What is an Eye exam in Dubai?

An eye exam is full evaluation of your vision and eyes. It is different from seeing an optician who will only check your visual acuity. A full eye exam is done by either an optometrist or an ophthalmologist, using numerous techniques and devices to determine the health of both your eyes.

The eyes are of paramount importance to live a carefree life, but they are also easily affected by internal and external factors. Diabetes, high blood pressure, a family history of glaucoma or age related macular degeneration, and your lifestyle determines the health of your eyes and vision.

It is important that you see your ophthalmologist, or optometrist regularly to detect and avoid serious conditions related to the eye. For young children, its best to have them tested at least twice before they turn six: once at the age of two and then again before they attend grade one. Teenagers will need to get an eye exam in Dubai once every two years, and adults every four or five years. People over the age of 60 should have a yearly exam as they are prone to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma.

Regular eye exams helps diagnose conditions early, and may even help you avoid complicated surgery later on.

A general eye exam will check eyesight, peripheral vision, colour blindness, examine the structure of the eye for any abnormalities, and for any sign of retinal disorders, AMD, cataracts, and glaucoma.

A paediatrician will check the vision of infants and toddlers and look for common problems like lazy eye, crossed eyes, and squints. It is advised to do a follow up examination by the time he or she reaches five years of age. Children are prone to depreciating eyesight, especially if they are constantly on the computer, playing video games and watching TV. Furthermore, most children are not fond of fruits and vegetables, which contain most or all the nutrients needed for good vision.

Teenagers who use laptops and computers, play video games, or play outdoors in the sun without protective eyewear are exposed to ultra violet radiation, which damages the eye significantly over time. It is good practice to check the eyes of teenagers more frequently like once every two years.

Whether you wear prescription glasses or not, adults should have their eyes checked every four or five years. Conditions like high blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol affect the health of your eyes and should any of these conditions be present, your eyes must be checked more often.

Your eye exam will consist of different stages where your vision, colour vision, outer surface, and inner structures are systematically checked for any abnormalities. Each eye is checked individually and your Dubai eye doctor discusses the results with you in detail. Should you require treatment or need preventive care to avoid problems, you eye doctor will relate the options available to you.

If you were contact lenses or prescription glasses, bring them along to your appointment, as your doctor will confirm their correct prescription.

Eye Doctor in Dubai

Some people experience corneal erosion of the eye. This mostly occurs in the mornings when the eye lids become stuck to the top most layer of the eye, called the epithelial layer. The epithelial layer loses its grip on the cornea due to eye injury, unhygienic contact lenses, eye ulcers, and eye diseases, such as corneal dystrophy.

Anybody can suffer from this condition as it is connected to other diseases and people who use contact lenses regularly are especially prone to this condition. Wearing contact lenses for long periods of time, not using the proper cleansing liquid and wearing them the wrong way, can cause corneal erosion. Corneal erosion is also a symptom of herpes and occurs after ulcers in the eye. All these conditions leads to the dryness, and then excessive tearing, which causes the epithelial cells to become fused to the eyelids during the night, when the eyes remain closed for long hours. Opening the eyes in the morning will be slightly painful causing a stinging sensation. The pain comes from the epithelial layer tearing off. The phenomenon is similar to removing temporary sticker tattoos off the skin.

The slight stinging may last for a few hours in the morning along with excessive tearing, As the protective sheet becomes dislodged, the patient will feel a constant presence of a foreign particle in the eye. If the symptoms are experienced daily, coupled with redness, excessive tearing, dry eyes, you may be experience the condition of corneal erosion.

Diagnosis

Corneal erosion is diagnosed simply by shining a bright sheet light on to the front of the eye. If corneal erosion is present the tears will be visible to your Dubai Ophthalmologist. Some eye doctors will introduce a fluorescein stain, which is a yellow coloured harmless liquid that highlights any defects on the surface of the eye. If indeed the epithelial layer is damaged it will be easily noticeable to your eye doctor in Dubai.

Treatment

There are two types of treatment levels for corneal erosion; non-invasive medications and surgery. Symptoms are most prevalent in the morning, and therefore your doctor will first prescribe hydrating eye drops to be used during the night. This will treat only mild cases of the condition. If the problem persists, it is referred to as recurrent corneal erosion. Artificial tears will prevent your eyelids from sticking to the surface of the eyeball. Some patients will use this during the day as well if the conditions are severe. Protective contact lenses are prescribed as eye bandages, which will keep the epithelial in place. Eye patches are used to prevent infection.

If artificial teardrops, eye patches and the contact lenses do not work, your ophthalmologist will recommend surgery, which entails light scarring of the epithelial layer with a fine needle. The minute cuts are done at the bottom of the eyeball forming scar tissue. The scar tissue acts as an abrasive that holds the epithelial layer in place.

Ebsaar Eye Surgery Centre is a medical centre that specializes in diagnostics and treatment of problems relating to the eye. Everybody does experience some amount of epithelial tears, but it not noticeable and generally only occurs with dead epithelial cells that naturally fall off and cling to the surface of the eye. However if the problem persists, causing pain or a stinging sensation on consecutive mornings, it is advised that you make an appointment with a specialist Dubai eye doctor at Ebsaar Eye Surgery Center. Early detection and cure will help you avoid more serious treatment like surgery.