March 22, 2018 - Retinal Detachment
Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam and I want to talk to you today about retinal detachment.
The retina is the part of the internal lining of the back of the eye. It contains a lot of photoreceptors which capture the light and they send an electrical impulse through the optic nerve back to the brain. And that’s how we see.
Types of retinal detachment
There are three main types of retinal detachments:
- The first is when the retina actually pulls away from the back of the eye. And this is due to fluid that collects behind the retina.
- The second type is called traction retinal detachment and this is when part of the retina is actually pulled away. This could be because of general aging or a dehydration in the retinal cells.
- The third type is where the fluid actually builds up behind the eye, but it collects in pockets. So it doesn’t collect all through the retina but there’s definitely fluid damage. This is mostly caused by an inflammatory response or an inflammatory eye disease.
Symptoms of Retinal Detachment
Now in terms of symptoms of retinal detachment you get conditions like:
- cobwebs
- flashes of light
- There may be a curtain that will drop down in front of your vision
So this is a very serious medical emergency and you want to go to your doctor immediately if you’ve got these symptoms.
Causative Factors of Retinal Detachment
The causative and risk factors of retinal attachment include:
- Men over the age of 40
- Extreme nearsightedness
- Eye injury or trauma
- If you’ve had a retinal detachment in one eye, you’re more likely for your other eye to get it.
- The buildup of stress, trauma, or toxicities
- Pharmaceutical drugs, like long-term steroidal eye drops, or steroids in general, weaken your connective tissues in the eye.
- There was also a study that was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association which linked oral antibiotics to have a higher risk of retinal detachment.
Treatment options
The main type of surgery is a laser surgery where they actually freeze part of the retina in order to limit the damage.
If it’s a more serious retinal detachment they will do something called a scleral buckle surgery, where they can do a vitrectomy and they actually take the vitreous gel out of the eye and they replace it with a gas. This actually starts to push the retina up against the internal lining of the eyeball to help reconnect the retina to the eyeball.
So obviously this is a very serious condition. Some things that you can do to avoid retinal detachments would be things like:
- Reduce or eliminate gluten in your diet, because gluten triggers an inflammatory response in the brain and eyes.
- Dairy and sugar can also trigger an inflammatory response.
- Increase probiotic intake (friendly gut bacteria) and prebiotic fiber intake (food for your friendly bacteria).
- Get 30 minutes of exercise every day
- Pay attention to the stress that you carry in your eyes. This is very common with digital device users. You want to make sure you’re not wearing a prescription that’s too strong for you. And if you’re wearing a prescription for distance and you’re using that for the computer then that’s going to create stress in your eyes and you want to get a reduced prescription that would be just for the computer.
- I would also move away from things like progressive glasses, progressive lenses, or bifocals, and get a single vision lens so that the bigger the window you look through, the less of visual stress you have when you’re doing you’re doing near-point focusing.
- I would also be aware that if you’ve had cataract surgery or Lasik surgery, you do have a higher risk of developing retinal detachments. So you want to talk to your doctor about the risk factors.
- And of course finally, the retina needs very concentrated nutrients, things like lutein, zeaxanthin, astaxanthin, vitamin C, vitamin E, omega-3 fish oils, beta-carotene, quercetin, bilberry, and taurine. So make sure you’re getting a really great eye vitamin. I would also include glutathione. The more nutrients that you’re taking, the more you nourish your eye tissue – especially the retina.
So that’s my message for today. I want to thank you so much for tuning in. And until next time.