We often take our eyes for granted and assume that they will always be healthy and functioning. While most of us are aware of the more traditional vision and eye health problems, there’s a vast array of unusual eye conditions that you may have never heard of before. Caused by a range of factors, including genetics and environmental changes, read on to learn about some rare, and interesting eye conditions that affect a small percentage of the world’s population.
Heterochromia
A condition which causes two different coloured eyes, heterochromia is rare and is typically caused by a benign genetic mutation that affects the development of melanin, or pigment, in the irises. In this case, it won’t have any impact on eye health. In other cases, different eye colours at birth are a symptom of another, more serious health condition, these can include:
· Horner’s syndrome - a condition where a nerve pathway from the brain to the head and neck is disrupted. You can be born with Horner’s or acquire it later in life.
· Waardenburg syndrome – a genetic condition passed down through families causing deafness, pale skin and eyes, and sometimes different coloured eyes.
· Sturge-Weber syndrome - a rare blood vessel disease that can cause facial birthmarks, abnormal brain blood vessels and even glaucoma.
Achromatopsia
A rare genetic disorder that causes complete colour blindness and extreme sensitivity to light.
This is an inherited condition that will be present at birth and it’s usually nonprogressive, meaning the symptoms don't worsen over time.
There are two types:
· Complete - Vision is limited to black, white and shades of grey.
· Incomplete - Colour vision is limited, with dull hues that can be difficult to distinguish.
With traditional colour blindness, people have normal vision and see some colour. People with achromatopsia, have reduced vision, a lack of colour vision, and other vision issues including rapid eye movements.
Charles Bonnet Syndrome
This condition causes people with significant vision loss or blindness to experience vivid visual hallucinations, despite having no external stimuli. Images can be beautiful, funny, strange, or disturbing and they might float in the air, or appear on a wall or ceiling. They could be colourful or just black and white. This condition can affect people of any age, but it’s more likely to occur in those who have significant vision loss later in life. You can have Charles Bonnet syndrome if you have macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, or glaucoma.
Aniridia
A serious, and rare disorder that causes a lack of irises in both eyes. With this condition, the iris is partly or fully gone, and the pupil is abnormally large and may be oddly shaped. This condition often affects both eyes and it can also affect other parts of the eye, including the cornea, anterior chamber, lens, retina, and optic nerve.
Fuchs' Dystrophy
A genetic condition where the cells in the cornea, which is responsible for focusing light onto the retina, start to die off, leading to blurry vision and eventually blindness. Although a patient is born with the condition, it is not detectable or symptomatic until middle age or later. During the disease’s progression, the layer of cells responsible for maintaining proper fluid levels in the cornea will deteriorate and cause tiny bumps to form on the back of the cornea. When enough cells are lost, fluid builds up resulting in swelling which leads to clouding or blurring of vision.
Optometrists regularly care for common eye conditions such as near- and farsightedness, cataracts, and macular degeneration, but they are also qualified to diagnose and treat a wide variety of uncommon eye diseases as well.
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