It’s nearly Mothering Sunday, and Xanthe looks at some of the things she could thank her Mum for
It will soon be Mother’s Day and up and down the country lots of lovely Mums will be spoiled by their loved ones. Whether it’s with cards, flowers, chocolates and best mum ever teddy bears, we all want to say thank you. Now usually when I talk about public holidays, I talk about the history of these days. I talk about why and how we come to celebrate these holidays and customs. However, I decided to be a bit different from today’s blog. Instead, I’ll talk about the things we inherit from our Mums (and Dads).
We all know that we inherit things from our parents like hair colour, skin tone. Or the shape of our noses, ears, eye colour, even toes! As well as inheriting bodily features, we can also inherit things like eyesight. Or even eye disorders and some medical conditions that can be present from birth or develop in later life. Now, because we are an optician, I’m going to tell you just a few of the eye-related conditions you could inherit from your parents. I’m going to tell you about 3 of our most common hereditary eye conditions.
Glaucoma
Glaucoma is an eye condition where the optic nerve becomes damaged. This causes problems with the connections from the eye to the brain. This damage is usually caused by fluid building up in the front of the eye, causing increased pressure inside the eye itself. Glaucoma can lead to loss of vision if untreated. It can also affect anyone at any age, but most commonly is diagnosed in adults in their 70s and 80s.
AMD (Age-related Macular Degeneration)
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a condition that affects the middle part of your vision. It can cause issues with your day to day life, like reading and recognising faces easily. It usually begins to affect people in their 50s and 60s. Although the exact cause of AMD is unknown it has been linked with a family history of AMD, smoking, high blood pressure and being overweight.
Myopia
Myopia (Short-sightedness) is a very common eye condition, where distant objects appear blurred and close objects are seen clearly. It affects 1 in 3 of us and is becoming more and more common. Myopia can range from mild to severe. In mild cases, treatment may not be needed and in severe cases, the vision is highly affected. Most commonly it begins to affect children between the ages of 6 to 13. This usually occurs due to the teenage years when the body grows rapidly causing myopia to worsen. Myopia can also occur in adults too, due to it running in the family or focusing on nearby objects such as books and computers, for long periods during childhood. If untreated during childhood or even adulthood it can lead to developing much more severe eye problems such as a lazy eye, glaucoma, cataracts, or even retinal detachment.
Nearly 350 hereditary eye conditions
Now, the above disorders are just a few, but there are actually nearly 350 hereditary eye conditions alone that we can inherit and that’s not even from just our parents. These conditions can skip a generation, so you may even inherit conditions from your grandparents that your parents haven’t developed. It’s always a good idea to know both your parent’s conditions and grandparents too. Because we all potentially can inherit them, it’s a good idea to have regular eye tests even if you haven’t noticed any signs of the conditions yet.
If you are worried about anything with your vision then give us a call on Greenfield 01457 353100 or Meltham 01484 907090. Also, if you like us you love your mum. How about giving her the gift that keeps giving with an Allegro Optical gift voucher so that they can spend it on some gorgeous glasses or sunglasses of their choosing. Also, follow us on Twitter @AllegroOptical. Or follow us on Instagram @allegrooptical so we can see what you all get up to with your mums today.
