Hearing Loss & Visual Impairments (2nd) by Allison Comer

Example Impairment Post

abcomer1_2 — 2017-02-08 03:34:37 UTC

Overview: Describe the impairment.

Symptoms: The number and detail depends on the impairment

Causes: What is actually making the problem; can include "underlying causes" but NOT "contributing factors"
(images have to go to the bottom)

Treatment: What are the general treatment options? Surgery? Medicine?

Outlook: Is there a cure? Is the damage reversible? Will this condition worsen?

By: Comer (group memebers' names go here)

Image: must be relevant to your topic, and sited
Img source:

www.medicinenet.com/image-collection/eye_picture/picture.htm

kathryn_morris1020 — 2017-02-08 15:08:38 UTC

Retinal Detachment

william_stitt0409 — 2017-02-08 15:12:14 UTC

Glaucoma- a condition of increased pressure within the eyeball, causing gradual vision loss.
Symptoms include gradual but unnoticeable sight loss until its to late, rainbow colored circles around bright lights, and nausea or vomiting. Not all symptoms or painful until it become serious. 40% of glaucoma patients lose vision completely.
Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment is the most common type of detachment. It is caused by holes or breaks in the retina called retina tears. Traction retinal detachment occurs when scar tissue or abnormal tissue grows on the surface of the retina, pulling the retina away from the layer beneath it. Exudative retinal detachment occurs when blood or fluid from the middle layer of tissue that forms the eyeball flows into the space under the retina and separates the retina from the layer beneath it.

Laser surgery is the process in which your Ophthalmologist uses a laser to make small burns around the retinal r=tear. the scarring that results seals the retina to the underlying tissue. Preventing retinal detachment, there has not been cases of anyone going blind due to this process

the Scleral buckle is a flexible band that involves placing it around the eye counteract the force puling the retina out of place.

Glaucoma

emily_ward1026 — 2017-02-08 15:13:49 UTC

Overview: Glaucoma is a condition of increased pressure in the eyeball causeing gradual sight loss.

Symptoms of glaucoma include: Hazy or blurred vision, The appearance of rainbow-colored circles around bright lights, Severe eye and head pain, Nausea or vomiting (accompanying severe eye pain), Sudden sight loss.

Cause: The back of your eye continuously makes a clear fluid called aqueous humor. As this fluid is made, it fills the front part of your eye. Then, it leaves your eye through channels in your cornea and iris. If these channels are blocked or partially obstructed, the natural pressure in your eye, which is called the intraocular pressure (IOP), may increase. As your IOP increases, your optic nerve may become damaged. As damage to your nerve progresses, you may begin losing sight in your eye.

http://www.mahaveereyehospital.com/glaucoma-and-glaucoma-treatment-in-pune/

Treatment: An eye examination where they check for deterioration, which includes loss of nerve tissue, will first be performed in order to determine the type of glaucoma.

Goal: Reduce IOP and stop additional eyesight loss. The most common treatment is through eye drops and sometimes pills. However, if these do not work your doctor may suggest surgery.

If it is a blocked or slow channel that is causing the issue then your doctor may suggest surgery in order to make a pathway to remove excess fluid.

If you have angle-closure glaucoma it requires immediate treatment to reduce eye pressure. Medication is usually attempted first but may fail. If this is the case then a laser procedure (laser peripheral iridotomy) may be performed in order to create tiny holes in your iris to allow for increased fluid movement.

Outlook: Glaucoma cannot be prevented so it is important to catch it early through routine eye exams. If increased IOP can be stopped and pressure returns to normal then eyesight loss can be slowed or stopped, otherwise you will become totally blind. There is no cure for glaucoma so any damage caused by this disease can not be restored and you will likely need to received treatment for the rest of your life.

Retinal Vascular Occlusion

2017-02-08 15:15:24 UTC

Overview: Retinal Vascular Occlusion is when the blood vessels get blocked or off or have a clot from the retina. When the retina's blood flow gets cut off then or an occlusion occurs that means that the light can't get to the retina and is blocked off it causes a sudden loss in vision.
Symptoms:
-Sudden change in vision loss and blurry vision.
-Partial or complete loss of vision
Causes: The specific cause of vascular blockage or blood clots in the retina is unknown. It may occur when the veins of the eye are too narrow. Factors that effect blood flow can put you at higher risk.
Risk Factors: diabetes, high cholesterol, being over weight, and smoking

Hypersensitive Retinopathy

tybrecia_lewis0131 — 2017-02-08 15:18:54 UTC

Overview: High blood pressure can cause damage to the retina's blood vessels, limit the retina's function, and put pressure on the optic nerve, causing vision problems
Symptoms:

reduced vision.
eye swelling.
bursting of a blood vessel.
double vision accompanied by headaches.

Causes: HR occurs from blood pressure being consistently high
Four things blood pressure is influenced by:

a lack of physical activity
being overweight
eating too much salt
a stressful lifestyle

Treatment: controlling and lowering high blood pressure
Outlook: this is a symptom of not taking care of yourself. it will cause total blindness if not taken care of. vision can be restored. the cure is to lower your blood sugar.
you can prevent HR by: medications like diuretics, beta blockers, and ACE inhibitors. don't smoke. and have a good diet that incloods fruits and vegetables.

Cataracts

ryan_burns1105 — 2017-02-08 15:24:18 UTC

Overview - Cataracts are Inside our eyes, we have a natural lens. The lens bends or refracts light rays that come into the eye to help us see. The lens should be clear where if you have cataracts then the lens is foggy and not clear.

Symptoms -

Night time activites become harder because of the lack of light getting to the retina
Blurred vision
Glare of bright lights
When it gets worse the cloudiness become yellowish of browness.

Causes:
-Increasing age
-Diabetes
-Excessive exposure to sunlight
-Smoking

http://www.fleye.com/cataract-center/cataract-faqs/

Treatment -
1. Cataract Surgery
2. Experimental Russian Eye Drops

Outlook:
If left untreated Cataracts, Cataracts can cause legal blindness. It can restore your vision but it depends on how bad your cataracts were. Yes, you can have cataract surgery to remove cataracts.

Sensorineural Deafness

jamie_starnes0217 — 2017-02-08 15:30:11 UTC

Overview: Sensorineural Deafness is permanent and the most common type of permanent hearing loss. This type of hearing loss makes louder sounds muffled or sound very faint.
Symptoms:
- Ringing in the ears
- Speech delay in a child
- Hearing loss
Causes: Two causes that can occur at birth can either be due to a genetic syndrome or infection passed from a mother to fetus inside the womb. Three causes that can occur later on in life can be from blood vessel diseases, auto-immune diseases, or extremely loud sounds that last over an extended amount of time.
Statistics: Of babies born in the U.S. 2-3 out of 1,000 babies are recognized to have this hearing loss. People that are affected by this are on average to have 7 years between discovering the hearing loss and finally seeking treatment. 25% of adults aged 65-74 name a disabling hearing loss as well as 50% of adults over the age of 75 have a disabling hearing loss.
Treatment: Most people who have this deafness need a cochlear implant. Cochlear implants are made up of two main parts, one being external that hooks over the ear and the other being internal which is implanted surgically. The external part has a microphone, speech processor, and transmitter that picks up and analyzes sounds. The internal implant contains a receiver that collects what is picked up by the external piece converting what is received into electrodes which are sent to the brain. Hearing aides are different as they do not go through a process like this, they just amplify sounds picked up into the ear.
Image: http://www.cochlear.com/wps/wcm/connect/au/home/understand/hearing-and-hl/hl-treatments/cochlear-implant

2017-02-09 15:04:42 UTC

2017-02-09 15:10:12 UTC

2017-02-09 15:11:53 UTC

2017-02-09 15:21:41 UTC

2017-02-09 15:21:46 UTC

Optic Neuritis

2017-02-09 15:31:05 UTC

Overview:

Optic Neuritis is inflammation of the optic nerve usually caused by MS and can cause impaired vision due to the inflamed nerve not being able to send correct signals. While this can be treated and can temporarily get better it wears the nerve’s myelin. Over time the myelin can degenerate and permanent eye damage can occur.

Symptoms:

The three most common symptoms of optic neuritis are:

-Vision loss in one eye: This can vary from mild to severe and lasts for 7 to 10 days
-Periocular pain: This is pain around the eye that is often worsened by moving the eye
-Dyschromatopsia: This is the inability to see colors correctly

Other symptoms may include:
-Photopsias: This is seeing flashing lights off to the side, in one or both of your eyes
-Changes in the way the pupil reacts to bright lights
-Uhthoff’s phenomenon: This is when eye vision worsens with an increase in the body’s temperature

Causes:

Causes

multiple sclerosis

neuromyelitis optica

Schilder’s disease (a chronic demyelinating condition that begins in childhood)

Infections

mumps
measles

Other

sarcoidosis: an illness that causes inflammation in various organs and tissues
Gullain-Barre syndrome: a disease in which your immune system attacks your nervous system
some chemicals or drugs
From

http://www.healthline.com/health/optic-neuritis#Causes3

Image:

https://www.uspharmacist.com/article/optic-neuritis-a-brief-review

http://www.nanosweb.org/files/Patient%20Brochures/English/OpticNeuritis_English.pdf

Treatment: Optic Neuritis usually can treat and repair itself, but sometimes medication is used, like Steroid treatment, to treat inflammation around the Optic Nerve. This may recover vision, but this does not affect the amount of recovery. Also another treatment is Plasma Exchange Therapy, which is another Steroid treatment. This treatment isn't confirmed to help ON.

Outlook: Most people recover from this and have vision recovery. Although you will still have damage to the Optic nerve.

Conductive Deafness

2017-02-13 15:31:31 UTC

Overview:

Conductive hearing loss is a problem that lies in the middle ear, eardrum, or the ossicles. It affects the transfer of sound between the eardrum and the inner ear. When there is damage to the outer or middle ear the sound cannot be properly transferred to the inner ear.

Symptoms:

You have a difficult time hearing over the phone.
Your ear canal is producing a smell.
It feels as if there is pressure in both ears, or a single ear.

Causes:

Outer Ear-

Stenosis or a narrowing of the ear canal.
Wax impaction.
Exostoses.
Otitis externa.
Obstructions caused by foreign bodies inserted into the ear.

Middle Ear-

A breach in the tympanic membrane caused by injury, ear infections or extreme and rapid air pressure changes.
Tympanosclerosis or a thickening of the tympanic membrane.
Otitis media or a buildup of fluid in the middle ear.
Blockages in the eustachian tube, which connects the middle ear to the back of the nose and throat.
Otosclerosis, a rare medical condition that causes the middle ear bones to freeze up.
Abnormal growths or tumors that form within the middle ear, such as cholesteatoma or glomus tumours.
Ossicular chain discontinuity, or a break in the connection between the bones of the middle ear, caused by injury or heavy trauma.

Treatment:

There are sometimes medical or surgical treatments that can improve hearing ability for those with conductive hearing loss. For example, conductive losses caused by wax impaction, foreign objects, abnormal growths or ear infections can often be corrected with medical treatments, like extraction of earwax, antibiotics or surgical procedures. These causes usually result in temporary hearing losses. The treating physician and hearing healthcare professional will monitor hearing ability and work with the patient to determine when and if a hearing solution is needed.

Hearing Aides:

Hearing aides are small devices that you wear behind your ear. A hearing aide can help people hear both quiet and noisy situations. (It makes all sounds louder.)
However, only about one out of five people who would benefit from a hearing aide actually use it.
Three basic parts- Microphone, amplifier, and speaker.
Receives sound through microphone.
Changes sound waves to electrical signals, sends them to amplifier.
Amplifier increases the power of the signal then sends them to the ear through speaker.
Hearing aides are primarily useful in improving hearing and speech comprehension.

By: Kenzie Jones, Annie King, Michaela Thompson