The Specialized Vision Care Provided By Chicago Retinal Specialists

For thousands of years, if someone's eyes were damaged, whether due to age or accident, there wasn't much that could be done. Even reading glasses, which have been around for several hundred years, were fairly primitive compared to today's advanced lens technologies. Once sight was lost, it was lost forever. Thankfully today we have a number of ways to treat diminished or compromised sight. Often the issues with a person's sight stem from damage to the retinal area of the eye. The retina is the back of the eyeball, and consists of tissues and nerves that capture the light entering the eye through the pupil and convert the resulting image into nerve impulses the brain can interpret. This is an incredibly complex part of the human body, and in most people it works fairly well for most of their lives. But there are a few common problems that can compromise the retina's ability to do its job, all of which retinal specialists in Chicago treat. Retinal medicine has expanded drastically in the last few decades thanks in large part to advancements in laser technology. Surgeries on the eye are extremely difficult; the space is very small, the tissues very delicate, and every tiny incision or repositioning in tissue creates vast differences in the patient's eye sight. When hand work is necessary, a surgeon must have very exacting skill and training to complete everything perfectly. Lasers are a huge help because they can make more perfect incisions than the human hand, with far less collateral damage to surrounding tissue. Lasers can also allow Chicago retinal specialists to access areas of the eye that would normally be very difficult to get to with a scalpel. It requires an extensive amount of schooling in order for Chicago retinal specialists to become fully certified. As with any other medical doctor, they must first attend four years of medical school after completing a bachelor's degree. Then they complete at least three years of ophthalmology school, where they learn the incredibly complex mechanisms of the eye and the transfer of the eye's information to the brain in great detail. Before going on to running their own practice or working unsupervised in a hospital, retinal specialists must complete a fellowship with other specialists in their field for one to two years. Whether in a hospital or in a private practice, there are several procedures that retinal specialists in Chicago routinely perform. The most common is retinal detachment surgery. Sometimes the tissues that make up the retina can become detached from the back wall of the eyeball. This can occur quite suddenly in a person with other vision problems, especially if they are older, and usually escalates quickly. Other times, a high-velocity injury can tear part of the retina and allow liquid to seep in behind it, leading to detachment. Either way, a quick diagnosis is necessary to prevent the retina from becoming entirely detached. There are a number of different ways that retinal specialists treat detachment, but all of them follow the same general procedure: remove any fluid from behind the retina, then create pressure inside or outside the eye to press the retina back into place so it can heal and repair itself. Sometimes this pressure is created by replacing some of the natural gel in the eye temporarily with a gas bubble or oil solution; other times the pressure is created by sewing small bands to the outside of the eyeball, pulling it inward to the right position. Once the retinal tissue has resealed itself, the eye is returned to its normal state. When caught early enough, a retinal reattachment will result in only a slight reduction in visual clarity, which is remarkable considering that a hundred years ago a retinal detachment meant almost certain blindness in the affected eye. For more information about retinal specialist services in Chicago, visit informational sites like the site of Dr. Grant MD.