Coats disease is also known as: Coats’ Retinitis, Coats’ syndrome, Exudative Retinitis, and Retinal Telangiectasis. It is unknown what causes the disease, but it is possible that it is due to a genetic mutation. Coats’ disease is a very uncommon disease which occurs mostly in young males during under the age of ten. This disease causes the capillaries in the eyes to bust open and leak serum from the blood into the posterior portion of the eye.
The disease gradually worsens and in most cases only occurs unilaterally. Coats’ disease can be diagnosed with the use of Flouroscein Angiography which involves injecting the eye with dye and watching its circulatory system. There are five different stages of Coats’ disease which are classified according to the severity of the disease. The first stage is treatable with laser therapy which allows most of the patient’s vision to be saved. Unfortunately it is extremely uncommon to diagnose Coats’ disease in the first stage. Stage Two can still be treated. Usually photocoagulation and/or cryotherapy are used. At this stage vision can sometimes be restored. Most damage occurs to the central vision of the eye which cause difficulty in reading, watching television, and driving. Sometimes a dense nodule becomes visible during this stage which causes the patient’s eye to appear yellow. During Stage Three the retina of the eye can become totally detached. This can be fixed by having surgery to reattach the retina to the eye. In these cases, some vision may be recovered although the initial prognosis is not very good. At this point, damage to the retina is very severe and sometimes requires complete removal of the eye due to the severe pain that the disease sometimes causes. Stage five involves total blindness which is completely irreversible. This is only in rare cases. Coats’ disease often stops on its own and causes mild symptoms. If the patient’s pain is severe an enucleation of the affected eye is required.
All information used to create this blog can be found at:
http://www.coatsdisease.org/index.html
The disease gradually worsens and in most cases only occurs unilaterally. Coats’ disease can be diagnosed with the use of Flouroscein Angiography which involves injecting the eye with dye and watching its circulatory system. There are five different stages of Coats’ disease which are classified according to the severity of the disease. The first stage is treatable with laser therapy which allows most of the patient’s vision to be saved. Unfortunately it is extremely uncommon to diagnose Coats’ disease in the first stage. Stage Two can still be treated. Usually photocoagulation and/or cryotherapy are used. At this stage vision can sometimes be restored. Most damage occurs to the central vision of the eye which cause difficulty in reading, watching television, and driving. Sometimes a dense nodule becomes visible during this stage which causes the patient’s eye to appear yellow. During Stage Three the retina of the eye can become totally detached. This can be fixed by having surgery to reattach the retina to the eye. In these cases, some vision may be recovered although the initial prognosis is not very good. At this point, damage to the retina is very severe and sometimes requires complete removal of the eye due to the severe pain that the disease sometimes causes. Stage five involves total blindness which is completely irreversible. This is only in rare cases. Coats’ disease often stops on its own and causes mild symptoms. If the patient’s pain is severe an enucleation of the affected eye is required.
All information used to create this blog can be found at:
http://www.coatsdisease.org/index.html
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