If you have a health question for Dr Leonard, email her in confidence at [email protected] (Image: Getty)
A. This sounds like a pterygium, which is a thickening of the conjunctiva, the outer membrane of the eye. It is usually painless, though in some it can cause some irritation and dryness.
It tends to occur as a reaction to the eye being exposed to wind, dust and especially UV light, so is more common in people who have lived in hot climates or who are outdoors a lot, especially doing watersports, where the water reflects sunlight.
When a pterygium is small, often no treatment is required, but if it causes a lot of irritation, or starts growing over the central part of the eye and affects vision, then it can be surgically removed.
This involves cutting out the abnormal tissue and filling in the defect with a graft of tissue from the upper eyelid, which is usually done under a local anaesthetic.
You will need a GP referral to your local hospital eye clinic, and the most efficient way of getting this is probably to email your GP a photo of the affected eye.There shouldn’t be any need for your GP to see you.
The best way of preventing a pterygium occurring or getting bigger is to always protect your eyes with sunglasses with a UV400 rating when outdoors in sunny conditions.
Those with a wraparound design provide better protection than those with large gaps between the frame and the skin around the eyes.
Wearing a hat with a wide brim can also provide additional protection.
Q. I am 79 and recently had a colonoscopy to check for bowel polyps. None were found and I was given a good report on the day.
However, I saw a copy of the report sent to my GP which said, “Diverticulosis from the sigmoid flexure to the proximal ascending colon”.
What does this mean and is there anything I should do about it? My GP has said nothing about this and I have no symptoms.
A. Diverticulosis is used to describe a condition where you have several diverticula sticking out from the wall of the large bowel. Each of these is a small pouch with a narrow neck.Though they develop in any part of the large bowel, they occur most commonly to begin with in the section leading to the back passage, the sigmoid colon.
In your case, you have them from here round to the colon on the right hand side of your abdomen.
They are very common and tend to develop as you get older, with about 30 percent of people having some by the age of 50, and 70 per cent by the age of 80.
They are thought to be caused by not eating enough fibre, the part of food that is not digested and helps to keep stools soft. With insufficient fibre, the stools are harder and smaller and the muscles of the bowel have to work harder to pass them along to the anus.
This can lead to increased pressure inside the bowel and pushing the inner lining of the intestine through the muscle wall to form a diverticula.
In most people, diverticula cause no symptoms, but they can sometimes cause intermittent abdominal pain, with diarrhoea and mucus in stools.
However, if feces get trapped inside one or more diverticula, they can become infected and inflamed, a condition called diverticulitis.
Symptoms include a fever, abdominal pain, constipation or diarrhoea and blood in the stools, which requires treatment with antibiotics.
As diverticulosis means having diverticula with no symptoms, there is no need for any treatment, but it is advisable to try and eat a high fibre diet, aiming for 30g of fibre each day. This can help to stop more diverticula from forming and may reduce the risk of diverticulitis.
Good sources of fibre are wholewheat bread, pasta and cereals (particularly those containing bran, pulses, fruit and vegetables).
If you are not used to eating much fibre, build up the amount slowly, as suddenly eating large amounts can cause bloating and discomfort.
If you find you cannot manage to eat a sufficient amount in your diet, then fibre supplements are available on prescription and from chemists.
Q. I seem to have developed really sensitive teeth. I never used to have this problem, but now just a small bite of anything straight out of the fridge sends a shooting pain through my front teeth. Why has this happened, is there anything I can do?
A. The nerve endings inside teeth are normally protected by the hard enamel outer covering. But if the enamel gets worn away, the soft inner dentine and the nerves it contains are exposed, which can make a tooth sensitive.
This usually happens at the gum line, where the enamel is naturally thinner. It can be caused by simply brushing your teeth too vigorously, especially with a hard toothbrush, but also can be from dental erosion, where the enamel is worn away from acidic food and drinks.
Receding gums, which expose the dentine at the base, occur with age, but the process speeds up if you have a build-up of plaque at the base of the teeth. Sensitivity can also be caused by grinding your teeth, bleaching treatments and, less commonly, by a cracked tooth or filling.
See your dentist who can advise you about the underlying reason and offer appropriate treatment, which may be using a high fluoride toothpaste.
In the meantime, take extra care over cleaning your teeth and avoid eating or drinking anything acidic between meals.
If you have a health question for Dr Leonard, email her in confidence at [email protected].
Dr Leonard regrets she cannot enter into personal correspondence or reply to everyone.
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