slit lamp

Another thing that has me worried is the bright lights I get subjected to in the form of ophthalmoscopy, slit lamp exam, and fundus photos. Those lights can be painful when they are too bright (which they usually are). I read that bright lights can cause apoptosis (cell death spiral) of the ganglion cells. Of course every doctor I ask says that the lights are not bright enough to cause apoptosis.

 

It would certainly be ironic if, in the course of following our disease, we are subjecting our eyes to proceedures that raise our presures and cause our ganglion cell layer to self destruct! But my gut tells me that to some degree, that is what is I am doing. ~ Bob