How to Identify Fuchs Dystrophy

Fuchs (pronounced Fooks) Dystrophy is an eye disease in which cells lining the inner surface of the cornea slowly start to die off. The disease usually affects both eyes. It rarely presents until the patient is over 50 years old. Fuchs is an inherited disease. If either parent has the disease, the child has a 50 percent chance of having it as well. Occasionally, it appears with no family history, just spontaneously.

Things You'll Need

• Doctor's examination

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Instructions

Check Your Vision

• 1

  Check for blurred vision. Usually the first symptom of Fuchs Disease is a sufferer awakening with blurred vision that gradually clears during the day. A cornea is normally thicker in the morning because it retains fluid during sleep. That fluid evaporates while we are awake. As Fuchs worsens, the corneal swelling remains and will reduce vision throughout the day.

• 2

  Recognize that Fuchs dystrophy is more common in women than in men and usually does not appear until after age 50. Doctors may be able to see signs of the disease in affected persons at an earlier age, usually in their thirties and forties.

• 3

  Realize that Fuchs dystrophy affects the thin layer of cells that line the back part of the cornea. The disease occurs when these cells slowly start to die off. No one knows the cause. The cells help pump excess fluid out of the cornea. As more and more cells are lost, fluid begins to build up in the cornea, causing swelling and a cloudy cornea.

• 4

  Know that fluid may build up only during sleep, when the eye is closed. As the disease gets worse, small blisters can form in the eye lining. The blisters get bigger and may eventually break, causing eye pain. Fuchs dystrophy can also cause the shape of the cornea to change, causing further vision problems.

• 5

  Check for this set of symptoms: Eye pain, sensitivity to light, especially glare, foggy or blurred vision, at first only in the mornings, seeing colored halos around lights, worsening vision throughout the day.

• 6

  See an opthamologist immediately if these symptoms are present.