Good evening,

My name is Vrajesh Patel and my senior research topic is on the human eye.

 

I have chosen to do my project on the human eye because many people in my family as well as my friends suffer from a variety of eye disorders.  Also, I wanted to obtain an answer to an important question that I have always pondered.  This question is why a person with nearsightedness can see both far and near objects with glasses, but the person with farsightedness cannot.

 I hoped that throughout the course of this project, I would learn more about eye diseases and also be able to explain them to other people.  After completing my research, I gained an understanding of the how the eye functions, disorders in the eye, and methods to cure those disorders.  Learning these things will enable me to teach others as well. Different disorders that I learned while doing this project are Nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia and diabetic retinopathy.

The scientific name of Nearsightedness is Myopia. It occurs when light entering the eye focuses in front of the retina rather than on the retina. In the nearsightedness, the cornea is steeper than that of the normal eye. Nearsighted people typically see near things but have difficulty in seeing far away objects.

            The scientific name of Farsightedness is Hyperopia. It occurs when light entering the eye focuses behind of the retina. In farsightedness the cornea is flatter than that of the normal eye. Farsighted people typically see things that are far away but have difficulty in seeing by near objects.

            Astigmatism is a refractive error. The cornea of an eye with Astigmatism is oval like a football instead of spherical like a basketball, and it is smooth. This kind of the cornea has both steeper curve and a flatter curve, and this cause light to focus on more than one point. With astigmatism, one often sees blurred images.

            Presbyopia is a refractive error. A person who is affected by presbyopia often has difficulty in focusing the eyes for reading or close work. It usually affect people aged forty years or above. With presbyopia, one loses ability and capacity of changing the lens and the cornea as required focusing on an object. The presbyopia occurs suddenly as the eye loses flexibility. 

Diabetes is a disease that causes many problems, but it is especially hard on the eyes and can lead to blindness among adults. Diabetes is a condition in which there is improper regulation and use of glucose for energy. This occurs due to a failure in the production of insulin. Diabetes patient can get diabetic retinopathy which leads to blurry picture.

 I was able to learn more about my research topic by my product of job-shadowing an ophthalmologist.  Dr. Hasan Fatteh allowed me to shadow him at his private practice office here in Augusta as well as serve as he severs my mentor throughout this project.  Dr. Fatteh also was able to answer the question that I had always pondered about nearsightedness and farsightedness.  He explained to me that it is not true for all the patients; it depends upon the eye of a patient.  Job-shadowing allowed me to learn what an ophthalmologist does on a regular basis.  I also gained first hand experience on the instruments used by the doctor to treat various eye disorders.  The instruments used are a corneal topographer (this machine helps in measuring the curvature of the cornea and gives an approximate prescription number for eyeglasses), a phoropter (this machine helps to obtain the prescription number for eyeglasses), and a tonometer (this machine helps in measuring pressure inside the eye and consequently determines the probability of glaucoma).  Some other instruments are a slit lamp (this machine helps in seeing inside the eye straight through the cornea to the retina), an ophthalmoscope (it helps to examine the retina and vitreous humor), and the lasik process (there is only a laser ray that goes inside the eye and removes the cataract by lowering the pressure inside the cornea).  Since Dr. Fatteh served as my mentor, he evaluated my product as well. 

One major challenge that I faced in doing my senior project was learning to communicate in English properly.  I have been in the United States for only eight months and I have found it very difficult to speak and write grammatically correct in English without having some help from others.  Also, it was challenging to find an ophthalmologist to shadow as well as serve as my mentor to do my senior product.  Another problem that I had to overcome was how to manage my time between my regular school work and working on my product.

There are many benefits that I have gained by doing this project.  Most importantly, I have been able to improve my speaking and writing skills in English.  Also, I learned to interact with adults on a professional level, as well as how various eye disorders are treated.  Lastly, I benefited by understanding the value of time management and hard work.

 

Thank you so much for your time and consideration.  I am grateful for being given this opportunity to learn more about the human eye, a topic that I have always been interested in.