Your eyes can speak a thousand words. You can communicate with your eyes the same way you communicate with your mouth or make gestures with your hands. Not only that, but the vision your eyes provide gives you direction and gives your life wonder and color. It’s one of the senses most people can’t live without.

According to London Opthalmology, some eye conditions and illnesses negatively alter your vision, decreasing the quality of life and affecting your mental health. It’s a good thing most situations can be remedied with surgery by an eye specialist.

Here are the situations an eye specialist can recommend eyelid surgery:

Blepharospasm

This is also called benign essential blepharospasm or the uncontrolled twitching or blinking of the eye. Until now, specialists are unsure of what caused the uncontrolled twitching, but it happens because the part of the brain, the cortex, that controls the eye movement stopped working correctly.

It has been known to go away on its own, but in some cases, prolonged twitching causes the eye to shut completely, affecting the patient’s quality of life, as they would have difficulty reading, watching, doing tasks with only one eye. Eye specialists will perform a procedure called myectomy. The surgeon will remove some of the affected muscle or nerve tissues from the eyelid to help stop it from making involuntary movements.

Ectropion

As you age, many muscles in your body, including those in your eyes, tend to get weak. And as tendons stretch, they fail to hold your eyelid taut against the eye, causing your eyelid to droop. Ectropion happens when your eyelid turns outward, leaving the inner surface exposed to dust and particles that’ll surely cause irritation and infection. Since your eyelid is drooped, there’s no way to catch the tears.

The stagnant tears may irritate your eyes and make them sensitive to light. In some instances, your eyes get too dry because of a lack of lubrication. They may feel gritty, sandy, and itchy, eventually leading to abrasions and ulcers on the cornea and affecting your vision.

Entropion

The opposite of ectropion, entropion happens when the eyelid turns inward and makes your eyelashes rub against your eyes and cause irritation. Sometimes, one piece of eyelash gets inside your eye, and you can’t contain the itching. In entropion, all the lashes in your lower eyelid touch the surface of the eye, so you can imagine how irritating it could get. Surgery is needed to correct this condition, especially if redness of the eye becomes severe and there’s excessive tearing and mucous discharge that affects one’s vision.

Ptosis

Ptosis can be congenital or acquired. It could also be unilateral, affecting one eye, or bilateral, affecting both eyes. Either way, it’s a condition that affects one’s vision as it blocks or obstructs the pupils because of the drooping eyelid. Ptosis happens because the levator muscle responsible for lifting the eyelid doesn’t function properly.

Most of the time, a person with ptosis has to lift their heads while conversing with people or doing tasks to see appropriately. Tightening of the levator muscle through surgery is an effective way of treating ptosis.

Thyroid Eye Disease (TED)

Also known as Grave’s eye disease, TED is a condition wherein the eyes protrude or bulge from the sockets because of the swelling of the muscles around the eyes. This medical condition is associated with hyperthyroidism, the overactivity of the thyroid glands due to the excessive production of the hormone thyroxine.

When your eyes protrude or bulge, you may at times find it difficult to close your eyes, causing dryness on the surface. Dryness of the eyes may cause you to feel a gritty sensation on the surface and eventually affect your vision. When your eyes bulge, you might find it challenging to move your eyes, and when you do, it might be painful and may cause blurred or double vision.

More than the challenges in seeing, TED primarily affects patients emotionally as the disease alters their appearance and looks as if they’re constantly staring hard at something. The eye condition can also be painful because of the pressure you feel behind your eye and the sensitivity to light that may develop in time. 

Bell’s Palsy

Bell’s Palsy is the facial paralysis resulting in the weakening of the seventh cranial nerve that controls facial movements in reaction to a viral infection. The drooping of the face may include the inability to close the eyes, the inability to close the mouth or smile, and the loss of taste on the affected side of the tongue.

The failure to close the eye will result in dryness, eventually irritating the surface and causing corneal ulcers that may severely affect one’s vision. Effects of Bell’s Palsy may be temporary, but some conditions didn’t go back to normal and may need surgery to ensure that the situation won’t worsen and cause vision loss.

Chalazion

Also called an eyelid cyst, a chalazion is a red bump that forms on the eyelid when the oil glands get blocked. Although it’s generally not painful, a chalazion may affect your vision as it pushes your eyeball. Large chalazia may cause mild irritation as it can make your eyes water.

The appearance of chalazia on your eye may make you feel uncomfortable being around people. The condition may go away by itself, but certain lumps go back repeatedly. And when this happens, it could negatively affect your appearance and vision.

Conclusion

Taking care of your eyes so that it functions in the most optimal way should be a part of your daily regimen, but old age and other underlying health conditions can influence how your eyes work.

Your eyes are the focal point of your face and it’s usually the first thing people see when they look at you, but more than the cosmetic outcome of eyelid surgery, what’s essential is you can see properly and you can live your life to the fullest with a great and unimpaired vision. Consider the ideas mentioned here as you decide regarding the best option for your condition.