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 sooth 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 of a more serious condition, such as inflamed eyelids (blepharitis) or a nerve disorder.

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, cataracts, and macular degeneration, dilation also enables your optometrist to detect the early warning signs of more general health issues, including high blood pressure and diabetes.

Despite the inconvenience, having your eyes dilated during your regularly scheduled eye exam is an important part of preventive health, for both your eyes and your whole body. Never skip out on having your eyes dilated—reserve the time, take your sunglasses, and schedule a ride home, and rest assured knowing you’re staying on top of preventative health measures that could make all the difference in your eye health and general health.

Ophthalmologists, Optometrists & Opticians: What’s The Difference?

Every ophthalmologist, optometrist and optician is an eye care professional, but not all eye care professionals possess each of these particular specialties. So what’s the difference?

Ophthalmologist. This type of eye doctor is an MD and specializes in both detecting and treating eye diseases. Becoming an ophthalmologist requires up to 12 years of dedicated education, and enables an individual to provide total eye health care, including eye exams, medical and surgical eye care, vision services, glasses and contact lens prescriptions, and general health care as it relates to ocular issues.

Optometrist. This individual, called an OD or doctor of optometry, completes six or more years of education and specializes in performing eye exams, prescribing glasses and contact lenses, and providing vision therapy and low vision solutions. An optometrist can detect and diagnose some eye conditions, but in most cases, will refer patients with more serious eye health issues to an ophthalmologist for further treatment.

Optician. Individuals with two-year degrees in ophthalmic dispensing or optometric technology are opticians. These individuals dispense, adjust, fit, and repair ophthalmic devices such as glasses or contact lenses. They are not doctors, and therefore cannot advise on or treat eye health issues, but can provide a wealth of information and services regarding the glasses or contact lenses you are prescribed.

Each of these eye care professionals offer their own set of useful skill sets that make it easy for patients to receive the eye health care they need. Knowing the differences helps you understand the eye care profession and enables you to make smart choices about your eye health.

Protect Your Eyes at Work

We only have two eyes, so it’s important we protect them with proper eyewear in every aspect. At work is a great example, not just for those that sit in front of a computer all day enduring eye strain, but also for those working in trade and craft fields such as carpenters, plumbers, machinists, millwrights, and laborers that encounter flying debris or small particles and chemicals. Wearing protective eyewear can prevent up to 90 percent of all eye injuries, but not just any eyewear will do. Did you know safety glasses are significantly different from regular eyeglasses?

Safety eyewear must meet specific criteria set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ANSI tests and sets the ratings for safety eyewear and OHSA sets the standards for the workplace. While safety eyewear can be prescription and non-prescription, these higher standards apply to both the lenses and the frames. The lenses and frames must go through several tests for mass impact, velocity impact, durability, flammability-resistance, corrosion-resistance, plus many more. But how do you know what safety glasses are best? Both prescription and non-prescription safety eyewear will be permanently marked with impact ratings. Z87 refers to basic impact rated eyewear and Z87+ refers to high impact rated eyewear. When in doubt, go for the high impact rating.

Remember, keep those eyes of yours protected. Even if you don’t work in a trade or craft field, we recommend keeping a pair of safety glasses at home to wear when working on projects around your home that could create a risk for eye injuries. To order prescription safety eyewear or for other questions related to protective eyewear, give us a call. We’re happy to answer your questions and help you with your eyewear needs.

Smoking . . . It’s Damaging Your Eyes

Study after study has proven smoking is bad for your health, especially your lungs and heart, but there are some detrimental effects smoking has on your vision, too. Smoking has been linked to two of the leading causes of vision loss, cataracts and macular degeneration, as well as a number of other eye health problems.

Cataracts occur when the lens in your eye thickens and becomes less transparent and less flexible. The lens becomes cloudy, causing vision changes including blurring, faded color perception, glare, poor night vision, double vision, and reduced vision. You could compare vision with cataracts to looking through a waterfall. So what’s the link to smoking? The more you smoke, the greater the risk becomes to develop cataracts. Smoking contributes to cataracts by altering the cells of the lens through oxidation. There is also evidence that smoking leads to the accumulation of heavy metals like cadmium in the lens.

Macular degeneration involves the deterioration of the macula, the central part of the retina that allows us to perceive fine details. As the macula wears out, people experience blurriness, distortions, or blind spots in their central vision. And how does this connect to smoking? Smoking promotes macular degeneration by interfering with blood flow to the retina. Smoking also increases the harmful effects of oxidation on the cells of the macula.

What’s one of the safest things to do for your vision? Never start smoking at all. If you are a smoker, quit. Ex-smokers still have an increased risk of vision loss from cataracts or macular degeneration when compared with people who have never lit up a cigarette. For more information on how smoking can affect your eye health, call our office today.

Flu Season is Upon Us

The inevitable flu season. It comes back to get us every year. Luckily, there are many easy ways to help protect yourself this season, and most methods should sound familiar; thorough hand washing, a mix of rest and regular physical activity, and lots of vitamin C are great habits for staying healthy no matter what the season is. Other simple preventative measures include avoiding direct contact with your eyes, nose, and mouth, as well as avoiding close interaction with others who may be sick. And of course, it’s important to get vaccinated to prevent a run in with the flu, but did you know there’s another preventative measure out there?

A routine eye exam is one way that flu symptoms may be detected before they become severe. In the early stages of any virus, symptoms may be less detectable, but there a number of subtle signs in the eyes that can be an early indication of a virus like the cold or flu. Doctors can look underneath your eyelids for a papillary reaction. A papillary reaction looks like goose bumps with redness and irritation, all things that indicate a patient is symptomatic. Besides early detection of viruses like the cold or flu, eye exams can also detect signs of other health problems such as diabetes, glaucoma, or heart disease. Early detection of a variety of illnesses is just another great reason to see your eye doctor at least once a year. Call us today to beat flu and cold season!

The Story on Watery Eyes

It’s safe to say tears play an important role in keeping us healthy. Tears keep the surface of our eyeballs clean and moist, and help protect our eyes from damage. Although they appear to be nothing but water, tears are actually made of mucus, water, and oil. Mucus to coat the surface of the eye and bind tears to the eye, water to act as a saline solution containing various vitamins and minerals, and oil to prevent evaporation of the tears.

Every time we blink, we wash our eyes with tears produced by the lacrimal glands in our upper eyelids. When our eyes are irritated or inflamed, these same glands produce extra tears. Normally, tears are drained out of the eye and into the nose through ducts in the corners of our eyes. When we produce too many extra tears, or when our normal tear drainage is blocked, our eyes may get watery.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the causes for watery eyes. Excess tears can be caused by:

Allergies. The most common allergens to cause irritated, watery eyes are grass, tree, and weed pollens, pet dander, dust mites, and molds, as well as non-true allergens such as aerosol sprays, perfumes, and cigarette smoke.

Infections. Tears are produced to wash away germs and discharge, but they don’t always keep the bacteria away. Conjunctivitis, commonly known as “pink eye” will produce excess tears, in addition to redness, blurred vision, and discharge. Blephartis is another common infection of the eyelid known to cause watery eyes.

Irritants. As a response to irritations like dry air, bright light, wind, smoke, dust, an eyelash, or eyestrain, eyes will produce excess tears.

Dry-eye syndrome. Seems contradictory, but when eyes dry out, the lacrimal glands will produce an overabundance of tears to make up for the dryness, often overwhelming the eye’s natural drainage system.

Blocked tear ducts. Although less common, there is a chance watery eyes are caused by a blockage of the ducts that normally drain away tears.

In general, watery eyes are nothing to get worked up about and will clear up on their own, but if you notice the following symptoms with watery eyes, please give us a call:

• Reduced vision
• Pain around your eyes
• A foreign body sensation
• Unexplained tearing over a long period of time
• Red eyes that are producing discharge