Your parents or guardians probably made your eye doctor appointments when you were a child. Unless you have eye issues like an oval-shaped cornea or require glasses, it might have become easy for you to neglect to make eye appointments now that you’re an adult. This inaction isn’t unusual; people tend to think they don’t need eye care until their vision changes, and at that point, it may be too late to do anything about the issue.
You should not neglect eye appointments, however, as they can give you a better glimpse into your eye health and help you stay on top of your overall health. At Campus Eye Center, we know how important your eyes are when maintaining your health and well-being. This blog will shed some light on how your eyes play a crucial role in keeping up with your health.
How Can Eye Shape Tell You Anything About Your Eye Health?
Your eyes help you navigate everyday life and interpret the world around you. When you let an eye doctor keep up with your eye care, you are opening a window for them to see your overall health so your eyes can function as they’re supposed to each day. One of the first things an eye doctor will look at when checking your eyes is the shape of the eyeballs.
A perfectly shaped eyeball will have the proper distance between the lens and the retina and a cornea without imperfections. While this is the case for many people, others have eyeballs without the optimal shape.
Myopia
When a person’s eyes are myopic, they have elongated eyeballs. The distance between the retina and the lens is too long in a myopic eye. This distance means that by the time the image reaches the retina, it has already come into focus and the cells of the retina receive the image as blurry, not focused.
Hyperopia
Hyperopic eyeballs are shorter, and the distance between the lens and retina is too short. The image does not focus before reaching the retina, so the brain receives a blurry transmission.
Cornea Shape
Common issues with the curvature of the cornea shape, like astigmatism or keratoconus, can also distort the image your retina receives and sends to the brain. While everyone has a slightly oval-shaped cornea, with a thinner center than the outer edges, some have more dramatically oval-shaped corneas. These people tend to have blurred vision because the shape of the cornea prevents light from entering the eye correctly. Those with a curved cornea may opt for laser vision correction surgery.
While these issues might not seem serious, ignoring a poorly shaped eyeball can have repercussions in the future and cause further health problems. Looking through blurry eyes every day can cause headaches and create dangerous scenarios for you in everyday life. Even if your eyes are only “a little blurry,” it is difficult to operate a vehicle without being able to see well. You put yourself and those around you at risk when you choose to ignore your eye health.
Can Your Eye Shape Change?
Your eyeball shape may continue to change shape slightly until as late as your early 20s when you stop growing. While the lens of your eye might become cloudier as you age, only a few factors, like disease or certain illnesses, will change your eyeball’s shape.
Additionally, contact lenses change the shape of your eyes slightly after repeated use. If you are a candidate for LASIK surgery, you may find your doctor asks you to refrain from using contacts in the weeks leading up to the surgery, so your eyes are in their most natural state before the surgery.
For people concerned about the shape of their eyes and eyelids for aesthetic reasons, it is essential to note that without eyelid surgery, there is no way to permanently change the shape of your eyes.
The Myth That Your Eyes Are the Same From Birth Until Death
A typical superstition says babies have large eyes compared to their heads because their eyes don’t grow. This statement is untrue. Your eyes continue to grow as you do, and it happens rapidly in the first few months of life. Your eyes also endure other changes throughout life, such as a lens clouding, bulging, or shrinking due to illness or other factors. Having your eyes examined regularly will help you maintain your eye health, despite any changes.
Do Your Eyes Indicate Health Issues?
One of the reasons to get regular eye exams is that your eyes help you get a better picture of your overall health. Some issues you might notice that should be a sign to have your vision and overall health checked include:
- A dramatic, sudden increase in eye floaters
- Discolored bumps on the sclera, or the white part of the eyeballs
- Yellowing eyeballs
- Itchy eyes or eyes that are much more wet than usual
- A white ring around the iris
- A sudden loss or change in your vision
- Spots of discoloration on the cornea
While checking your eyes during an eye exam, your doctor will look for signs of diseases that aren’t necessarily just in the eyes.
Diabetes
Diabetes is an illness your eye doctor will look for during the exam. In diabetics, the blood vessels in their eyes can sometimes burst around the retina, causing a leakage. Your eye doctor may be able to identify this sign of diabetes while you are still in the early stages and before you begin to exhibit any other symptoms of the disease.
Autoimmune Disorders
In some cases, autoimmune disorders cause the eyes to become red, inflamed, swollen, or a combination of the three.
Cancer or Tumors in the brain
Growths like cancer or tumors in the brain tend to cause pressure to build up in the brain, which in turn causes the brain to press into the optic nerve. With regular eye examinations, in some cases, it is possible to catch brain tumors or cancer in the earlier stages.
High Cholesterol
While the body needs some cholesterol to function correctly, an abundance can cause heart issues such as heart attack, heart disease, or blood clots. Excessive cholesterol deposits in the retina’s blood vessels can signal to your eye doctor that you have high cholesterol issues.
High Blood Pressure
Like with diabetes, high blood pressure can sometimes cause the small blood vessels in the retina to burst and leak. At an eye exam, your eye doctor will look for signs of burst blood vessels in the retinas.
When Was The Last Time You Had Your Eyes Checked?
If you haven’t had an eye exam in some time, scheduling an eye exam now can help you maintain your eye health and maybe even learn a bit more about your overall health. Contact us at Campus Eye Center today to learn more about your eye health, and let us see if your oval-shaped corneas or something else is causing your blurry vision! Get in touch with us today to schedule your appointment.
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