Diseases of the eyes (ophthalmology)

Drug-induced maculopathies

Antimalarial drugs are melanotropic and are excreted from the body very slowly, which leads to their accumulation in melanin-containing structures of the eye, such as the retinal pigment epithelium and choroid.

Cystic macular edema

Cystoid macular edema is the result of fluid accumulation in the outer plexiform and inner nuclear layers of the retina in the center near the foveola, forming fluid-filled cystoid lesions.

Retinopathy in blood diseases

Retinopathy is characterized by hemorrhages, sometimes with a white spot in the center (Roth spots, cotton wool spots, and tortuosity of branches). The duration and type of anemia do not affect the appearance of these changes, which are more characteristic of concomitant thrombocytopenia.

Macroaneurysms of the retinal arteries

Macroaneurysms of the retinal arteries are represented by local expansion of the retinal arterioles, most often of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd order. Elderly women with arterial hypertension are most predisposed to them; in 90% of cases the process is unilateral.

Sickle cell retinopathy.

Sickle cell hemoglobinopathies are caused by the presence of one or more abnormal hemoglobins, causing red blood cells to acquire an abnormal shape under conditions of hypoxia and acidosis.

Hypertensive retinopathy

The primary reaction of retinal arterioles to systemic hypertension is narrowing (vasoconstriction). However, the degree of narrowing depends on the amount of replacement by fibrous tissue (involutional sclerosis).

Ocular ischemic syndrome

Ocular ischemic syndrome is a rare condition resulting from secondary hypoperfusion of the eyeball in response to acute ipsilateral atherosclerotic stenosis of the carotid arteries.

Retinal artery occlusion

Atherosclerotic thrombosis at the level of the lamina cribrosa remains the most common cause of central retinal artery occlusion (about 80% of cases).

Retinal vein occlusion

Arteriolosclerosis is an important factor contributing to the development of branch retinal vein occlusion. Retinal arterioles and their corresponding veins have a common adventitial coat, so thickening of the arterioles causes compression of the vein if the arteriole is located anterior to the vein.

Albinism

Albinism (oculocutaneous albinism) is a hereditary defect in melanin production that results in widespread hypopigmentation of the skin, hair, and eyes; melanin deficiency (and hence depigmentation) may be complete or partial, but all areas of the skin are affected.