeat that about 10 times.
• Put you fingertips on your temples and perform circuit movements. Do it gently and squeeze them about 10 times, but the speed of your moves should be not so fast – it should be easy for you to blink. Close your eyes and relax, making 2 or 3 deep breaths. Has to be repeated about 3 times at least.

The appropriate solutions for Kids in terms of eye care

If the child rubs eyes with palms and is complaining of fatigue spend some time for simple exercises for the eyes, that go as follows:

• rapidly blink a lot, then close/open eyes more slowly and sit quietly for about half a minute;
• make the child close his/her eyes tightly for a few seconds with opening them later on and taking a distant look for a while;
• straighten your right arm forward and make the kid watch the slow movements of the index finger: left, right, up and down;
• complete on average rate of 3 to 4 times of circular motions with his/her eyes going right and then left;
• by sitting on some kind of surface put his/her hands on the belt with turning the head right and looking at the elbow of his left hand and vice versa;
• do light massaging movements of the upper and lower eyelids with index fingers.

Such exercises can be included in the game you play with your kid.

Good habbits for your eyes

As a conclusion for regular habits to keep your eyes in a good condition:

• blink more actively and regularly;
• try to breathe more deeply and freely as often as you can;
• move your eye sight from the near objects to distant ones and vice versa;
• while examining any object motivate yourself to move your sight over it;
• don’t narrow your lids and concentrate on the objects too much;
• close your eyes more often to give them a rest.

What’s the right way to watch TV?

Overall, the process of watching films and news is useful for the eyes in small portions as well as contributes to the vibration of nerves in the retina. As for movies you’d better not to stare much from a close distance as it can lead to reduction of eye focusing ability. For those people who had eye problems and successfully treated them it is strictly forbidden to watch TV for more than one hour a day. Important! Please do not just watch everything for several hours!

Some exercises received from the audience – methods helpful to relieve eye strain

1. When you have to sit all day long at the computer your eyes may is probably out of shape. Well, some of our patients sent us a plenty of letters with there experiences and exercises they are doing and consider useful.There are isometric exercises and one can easily do them anywhere. The first one is while waiting for the subway or a bus you’re supposed to squeeze your cheeks together and count up to ten and then let your eyes relax.

2. Good influence on the blood circulation as well as nerves provides stroking of closed eyes or vibration and also pressure and massage the palm and light kneading. The most common method of massage with two fingers is the index and middle in the form slight round-up movement. Along the lower edge of the eye movement move also up to the nose the upper edge of the eye and above the eyebrows. This movement has to be repeated up to 10-15 times.

3. Complex #1.

a. Horizontal eye movements: from right to left and the opposite way. That kind of exercises is reasonable for eye pressure improvement.
b. Frequent movements of the eyeballs straight up and down. The circular movements of eyes in a clockwise direction as well as in the opposite direction.
c. Intensive squeezing and opening of eyes at a rapid pace.
d. Eye movements on a diagonal directions i.e squinted in the lower left corner, then a straight transfer look up. The same way to be done in the opposite direction after 5 minutes rest.
e. Reduction of the eye to the nose. To complete this task successfully you have to put a finger to nose and look at him – eyes easy to “unite”. Please, finish this exercise with frequent blinking eyes.
f. Distant view. You have to go to the window and look closely at the close, visible detail. It might be the branch of a tree growing outside the window or scratches on the glass. You can also stick on the glass a tiny circle of paper and then have a look into the distance then trying to see the most distant objects.

For the best result each exercise should be repeated at least 6 times in each direction.

4. Complex #2 – for myopia prevention.

a. While leaning back please take a deep breath first and then lean forward with exhaling.
b. While leaning back in your chair please cover your eyelids with eyes shut tight then to continue with opening the eyelids.
c. Put your hands upon your waist and turn your head to the right first looking at the elbow on the right hand side, then turn your head to the left looking at the elbow of your left hand to be finished by returning to the starting position.
d. You are to raise eyes to make them complete a circular motion clockwise to be forwarded then like counterclockwise.

5. Raise your hands forward and look at fingertips, then raise your hands up with the eyes following the movement of hands without raising head and lowering the arms.

These Complex #2 exercises are likely to be repeat every 40-50 minutes of work at the computer, if possible.

Some additional techniques to relieve eye strain

• look straight ahead into the distance up to 2-3 seconds. Then put a finger to a distance at a reasonable distance of around 30 cm from your eye and look at it for 5 seconds. After that lower your arm and again look into the distance. That should be repeated at least 10 times.
• move the pencil from the arm’s length to the tip of the nose and back with your watching how it moves. That should be repeated at least 10 times.
• attach to the window glass at eye level round tag with a diameter of 5 mm. Then transfer the view from a distant object behind the window to the label and repeat the procedure 10 times.
• eyes are open slowly during the time of breath with gently draw of the eyes in space like such directions as horizontal, vertical, diagonal. That should be repeated at least 5 times.
• have a look for 5-6 seconds on the thumb extended at the eye level for right hand. Then slowly move your right hand with watching the finger without turning your head. Same run has to be done with your left hand. To be repeated 5 times in each direction.

Eye care

Eyes may be considered as one of the most important parts of human body and to many it is a true fact. But not all of us see the necessity of taking care of eyes on a regular basis. If someone would ask you whether you constantly take care of your eyes at least once a week or even once a month, the majority of common people would reply in a negative form. Well, that’s a shameful news since the eyes are perceived by many as one of the most important functional organ within the whole body and should be treated very carefully every once in a while.

An interesting fact is that though we use our eyes everyday, we do not consider the problems we are having with how properly we see the world around us. Doctors call this a syndrome of “get used to seeing badly” even though some of the eyes disorders can cause a more serious problem at a later stage of their development. For example, things like eye cataract may start progressing month by month and year by year but for a person the overall deterioration process might be not so feasible. We will go through such different cases later but at first we would like to remind the basic eye treatment rules that a human has to follow.

Eye hygiene procedures:

• Every morning after waking up you should fill your mouth with water then close your eyes and sprinkle water on them trying to do it about 10 times. You may also use some pot for doing this procedure since the idea is to produce massage effect so try to use warm water and never too hot or cold.
• Start to stare at long distance object for a second and then transfer your sight to a close distance object so that the eye muscle would practically exercise by getting more or less tension. Another thing which is pretty good afterwards for giving rest to your eyes is blinking.
• Take your hands and put them directly upon your eyes so that they completely cover eyeball. Try to feel the warmth coming from your palms directly into the eyes and make your eyes feel really relaxed.
• Avoid such things as reading or writing in the atmosphere where light is not sufficient and have more often breaks when it is, so give rest to your eyes if you feel heaviness or tiredness in the eyes.
• Some doctors state it is better not to stay up late in the night and to sleep after sunrise since it might be harmful for eyes. Well, it is still controversial but if you really feel ease in your eyes by following these simple rules, please do so.
• It might look as a too simple thing which goes without saying but still we consider it is worth reminding that you have to avoid such things like dust or smoke contacting with your eyes, as well as a strong wind since it may bring some discomfort from so called “foreign body” and do some harm.
• Do a course of eye exercises whenever you have got free time, so that all the muscles will be involved and kept active. In this case you will not have to worry if you work in a situation with lack of light etc. The set of appropriate exercises will be presented in the next article.
• Try to eat cranberries, bilberries as well as cabbage and carrots more often since the vitamins containing in such products are good for stable eye pressure and overall nutrition process.