Retin A or Tretinoin as it is more widely known, is a naturally occurring form of vitamin A, and is used to treat a wide variety of skin conditions. An area where there are particular benefits for the use of Retin A is stretch marks.

Stretch marks, or striae distensae, form on the skin when the connective tissue below the surface of the skin is stretched and eventually torn due to rapid expansion of the body, mainly caused by weight gain or pregnancy. Additionally, these marks can be cause by significant weight loss, puberty and hormone changes, or significant muscle gain such as that which occurs when engaging in weight lifting or body building.

Many sufferers of this form of scarring are having some success in healing and regenerating the skin using Retin-A. Stretch marks are believed to be particularly affected by this treatment, as it helps boost collagen production, and rapidly increases the turnover of new skin cells.

Retin-A stretch marks formulations are typically stronger than those used for other skin disorders, so depending on where you live, you will most likely need a prescription to obtain Retin-A or a similar Tretinoin based treatment.

The strength of Retin-A you are prescribed will depend on the severity of your striae scarring and the opinion of your doctor or dermatologist on how strong of a treatment you require.

If you decide to try Retin-A as a stretch marks solution, there are some factors you need to be aware of. Firstly, if you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, this treatment should be avoided, and your doctor most likely won’t prescribe it for you in this situation. This is because it is believed there could be detrimental effects on your unborn child, and it is also unknown whether Tretinoin is passed to the child during breast feeding.

Retin-A stretch marks formulations may also initially cause skin to flake off and the treated area to become irritated.

This is normal, but if the skin does not become conditioned to the treatment and ‘settle’ or stop flaking after a week or so, you will need to see your doctor or dermatologist to evaluate whether you need a weaker formulation or to stop the treatment altogether. You may also experience sensitivity to sunlight, and so it is recommended you avoid direct sunlight on the treated area, or use a strong UV protection sunscreen on the treated areas in situations where sunlight cannot be avoided.

Dr. Marc J Gannon of the Low Vision Institute discusses the causes and effects of Retinitis Pigmentosa. This video is brought to you by OttLite 508 Technology, bringing the quality of High Definition Natural Lighting indoors, providing the ideal balance of brightness and contrast. To find out more about how OttLite can aid in relieving symptoms related to Low Vision, go to www.OttLite.com
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Macular degeneration is one of the most frequent causes of impaired vision in the UK. This painless eye condition is common among people above the age of 50. According to a report published by National Health Service (NHS) in 2008, approximately 30% of individuals above the age of 75 were suffering from the preliminary stage of macular degeneration and 7% had crossed to the advanced stages. According to one estimate, more than 239,000 people will be affected by age-related macular degeneration by 2011.

What is Macular Degeneration?

Dry macular degeneration is an eye condition that leads to the loss of vision from the centre of the retina, which we use to view fine detail. It means that a person suffering from severe macular degeneration may not be able to read, write or drive. To perform all these activities, we focus our vision through the central portion of the retina, which is called the macula.

This is what enables us to focus on and view subjects that are directly in front of our eyes. The degeneration of the macula does not affect peripheral vision or side vision as severely.

Wet macular degeneration is caused by abnormal blood vessels growing which then leak. This can force the retina to lift away from the eye wall, which then can cause swelling and affect the person’s eyesight. A common symptom for a sufferer of wet AMD is to see straight lines appearing wavy. This needs a trip to the doctor immediately as eyesight lost through wet AMD cannot be retrieved.

Causes of Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration commonly affects people above 50 years of age. Different health conditions lead to different forms of macular degeneration.

As a person grows older, wear and tear affects the body, especially if the owner has a poor diet of high cholesterol combined with smoking and high blood pressure. Physical changes may occur in the central retinal tissue, the macular, and the rods and cones (or photoreceptors) begin to break down, resulting in deteriorating eyesight. As this worsens, central vision becomes hazy or blurred. This is called dry macular degeneration.

Wet macular degeneration starts with new blood vessels growing in the retina. The new blood vessels can leak blood, causing the retina to lift away from the eye wall and in turn severely damaging the person’s vision. Eyesight destroyed in this way cannot be repaired.

Macular degeneration is a rare phenomenon at a lower age. In younger people, this problem can surface due to some physical defects existing since birth. Inherited genetic disorders can also lead to macular degeneration among younger people.

Macular Degeneration: Major Symptoms

Similar to diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration starts showing measurable symptoms at a very advanced stage. The two major symptoms of this visual defect are:

Loss of ability to judge the fine details of an object or image.
Loss of ability to understand contrast variation.

Specific symptoms of dry macular degeneration are hazy vision, the inability to identify faces, need for brighter light when reading and difficulty in reading the newspaper. Wet macular degeneration patients will experience more evident symptoms, such as major visual distortion and blind spots.

There are several vision correction methods available to control wet macular degeneration. For dry AMD, control is usually effected by changing to a healthier diet and lifestyle, such as cutting out smoking and reducing fat intake. To detect macular degeneration at an early stage, consult an eye doctor immediately if experiencing changes in eyesight.

For more information on macular degeneration treatment, browse the internet for specialist eye hospitals. Their websites can provide detailed information on the symptoms and treatment available. Look for a specialist provider of ophthalmic services. Make sure they focus on personalised treatment tailored to each of their patients as you’ll want to ensure the best possible results in an environment where you can feel relaxed and well cared for. They should also be using advanced technologies and have leading ophthalmic surgeons on their staff.

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Retinitis Pigmentosa – Pipeline Review, Q2 2011

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Global Markets Direct’s, ‘Retinitis Pigmentosa – Pipeline Review, Q2 2011′, provides an overview of the Retinitis Pigmentosa therapeutic pipeline. This report provides information on the therapeutic development for Retinitis Pigmentosa, complete with latest updates, and special features on late-stage and discontinued projects. It also reviews key players involved in the therapeutic development for Retinitis Pigmentosa. ‘Reti

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Night blindness, also known as nyctalopia, is the inability to acclimatize to dim lighting conditions. Some people become more nearsighted at night as the pupil dilates in dark conditions, a condition called spherical aberration. When a person is unable to see well enough to distinguish distinct images in low lighting conditions, night blindness results.

People with night blindness (also called impaired dark adaptation) have poor vision in the darkness, but see normally when adequate light is present.

Night blindness is mostly a symptom of several underlying diseases or conditions, especially untreated nearsightedness.

This occurs because an individual with myopia will become even more nearsighted as the pupil dilates at night. On the other hand, patients being treated with glaucoma medications, which constrict the pupil, will also frequently have night blindness, because the small pupil allows minimal light to enter the eye. Retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal degenerative disorder, may also be associated with night blindness.Some other less common causes of night blindness include the retinal disorders such as gyrate atrophy.

Types of night blindness -

* Congenital stationary night blindness – This type of night blindness, present at birth, is mostly due to inherited disorders.

* Progressive night blindness – This type of night blindness continues to gradually worsen over time.

Causes can include a myriad of factors such as retinol or vitamin A deficiency, any disease, and toxic effects of drugs like quinine.

* Night Blindness due to complication of obesity related surgery – Individuals who undergo obesity surgery can develop night blindness, mainly because important nutrients such as vitamin A may be lacking if patients fail in the intake of nutritional supplements following surgery.

What are the causes of Night Blindness?

Night blindness is caused due to a disorder of the cells in the retina of the eye, which are responsible for vision in dim light. This may be caused due to:

* Nearsightedness.

* Glaucoma medications that work by constricting the pupil.

* Presence of cataracts.

* Retinitis pigmentosa – a retinal degenerative disorder

* Vitamin A deficiency

* Malabsorption – if it affects vitamin A absorption

* Celiac disease* Cystic fibrosis

* Bile duct obstruction

* Diabetes

* Macular degeneration

* Birth defect

What are the symptoms of night blindness?

Common symptoms include difficulty in vision when driving in the evening or at night, poor vision in reduced light, and feeling that the eyes take longer to “adjust” to seeing in the dark.

Associated symptoms include:

# Dry eyes

# Blurred vision

How is Night Blindness treated?

Treatment for night blindness will depend upon its cause. Treatment may be quite simple as a new prescription eyeglasses or changing glaucoma medications, or it may be complex requiring surgery in cases of cataracts.

If night blindness is caused by nearsightedness, the patient may need to wear glasses at night. Night blindness if caused by a loss of some of the function of the rods, then a visual field examination is performed. Tests would need to be performed to determine whether the receptor cells in the retina are functioning properly, or if the problem is somewhere else. But most times there’s nothing that can be done if these cells are damaged.

If a doctor determines that there is simply a need for vitamin A to help the night blindness, then that would be recommended. For those patients who have retinitis pigmentosa, vitamin A is being used to help.Thus, treatments for night blindness include:

# Vitamin A supplements

# Treatment of any underlying cause

Vitamins that may be helpful in case of night blindness -

Night blindness may be an early sign of Vitamin A deficiency. Such a deficiency may result due to a diet low in animal foods, such as eggs, dairy products, meat and fish. Low intake of fruits and vegetables containing beta-carotene, such as carrots, mango, spinach, sweet potato, which the body converts into vitamin A, may also contribute to a vitamin A deficiency. Doctors often recommend Vitamin A dietary supplements per day to correct a deficiency. Beta-carotene is less successful at correcting vitamin A deficiency than vitamin A itself, because it is not relatively well-absorbed into the body, and is only slowly converted by the body into vitamin A.

Zinc deficiency in diet is common, and a lack of zinc may reduce the activity of retinol dehydrogenase – the enzyme needed to help vitamin A work in the eye. Zinc is helpful in people whose night blindness is caused due to zinc-deficiency; therefore, many doctors suggest 15 to 30 mg of zinc per day to support healthy vision. As long-term zinc supplementation may reduce copper levels in the body, 1 to 2 mg of copper per day is also recommended for people who are on zinc supplements for more than a few weeks.

Retinitis Pigmentosa is a progressive, hereditary disease involving abnormalities in the retina; which is typically characterized by night blindness, retinal atrophy, weakening of retinal vessels, pigment clumping, and contraction of the visual field. This song was arranged and performed by Nick Norris, an optometry student at the University of Alabama.

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A common vision disorder is retinal detachment. When one suffers from retinal detachment it means that the retina separated from the attachments of the underlying tissue in the eye. A hole, tear or retinal break is what mainly causes retinal detachment. If you think you have injured your eye and caused a retinal detachment it is very unlikely. When one experiences a retinal detachment it is usually only one eye. The eye doctor will want to thoroughly examine the unaffected eye to make sure there are no possibilities of the other eye suffering from retinal detachment.

The retina may be detaching if you see flashing lights and floaters. An ophthalmologist may do an exam and conclude if you do have a retinal detachment. The exam will consist of dilation of the pupils with drops. The ophthalmologist can determine if you have a retinal detachment or posterior vitreous detachment. PVD is common and usually there are no tears with this condition.

Although flashing lights is not a symptom of a retinal tear, if one sees a curtain or a shadow that makes your vision different, a retinal tear has taken place and is now a detached retina. Go to the eye doctor immediately since time is of the essence. You want your detached retina fixed before the central macular detaches.

People most susceptible to retinal detachments include those in the age group of twenty five to fifty years, have nearsightedness, older people post cataract surgery and other diseases. If one suffers from a retinal detachment it most likely will not become a retinal tear.

A very small percentage (1%) of people who suffer from lattice degeneration will suffer from retinal detachment. People with nearsightedness most frequently suffer from this condition.

A person with high myopia generally suffers from retinal detachment more than others at the age of sixty. A person with high myopia that undergoes cataract surgery has a higher incident of retinal detachment.

If you suffer from inflammation of the eye that is chronic you may develop retinal detachment.

Some eye drops will bring the risk of a retinal detachment. Glaucoma eye drops called Pilocarpine, may cause retinal detachment.

There are many causes of retinal detachment. If you think you may have one of the signs and symptoms of retinal detachment, please seek medical advice.

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Title: Gene therapy helps blind mice see: sight restored in cone cells impaired by retinitis pigmentosa.(Body & Brain)
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Retinitis pigmentosa: An entry from Thomson Gale’s Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders, 2nd ed.

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RP is believed to be a genetic disorder.  This means that there is damage to or changes in the part of the DNA that codes for the photoreceptor cell proteins (known as a genetic mutation).  This mutation results in the incorrect protein being formed, or one that is the wrong shape, which means the cell cannot perform its normal function in capturing light and passing on this information to the brain.  This in turn affects the sufferer’s eyesight. 

There are over 100 possible genes where a mutation can lead to RP, and as RP is a genetic disorder, it can be passed on to the sufferer’s children.  It is inherited in three different ways: through the recessive genes, the dominant genes and on the X chromosome.  If a parent has dominant or recessive RP, it is possible that they will have children with and without the disease, however, with X-linked inheritance of the disease, any male children born will have the disorder.  Daughters will carry the genetic trait, but will not suffer with the disease themselves as they will have two X chromosomes, one with the mutated gene, and the other with the functioning gene (so their bodies will still be able to create the correct proteins).  As men only have one X-chromosome, if they inherit the faulty gene, they will only be able to produce the mutated protein.

Symptoms usually begin with night blindness, and progress to loss of peripheral vision, or loss of central vision that can’t be corrected with glasses or contact lenses.  If you, or anyone else in your family suffer with any of these symptoms, it is important that you book an appointment with your GP.

If there are any sufferers in your immediate family it is also advisable that you have yourself checked for RP.

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One of the leading causes of blindness for people 55 years and older is a condition called macular degeneration. Nearly ten million people in the U.S. are affected by it. This is more than those blinded by glaucoma and cataracts combined. Macular degeneration is gradual and painless that many may not realize they have unless they have been screened by an experienced ophthalmologist.

Causes of Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration, or age related macular degeneration (AMD), is caused by the cells in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) wearing out. The retina has a layer of cells behind it called the macula. The cells of the macula are made up of rods and cones, and are in turn made up of two segments. The inner segment produces proteins that respond to light, while the outer segment stores and uses the proteins. When the outer segment wears out, they are removed by RPE cells.

The inner segment then replaces the degraded outer segment cells. When the RPE cells begin to degrade and cannot remove waste anymore, the result is yellow, fat-like deposits that form below the rods and cones.

Symptoms of Macular Degeneration

Symptoms include:
• Fuzzy or distorted vision
• Areas of shadow in central vision
• Blurred printed words
• Difficulty recognizing faces
• Difficulty adapting to seeing in levels of low light
• Need for very bright light for near distance vision activities
• Difficulty recognizing faces

Treatment of Macular Degeneration

No treatment can undo the damage done by AMD, but there are certain things you can do to slowdown the progress of the disease. Early stage AMD may be slowed by a high dose regimen of vitamin supplements. These are:

• 500 mg of vitamin C
• 400 IU of vitamin E
• 80 mg of zinc oxide
• 15 mg of beta carotene
• 2 mg of copper

Advanced stage AMD may be slowed by taking the drugs Lucentis, Macugen, or Visudyne. Speak to your ophthalmologist about which regimen may benefit you the most.

Article by John Adams

Research and development is actually a huge branch of modern development, especially in manufacturing and health related industries. Life science research is used to perform extensive research on numerous generic diseases such as Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Retinitis pigmentosa is an inherited disease that causes slow degenerative blindness. Basically, essential retinal cells accumulate defects due to one or more of the mutated genes. It is currently incurable, but life science research utilizing stems cells is making headway. It purports to use properly formed retinal cells to treat the condition. Stem cells, usually embryonic, are undifferentiated cells that have the potential to become any cell in the body. When they are injected into the affected tissue, in this case, retinal tissue, the surrounding cells direct the cells to develop into the correct cell type. In the case of the retina, injecting a stem cell in the deep layers of the retina can potentially lead to the recreation of photoreceptors which are needed for sight.

Current life science research studies show that these cells are also found in adult circulating blood and blood donation alone is adequate for collecting stem cells in some cases. Stem cells are the building blocks of the human body. All the tissues of the body, the heart, lung, brain and even the eye, are made from the same cell. Basically, they have the potential to create any cell type and be used to cure any inherited disease. In the case of retinitis pigmentosa, the main cells damaged are the photoreceptors, the cells that convert light to the electrical signal that is sent to the brain, creating images that we see. The latest life science research and how we are beginning to treat blinding diseases with stem cell therapy can potentially restore sight to those affected.

The retina lines the back of the eye and is lined with blood vessels and neurons that connect to the optic nerve which contains the ganglion cell axons that connect the ganglion cells to the brain. These are the neurons that transmit images to the brain and they are located in the innermost region of the retina and extend toward the lens. The photoreceptors, the rod and cone shaped cells, are closer to the back of the eye. Thus, light must penetrate the nerve cells within the retina before reaching and activating the rods and cones. Once reached, the rods and cones absorb photons through their visual pigments and translate this message into an electrical message for the retina. From there, our brain is responsible for identifying, processing and interpreting that visual image. Without this ability, we can’t see. The use of adult stem cells in life science research is currently controversial because it involves destroying an embryo. To make it less so, it has been found that adult stem cells can be isolated from adult tissue samples as well as from umbilical cord blood following birth. Either way, let’s hope scientists make headway soon so they can restore sight to those afflicted with this disease.

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