August is Cataract Awareness Month

A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye.  Adult cataracts usually develop gradually as you get older and tend to run in families.  They are painless but cause a decrease in vision that slowly gets worse.  Some factors that increase your risk for developing cataracts is an eye injury, smoking, extensive exposure to UV light (sunlight), diabetes, long term use of corticosteroid medications (prednisone), family history, exposure to toxic substances and age.  As many as 70% of people 75 and older have cataracts that affect their vision.  However, in many cases, the cause is unknown.

Visual problems may include:  cloudy, fuzzy vision, double vision, difficulty seeing at night, difficulty  distinguishing between colors, seeing halos around lights and being sensitive to glare.  A standard eye exam is all that is needed to diagnose cataracts.  Once diagnosed, the only treatment for cataracts is surgery to remove it.  However, if the cataract is not bothersome, then surgery  is usually not necessary.  Some people find that getting stronger glasses or using a magnifying lens is helpful.

Early diagnosis and treatment are key to preventing permanent vison problems so call your eye doctor for an appointment today if you have vision loss or problems with glare.

National Immunization Awareness Month

Immunizations are also known as vaccinations and they are essential to our health and well being.  They protect us against diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), shingles and the flu.  Immunizations are not just important for children but for adults as well.  Your immune system helps your body fight infections by producing substances (antibodies) to combat them.  Once it does, the immune system remembers the invading germ and can fight it again.
There are two types of vaccines:  live, attenuated vaccines and inactive ones.  Live, attenuated vaccines contain a version of the living microbe that has been weakened in the lab so it can’t cause the diease.  Because a live, attenuated vaccine is the closest thing to a natural infection, they elicit strong antibody responses and often provide lifelong immunity with only 1 or 2 doses.  However, there is a remote possibility that a virus in a live vaccine could change or mutate and cause disease.  People who have a weakened immune systems (HIV, chemotherapy, or certain diseases) should not be given live vaccines.

Fortunately, these people are able to receive inactivated vaccines.  Inactivated vaccines are produced by killing the microbe with heat and chemicals so they can’t mutate back to the disease-causing state making them safer than the live vaccines.  Most inactivated vaccines, however, stimulate a weaker immune system response than the live versions.  Instead of having lifelong immunity, as with the live vaccine, it would take several additional doses, or booster shots to maintain immunity to that disease.

An adult immunization schedule can be found at www.cdc.gov/vaccines/recs/schedules/adult-schedule.htm.  If you are have not been vaccinated or are not sure if you received the recommended shots, please contact your doctor right away.  Immunizations are an easy and less risky way to become immune.