9 Serious Eye Symptoms to Watch Out For

Flashing lights, floaters, and eye pain — these are just a few of the warning signs that should prompt you to see your eye doctor.

Regular eye exams are an important part of keeping your eyes healthy — they can be particularly helpful in detecting progressive eye conditions such as glaucoma, which typically has few symptoms in its early stages. 

However, in some cases, people may experience symptoms such as a change in vision or eye pain that require immediate medical attention.

If you or someone you know experiences eye pain or any of these following symptoms, see an eye doctor right away:
 
Flashing lights, floaters, or a gray shadow in your vision. The sudden onset of flashing lights, a noticeable increase in the amount of floaters, a shadow in your peripheral vision, or a gray curtain moving across your field of vision could be signs of a detachment of the retina — the nerve layer in the back of the eye that sends images to the brain. Nearsightedness, eye diseases such as glaucoma, and physical injury to the eye are among the causes of retinal detachment. Unless treated quickly, usually with surgery, retinal detachment can lead to blindness.
 
Any loss of vision, particularly if sudden or in one eye. Sudden vision loss could signal a number of eye diseases and conditions. One is macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration or AMD, which is a leading cause of vision loss in people 65 and older in the United States. Vision loss caused by AMD can be gradual, but in some cases, it can be sudden — when blood vessels in the eye leak fluid or blood under the retina, which is made up of nerve cells that allow you to see. Another cause of sudden vision loss could be a type of glaucoma, which leads to a rapid build-up of fluid pressure in the eye that damages the optic nerve.
 
Eye pain. Most eye diseases are painless, but some conditions or injuries can result in eye pain, says Richard Shugarman, MD, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and an ophthalmologist in West Palm Beach, Fla. Eye pain can be caused by glaucoma, dry eye, an eye injury, a scratched cornea, or even cancer of the eye.
 
Eye injury. Any significant injury to the eye should be evaluated by a doctor, particularly if there is redness or pain that lasts for more than 15 to 20 minutes.
 
Persistent discomfort in the eye. If you experience any discomfort in your eye after doing an activity in which a small particle could have entered your eye, such as hammering or working under a car, don’t ignore it. Have your eyes checked out by a doctor to make sure that you don’t have a foreign particle in the eye, which can cause an infection.
 
Red eye. “Having two red eyes is probably not as serious as one red eye,” says Dr. Shurgarman. When both eyes are red at the same time, it could be a sign of a cold or conjunctivitis (pink eye) — minor infections that are self-healing. But one red eye can be an indicator of a deeper inflammation, such as scleritis or uveitis. Scleritis is the inflammation of the tough, outer protective barrier around the eye, and uveitis is the inflammation and swelling of the middle coating of the eyeball.
 
Eye discomfort if you are a contact lens wearer. While most people who use contact lenses don’t experience problems when they follow the rules of proper contact lens care and use, serious infections can occasionally occur. If you wear contact lenses, never ignore eye pain, redness, or discomfort — see an eye doctor right away.
 
Blurred vision. Even if it clears up, blurred vision can be a sign of a number of eye problems such as glaucoma, uveitis, a torn retina, or AMD. Losing vision in one eye may be an early symptom of a stroke. “Vision loss, especially in one eye, could be a sign that the carotid artery, which is a major supplier of blood to the eyes, is blocked,” says Shugarman.
 
Eye surgery complication. If you’ve had eye surgery and experience any redness, eye pain, or blurring of vision, call your doctor right away for an evaluation.
Even if a symptom appears and goes away, you are better off checking with your eye specialist if you encounter any of these warning signs. Eye symptoms should never be ignored.

Aging and the Immune System

The immune system of human beings (as well as that of other mammals and birds), is composed by two important groups of lymphocytes: 

• T-cells that are differentiated in the thymus gland, and
• B-cells that are differentiated in a pouch-like cavity (or bursa) in birds. Mammals do not posses this cavity, but the name of the cells stuck.

During the puberty period, the thymus gland becomes smaller and smaller until almost disappears in adults. Without the presence of this gland, the T-cells are not well or not at all differentiated. The production of their colleagues, the B-cells, also begins to decrease. When the production starts diminishing of those cells in the bone marrow that are the precursor cells of the T- and B-cells, the bone marrow is less capable to properly perform cellular divisions. This means that the immune system becomes increasingly weaker, which might explain why people are much more sensitive to infections when they’re coming closer to the end of their lives.

From a certain age, the risk of developing an auto-immune disease, which means a condition where healthy cell in the body are attacked by the innate immune system, starts to increase. An example of such an auto-immune disease with a high prevalence among the elderly, is arthritis. In people suffering from arthritis, the cells of their own immune system begin to attack the cells that constitute the lining of the joint cavities, which causes inflammation and a steady decline in joint flexibility. This is often accompanied by pain and swelling of the joints.

Now, what can you do to prevent or counter this decline in immune function with age?

The immune system declines with age and that fact can not (yet) be changed. But you can try to make this decline as little as possible. There are several ways to naturally boost your immune system. Some of the most obvious ones are:

• Sleep and rest well: The functioning of the immune system is affected by sleep and rest. Sleep deprivation often results in a compromised immune system.
• Eat well: Like most systems of the body, the immune system depends on proper nutrition. It is known that both mal- and over-nutrition are associated with problems of the immune function. Some foods and herbs that positively affect the immune system are: fresh fruits and vegetables, ginseng, garlic, sage, hyssop and even honey.
• Go out and move: Both moderate exposure to sunlight and exercise are good for the immune system. The vitamin D and increased blood flow positively affect the immune function.

Bottled Water Everywhere: Keeping It Safe

Consumers have a big thirst for bottled water. The International Bottled Water Association says that more than 8 billion gallons of it were consumed in the United States in 2009 alone.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates bottled water products, working to ensure that they’re safe to drink.

FDA protects consumers of bottled water through the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), which makes manufacturers responsible for producing safe, wholesome, and truthfully labeled food products.

There are regulations that focus specifically on bottled water, including

“standard of identity” regulations that define different types of bottled water

“standard of quality” regulations that set maximum levels of contaminants—including chemical, physical, microbial, and radiological contaminants—allowed in bottled water

“current good manufacturing practice” (CGMP) regulations that require bottled water to be safe and produced under sanitary conditions

Types of Bottled Water

FDA describes bottled water as water that’s intended for human consumption and sealed in bottles or other containers with no added ingredients, except that it may contain a safe and suitable antimicrobial agent. (Fluoride may also be added within the limits set by FDA.)

The agency classifies some bottled water by its origin. Here are four of those classifications:

Mineral water. This water comes from an underground source and contains at least 250 parts per million total dissolved solids. Minerals and trace elements must come from the source of the underground water. They cannot be added later.

Spring water. Derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface, this water must be collected only at the spring or through a borehole that taps the underground formation feeding the spring. If some external force is used to collect the water through a borehole, the water must have the same composition and quality as the water that naturally flows to the surface.

Well water. This is water from a hole bored or drilled into the ground, which taps into an aquifer.

Bottled water may be used as an ingredient in beverages, such as diluted juices or flavored bottled waters. However, beverages labeled as containing “sparkling water,” “seltzer water,” “soda water,” “tonic water,” or “club soda” aren’t included as bottled water under FDA’s regulations. These beverages are instead considered to be soft drinks.

It May Be Tap Water

Some bottled water also comes from municipal sources—in other words, the tap. Municipal water is usually treated before it is bottled. Examples of water treatments include

Distillation. Water is turned into a vapor, leaving minerals behind. Vapors are then condensed into water again.

Reverse osmosis. Water is forced through membranes to remove minerals.

Absolute 1 micron filtration. Water flows through filters that remove particles larger than one micron—.00004 inches—in size. These particles include Cryptosporidium, a parasitic pathogen that can cause gastrointestinal illness.

Ozonation. Bottlers of all types of waters typically use ozone gas, an antimicrobial agent, instead of chlorine to disinfect the water. (Chlorine can add residual taste and odor to the water.)

Bottled water that has been treated by distillation, reverse osmosis, or another suitable process may meet standards that allow it to be labeled as “purified water.”

Ensuring Quality and Safety

Federal quality standards for bottled water were first adopted in 1973. They were based on U.S. Public Health Service standards for drinking water set in 1962.

The 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act gave regulatory oversight of public drinking water (tap water) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). FDA subsequently took responsibility, under the FD&C Act, for ensuring that the quality standards for bottled water are compatible with EPA standards for tap water.

Each time EPA establishes a standard for a contaminant, FDA either adopts it for bottled water or finds that the standard isn’t necessary for bottled water.

In some cases, standards for bottled water and tap water differ. For example, because lead can leach from pipes as water travels from water utilities to home faucets, EPA has set its limit for lead in tap water at 15 parts per billion (ppb). For bottled water, for which lead pipes aren’t used, the lead limit is set at 5 ppb.

For bottled water production, bottlers must follow the CGMP regulations put in place and enforced by FDA. Water must be sampled, analyzed, and found to be safe and sanitary. These regulations also require proper plant and equipment design, bottling procedures, and record keeping.

In addition, FDA oversees inspections of bottling plants. The agency inspects bottled water plants under its general food safety program and has states perform some plant inspections under contract. (Some states also require bottled water firms to be licensed annually.) This article appears on FDA's Consumer Updates page4, which features the latest on all FDA-regulated products.