New Researches Concerning People’s Vision

Currently, about 1.68 million men above 50 in the United States are suffering dry eyes. And this number is estimated to be more than 2.79 million by 2030. As a result, dry eye research and prevention are quite critical. Until now, some studies have found a link between dry eye in men and their ages. In general, hypertension, benign prostatic hyperplasia and antidepressant use all can be risk factors of dry eye in men.

But studies point out that men in their 80s are much more likely to cause dry eye than those are 50 to 54. Meibomian glands can normally lubricate the eyelid. The deterioration of these glands is believed to bring deficiency of androgen, which is commonly related to eye problems including dry eye. Benign prostatic hyperplasia requires anti-androgen medications treatment, so that this disease also brings more risks of dry eye.

As an inflammation of the eye’s uvea, uveitis has been reported to occur more in smokers. Presented at the 2009 annual meeting of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, the results of a new study reported a 2.4 times greater risk for smoking people to cause uveitis. Symptoms of uveitis include eye pain, redness, light sensitivity, blurry vision, floaters and tearing.

It may sound unbelievable that playing video games can improve vision including contrast sensitivity. Certain video games may become good alternatives to conventional means of vision improvement such as eyeglasses, contact lenses and corrective surgeries. In the study, players of action video games such as Unreal Tournament 2004 and Call of Duty 2 improved their ability to tell apart slightly different shades of gray by 43%. These action video games actually require well hand-eye coordination and they can train the brain to process visual information better. According to Uri Polat of Tel Aviv University, action video games can take the brain’s visual cortex to the limits.