LARGE RETINAL HOLE

This is a large hole in the retina in a 20 year old patient.  It needs fairly urgent attention before it becomes a retinal detachment.  There is some fluid under it so part of the retina is already detached. We catch about 2 to 3 patients with retinal holes per week just on routine dilated eye exams.  Without dilating, these breaks in the retina cannot be discovered.  Therefore the people that go blind from retina detachments are often the ones with perfect vision who don't come in for exams regularly, because they don't get discovered until it's too late. 

CORTICAL SPOKING CATARACTS

These are the kind of cataracts that grow from the outside of the lens, working it's way in.  While it looks bad through the microscope, this patient is still able to achieve 20/20 vision, albeit not as sharp as we'd like.  It causes glare problems and starbursts at night. 

CORNEAL ABRASION

The patient in the photos below had her hard lens decenter off her eye and in the effort to remove it her cornea was abraded.  So her vision is blurry, she's in pain, and she's light sensitive. 

WHY SHOULD I REPLACE MY CONTACT LENSES MONTHLY

Below are photos of the underside of the lids of patients who overwear their contact lenses and don't replace them when they're supposed to.  These lids have inflammatory bumps on them that make the contact lenses move, the vision fluctuate, and mucous come out of the eye.  Nothing like mucous coming out of your eye when you're on a date!  

GPC takes months to get rid of, and sometimes years.  We have to use more expensive contact lenses thereafter and you have to use expensive drops and care solutions to try to fix the problem. 

Bottom line? Please replace your contact lenses when you're supposed to.  If you can't afford to replace your lenses monthly, don't get contact lenses.  These are your eyes.  Compromise elsewhere!

MAKE UP UNDER THE EYELID

BITOT'S SPOT

A Bitot's Spot is an area on the white part of the eye that doesn't wet well and appears keratinized.  It is often associated with vitamin A deficiency.  It is fairly asymptomatic and patients are unaware they have it when it is discovered. Vitamin A deficiency happens mostly in children in developing countries, but we often see it in college kids for various reasons (including malnutrition and alcohol consumption).   Bitot's Spot is often one of the first signs of Vitamin A deficiency.  Advanced deficiency can lead to night blindness. 

VITREOUS FLOATER

Our eyes are fluid-filled and you can often see floaters.  The arrow points to a floater in this patient's eyes and the dark spot behind it is the shadow of the floater on the retina.