#glaucoma

Hey this is a gofundme for my mom's dog, he has glaucoma in his eyes and needs medicine.

I drew Caranthir in color this time! I’m pretty happy with how it turned out^^ I didn’t feel like shading it or rendering it fully though, I may do that later.

My version of Caranthir has Sturge Weber Syndrome, and he has a port wine birthmark and glaucoma (and is blind) as a result of that. His glaucoma is also why I made his eyes redder and hazy. I made him blind because I wanted to explore the idea of a blind Fëanorian, especially because the Fëanorians would likely place a high value on eyesight and visual beauty. He is still loved and accepted, but it must be difficult not to feel alienated being blind in a family that values sight so highly. His blindness was progressive, and I imagine it became obvious that his eyesight was deteriorating when he was the elf equivalent of 5-8. When he was an adolescent it got to the point where he had to admit he was blind (and I imagine he started to use a cane or let people guide him around that time), and by the time he was fully matured he couldn’t see at all. At first, his inability to see the silmarils meant that he didn’t really understand what all the fuss was about, but when he touched them he could feel the power and light they radiated and he understood completely. He’s just as affected as the rest of the Fëanorians.

(Timelapse featuring a poorly drawn chibi I made for color reference under the cut.)

Not all of us can drive. Not all of us can safely navigate new places.

"Self-care” advice is always centered around abled people and I’m tired of it.

I know there's never going to be a one-size-fits-all solution, but can we get more “self-care” advice for people who can’t easily leave their homes? Or people who can’t leave their homes at all? What about people who can’t even leave their beds?

Eye-dentity

Every actor wants the lead, but without supporting cast and backstage crew, the show could not go on. A study has identified a director in the developing eye, guiding key casting decisions to keep everything running smoothly. Smarcc1 acts as a switch, directing developing cells to become astrocytes – essential support cells that allow neurons to shine. The team found that mice without Smarcc1 developed progressive vision decline and a malformed optic nerve head, as crucial cells failed to switch their identity to astrocytes. They observed Smarcc1 (green in a mouse eye at birth, left) associated with early progenitor cells, while a related protein, Smarcc2 (red, right), was more prominent in more mature cells, fine-tuning development. The optic nerve head is a major site of damage in glaucoma, and Smarcc1 is part of a complex involved in several human disorders, so understanding these dynamics could have real implications for human health.

Written by Anthony Lewis

Image from work by Nitay Zuk-Bar and colleagues

Department of Human Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry, Gray Faculty of Medical & Health Sciences and Sagol School of Neurosciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in bioRxiv, December 2025 (not peer reviewed)

There are two possibilities - glaucoma (increased eye pressure), or the Rheumatoid Arthritis has "found my eye" and can/will eventually destroy it.

Neither option sounds great, but the glaucoma (if early enough) can be managed/treated with drops or medication. Never in my life did I think I'd be crossing my fingers for glaucoma. But I'd rather that, which is more likely able to be managed, than the RA damaging the eye because the two instances I've read on/know about that the people lost their eye.