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Ears, Eyes & Mouth
Blindness & Visual Impairment | 513 Members |
| Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or psychological factors. Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define "blindness". Total blindness is the com... | |
Cataracts | 118 Members |
| A cataract is any opacity which develops in the crystalline lens of the eye or in its envelope. The name derives from the Latin cataracta meaning "waterfall" and the Greek kataraktes and katarrhaktes, from katarassein meaning "to ... | |
Color Blindness | 45 Members |
| Color blindness, or color vision deficiency, in humans is the inability to perceive differences between some or all colors that other people can distinguish. It is most often of genetic nature, but may also occur because of eye, n... | |
Dry Eyes | 170 Members |
| Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), also called keratitis sicca, xerophthalmia, dry eye syndrome (DES), or simply dry eyes, is an eye disease caused by decreased tear production or increased tear film evaporation commonly found in h... | |
Eye Cancers (Retinoblastomas) | 5 Members |
| Retinoblastoma is a cancer of the retina. Development of this tumor is initiated by mutations that inactivate both copies of the RB1 gene, which codes for the retinoblastoma protein. Until recently the only treatment was to rem... | |
Glaucoma | 157 Members |
| Glaucoma is a group of diseases of the optic nerve involving loss of retinal ganglion cells in a characteristic pattern of optic neuropathy. Although raised intraocular pressure is a significant risk factor for developing glaucoma... | |
Hearing Loss & Deafness | 876 Members |
| While some cases of hearing loss are reversible with medical treatment, many are permanent. Whether temporary or permanent, how severely hearing is compromised not a uniform. In some cases the hearing loss is only mild and or mode... | |
Keratoconus | 59 Members |
| Keratoconus (from Greek: kerato- horn, cornea; and Latin: conus cone), is a degenerative non-inflammatory disorder of the eye in which structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change to a more conical shape than i... | |
Macular Degeneration | 100 Members |
| Macular degeneration is a medical condition where the light sensing cells in the macula malfunction and over time cease to work. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, it is the leading cause of central vision loss (b... | |
Meniere's Disease | 268 Members |
| Meniere's disease (or syndrome, since its cause is unknown) was first described by French physician Prosper Meniere in 1861. It is a balance disorder of the inner ear. The symptoms of Meniere's are variable; not all sufferers e... | |
Nystagmus | 45 Members |
| Nystagmus is rapid involuntary rhythmic eye movement, with the eyes moving quickly in one direction (quick phase), and then slowly in the other (slow phase). The direction of nystagmus is defined by the direction of its quick phas... | |
Optic Atrophy | 37 Members |
| Optic atrophy is the loss of some or most of the fibers of the optic nerve. In medicine, "atrophy" usually means "shrunken but capable of regrowth", so some argue that "optic atrophy" as a pathological term is somewhat misleading ... | |
Optic Nerve Hypoplasia | 72 Members |
| Optic nerve hypoplasia is a medical condition that results in underdevelopment of the optic nerves. During the second month of pregnancy, a structure called the optic stalk develops into a pair of optic nerve bundles. These bundle... | |
Organ Transplants | 264 Members |
| An organ transplant is the transplantation of a whole or partial organ from one body to another (or from a donor site on the patient's own body), for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or failing organ with a working... | |
Other Ear Problems | 78 Members |
| An ear is the organ used by a human or an animal to detect sound waves. The term may refer to the entire system responsible for collection and early processing of sound (the beginning of the auditory system), or merely the externa... | |
Other Eye Problems | 166 Members |
| There are many diseases and disorders that may affect the eyes. As the eye ages certain changes occur that can be attributed solely to the aging process. Most of these anatomic and physiologic processes follow a gradual decline... | |
Retinal Detachment | 50 Members |
| Retinal detachment is a disorder of the eye in which the retina peels away from its underlying layer of support tissue. Initial detachment may be localized, but without rapid treatment the entire retina may detach, leading to visi... | |
Retinitis Pigmentosa | 68 Members |
| Retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, is a genetic eye condition. In the progression of symptoms for RP, night blindness generally precedes tunnel vision by years or even decades. Many people with RP do not become legally blind until their... | |
Tinnitus | 846 Members |
| Tinnitus, "ringing ears" or ear noise is a phenomenon of the nervous system connected to the ear, characterised by perception of a ringing, beating or roaring sound (often perceived as sinusoidal) with no external source. Accordin... | |
TMJ | 861 Members |
| Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJD or TMD), or TMJ syndrome, is an acute or chronic inflammation of the temporomandibular joint, which connects the lower jaw to the skull. The disorder and resultant dysfunction can result in s... | |
Tooth Grinding | 205 Members |
| Bruxism, or tooth grinding, is an oral para-functional habit observed in a large number of people occasionally and, in a smaller number, habitually. The mechanism of causation is tension and spasm of the muscles used for masticati... | |
