Common Eye Conditions Treated via Eye Telemedicine

Telemedicine for eye care offers a welcome convenience for providing on-demand eye health checks and advice to support one’s optical health. Today, eye telemedicine has imparted plenty of benefits in eye care accessibility, allowing anyone anywhere to receive comprehensive optical care with just the press of a button.

It may seem strange to consider an ophthalmologist providing eye care advice over a video call, but even with current technological limitations, eye telemedicine still offers numerous benefits that can ensure proper eye care is given to everyone who uses the service, including diagnosing some of the more common eye conditions one might have.
 

What is Eye Telemedicine?

Eye telemedicine revolves around using a computer or smartphone to hold virtual consultations with your ophthalmologist, allowing you to have an eye health check-up from the comfort of your own home. Typically, eye telemedicine sessions are performed via video call, ensuring the ophthalmologist can examine your eye and take the necessary steps to help treat your eye condition. In most cases, you may need to schedule an in-person appointment to follow through on the eye care treatments you need.
 

Eye telemedicine allows anyone access to comprehensive eye care solutions even when they are in a different geographical location or cannot make it in person for various reasons, whether due to poor health or busy work schedules. It can be a significant time-saver for many of us leading busy lifestyles, where we may have little time to devote to the occasional check-up, critical though it may be in the long term.
 

Regardless, the accessibility and convenience that eye telemedicine provides is an opportunity for people to take better charge of their optical health without needing to drive to their preferred ophthalmologist. Although there are still limitations to eye telemedicine, like advanced eye tests that require you to be at the ophthalmologist’s office, this is still an important stepping stone for accessible and advantageous eye care.
 

How Does It Work?

• You will first fill out an appointment form with your details and preferred time and date. After some time, the ophthalmologist’s office will contact you to confirm the appointment and maybe ask some questions as part of their onboarding and pre-health assessment.

• You may be asked to pay the consultation fee before your appointment and send proof of payment to the ophthalmologist.

• The ophthalmologist may request photos and videos of your eye(s) to understand your need for help. Take a clear photograph or recording and provide as much information as possible; the more you can provide, the better the chances of an accurate diagnosis.

• On the day of the appointment, the ophthalmologist will contact you, and you and the doctor can discuss your health history and the symptoms you are currently experiencing at length.

• Sharing your health history can provide some clues to your current eye condition; they may also ask additional questions, such as what you were doing when the symptoms first started or how many days it has been since symptoms began.

• It is normal for the ophthalmologist to examine your eye(s) to get a clearer picture of what you are going through. Photos and videos do not always fully capture the breadth of what they need to assess.

• The ophthalmologist should be able to determine if your current eye problem is a genuine emergency or otherwise; they will advise the necessary steps to take to manage and treat your eye condition.

• For less severe cases, you will be prescribed medications (like eye drops) to help with your condition; after making payment, you can either pick up your prescriptions from the ophthalmologist’s office or have them delivered to your doorstep (after paying for postage fees as well).

• The ophthalmologist may also set follow-up sessions to monitor your condition’s progress and determine whether an in-house visit is needed for a more thorough check-up using specialised optical equipment.

Eye Conditions that Eye Telemedicine Can Treat

It is important to remember that eye telemedicine cannot treat every eye condition; if it involves the inner structures of your eyes, a visit to the ophthalmologist is the better course of action for diagnosing your eye condition. Superficial or external conditions are what an ophthalmologist can detect from an eye telemedicine appointment, giving them an initial assessment of your optical health and anticipating complications that could arise over time.
 

Dry Eye Disease

Do your eyes regularly feel like they are stinging or get red and irritated very easily? Or does it seem like they are not producing many tears? These may be signs that you are suffering from dry eye disease, a common affliction where your tears seem unable to lubricate the eyes adequately. When this happens, your eye runs the risk of inflammation that can damage the surface of the eyes and impair your vision. Other symptoms you might experience include difficulty or discomfort from wearing contact lenses, blurry vision, and stringy mucus in or around your eyes.
 

Your ophthalmologist will typically ask you about the symptoms you are experiencing, as dry eye disease may sometimes be an early sign of an underlying eye condition like blepharitis or other diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. They will first look at your eyelids and the eye's surface and even assess how you blink. They may also run a few tests to help determine if you have dry eye disease: they will test how clearly you can see letters at different distances and even assess if you can see objects off to the sides (the periphery) of your vision.
 

Eye drops are typically the best way to relieve dry eye disease, though other treatment methods are available for more stubborn cases.
 

Conjunctivitis

Also known as pink eye, this condition refers to an infection of the conjunctiva, the transparent membrane that lines your eyelid and eyeball. True to its name, conjunctivitis causes the whites of your eyes to appear pink in colour due to its blood vessels becoming swollen and inflamed. Why this happens is typically due to what causes the conjunctivitis.
 

Some people with allergies may develop allergic conjunctivitis, a condition in which their eyes adversely react to substances in the air that trigger such a reaction. Pollen is a common pathogen that can cause allergic conjunctivitis in people allergic to it. Viral conjunctivitis is another common cause due to contagious viruses that can quickly spread to your eyes via the body’s mucous membranes, which link to your lungs, throat, nose, tear ducts, and eyes.
 

Meanwhile, you also have bacterial conjunctivitis caused by staphylococcal or streptococcal bacteria and even harmful bacteria in your body; these bacteria can come from the environment and contaminated sources, like shared contact lenses. Some harmful chemicals, such as chlorine in swimming pools or even pollutants in the air, can also cause conjunctivitis.
 

Conjunctivitis is relatively easy to diagnose due to its telling pink eye symptoms, but a comprehensive eye exam will still be helpful for the ophthalmologist, especially if symptoms are not very obvious. It is also essential to understand what may have caused it, as the treatment will vary based on the underlying cause. For example, bacterial conjunctivitis may require you to take antibiotic eye drops, while viral conjunctivitis may require antiviral drugs to prevent more severe symptoms from occurring.
 

You may need to take a swab of fluid oozing from your eye and send it to the ophthalmologist’s office for a thorough lab assessment.
 

Subconjunctival Haemorrhage

A relatively minor condition with a surprising physical appearance, a subconjunctival haemorrhage happens when a small blood vessel in your conjunctiva breaks or bursts. As a result, there will be bleeding beneath the conjunctiva, making part of your eye appear red. Thankfully, a subconjunctival haemorrhage is a minor condition that does not cause any harm to your eye; it can happen as a result of a strong sneeze or cough or if you rub your eye a little too hard.
 

Your ophthalmologist will reassure you that your eye “bleeding” is not a bad sign; however, if you report any other discomfort or unusual sensations in your eye, you may need an in-person follow-up session so your ophthalmologist can assess your condition in detail. If the cause of the bleeding is due to some form of injury or trauma, the ophthalmologist may also need to examine you in person to look for other injuries to your eye.
 

Chalazion

A chalazion is another minor condition that appears as a bump on the upper eyelid due to a blockage in the eye’s oil glands and is initially accompanied by pain or discomfort in your eye. In most cases, the pain will gradually disappear on its own, but the bump will remain and appear red, swollen, and feel tender to the touch. You may also experience some irritation that causes your eyes to water and blurred vision due to the size of the chalazion.
 

Depending on the size of the chalazion, your ophthalmologist might immediately notice it and identify what it is right away. They will ask some additional questions to help them rule out a stye, which appears as a bump on the edge of your eyelid and shares some symptoms as a chalazion; its appearance also makes it easy to confuse a stye for a chalazion and vice versa, though styes typically appear on the edge of the eyelid, while chalazia (the plural of chalazion) form further back on the eyelid.
 

The best way to treat a chalazion is to practice proper hygiene and apply warm compresses to the affected eyelid every 15 minutes, three to four times daily, for a few days. Your ophthalmologist will share ways you can keep your eyelids clean to prevent future recurrences.
 

Blepharitis

This common eye condition leaves your eyelids looking red and swollen, accompanied by an itch that does not go away; you may also find dandruff-like flakes appearing on your eyelashes. This condition typically affects both eyes and may also present other symptoms like increased sensitivity to light and a burning or stinging sensation in your eyes or eyelids.
 

Most people will develop one of two different types of blepharitis, though there have been cases of some people having both simultaneously. Anterior blepharitis affects the outer part of your eyes, where the eyelashes attach to the eyelids, and is typically caused by bacteria or dandruff that accumulates in that area.
 

There is also posterior blepharitis that affects the inner part of your eyelid that touches your eye and is caused by clogged oil glands in your eyelids or certain skin conditions like rosacea.
 

Your ophthalmologist will examine your eyes and eyelids closely to look for other symptoms of blepharitis or other underlying eye conditions. An eye exam will narrow down the cause or even identify other issues that blepharitis can cause, such as dry eye disease, giving your ophthalmologist a clearer idea of how to treat your condition(s) effectively.
 

You may also be prescribed medications such as antibiotics and anti-inflammatories to reduce the inflammation or referred to another doctor to help you treat the root cause of your blepharitis, particularly if it is posterior blepharitis caused by an acute or chronic skin condition.
 

Macular Degeneration

 
Age-related macular degeneration (or AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in elderly persons, causing gradual blurry central vision. It primarily affects the macula, a part of the retina that controls central vision and lets you see objects ahead of you clearly. While the condition does not cause permanent blindness, it can still interfere with your sight, making it harder to walk, see people or objects in front of you, or even drive properly. Unfortunately, this condition is untreatable, but early detection can be instrumental in slowing its progression.

 
8 out of 10 people with AMD will have dry AMD, where tiny protein clumps called drusen form under your macula, causing your macula to become dry and thin gradually; this thinning happens over a long time, causing a slow loss of central vision. There is also wet AMD, a more severe condition where new, abnormal blood vessels begin to grow under the retina. Because of their abnormal nature, they may leak blood or other fluids and cause scarring on the macula. You tend to lose vision a lot faster with wet AMD than with dry AMD, and prompt treatment is needed so you do not completely lose your vision.

 
Macular degeneration is characterised by the gradual (or rapid) loss of central vision, so you should notify your ophthalmologist if you are experiencing this. To receive proper treatment, you will need to visit the ophthalmologist and allow them to conduct a thorough assessment of your vision and eye health; they may use eye telemedicine to enlist the help of an eye specialist to help them with the diagnosis and suggest a treatment plan to help with slowing its progression.
 

Eye Telemedicine As a Foundation for Optical Health

Even if you will still need to visit your ophthalmologist for various reasons, eye telemedicine still provides an essential foundation for maintaining our optical health. Various advances in medical science allow eye telemedicine to continue to provide substantial eye care, including early detection of eye conditions, degenerative or otherwise. Eye care practitioners can even offer advice or support to their colleagues in other geographic regions to treat different eye conditions effectively, thus resulting in far better health outcomes and recovery times. It would make plenty of sense to use eye telemedicine to preserve our optical well-being, especially when it is now so convenient for us to maintain our optical health.
 

Are you considering leveraging eye telemedicine's potential to maintain your optical well-being? ICU Eye Care Unit is here to support your journey with comprehensive support, a robust telemedicine procedure that puts your needs at the forefront, and a holistic treatment approach through the principles of traditional Chinese medicine. Start your optical health journey with us today; contact us for more information on how we can help you!