Diagnoses Definitions pt 1

So, let's talk about some of the different diagnoses of the eye that you'll need to be familiar with, when it comes to billing and coding. And the first one would be Cataract, so a Cataract is when you see that cloudiness of the eye. This is typically a visual disability that you'll find in people over the age of 65 and basically what's happening is the crystalline lens of the eye and the capitula is becoming opaque and it leads to visual acuity loss.

The next one is Glaucoma and this is where the pressure in the eye of the patient increases and it can damage the eye and it can even lead to blindness and in fact, Glaucoma is the number one leading cause of blindness in the United States. So, silent creeper and something that we want to make sure we're following clinical care guidelines and staying on top of. Especially if they have a patient family history. So, associated with Glaucoma is the Intraocular Pressure or the acronym, IOP and basically what this is, is pressures, again, this is created through a continual renewal of fluids within the patient's eye. All patients have varying levels of pressure or have a varying level of an IOP, but a Glaucoma patient, you're going to see a very substantial increase in that pressure. Okay, it’s a special test that we do, we check their IOP pressures.

The next one is AMD or Age-related Macular Degeneration and this can cause a blur in the sharp central vision of the eye, that you need for activities like reading or driving. Again, I recommend that Eye Handbook it’ll actually give an image of what, what that looks like, what that patient is actually seeing. But age-related means it typically happens to older people or as I like to say, mature people, and macular because it affects the part of the eye known as the macula.

So now we have conjunctivitis and this is an inflammation of the conjunctiva, which is the thin transparent layer that lines the inner eyelid and covers the white of the eye.