Retinopathy of prematurity is a vasoproliferative eye diseases (Chen H, 2015: ) that affects premature infants who have not completely finished the gestation period. According to cernichioro- Espinosa, very low birthweight …show more content…
These fragile and exposed blood vessels rupture and leak very easily causing retinal scaring which in turn pulls the retina out of position. These scars usually shrink as they heal and dry causing immense pressure at the retinal conjunction eventually enough pressure tears the lining, completely detaching the retina from its lining. “ROP is a multifactorial disease, and may factors have been suggested to cause ROP excluding low birth weight, young gestational age, and prolonged oxygen supplementation” (Kondo H, 2013, 19: ). The eye begins to develop after the 16th week of pregnancy this is when the blood vessels of the retina begin to form in the back of the eye on the optic nerve. These blood vessels eventually grow towards the retina to and in its development by supplying vital nutrients and oxygen. The eye develops very rapidly in the last 12 weeks of the pregnancy and is not completely developed until several weeks after a full-term birth. As mentioned before “preform birth removes the visuals system from the nutrients intrauterine environment (Blencowe H F. A., 2013: ). Causing the blood vessel growth to stop momentarily, it has been theorized that these vessels not having completely formed throughout the retina, only reach the other edges. Consequently, the nutrients and oxygen deprived parts of the …show more content…
“Rates of ROP are dependent on the quality of Care received including oxygen delivery with continuous monitoring to maintain safe oxygen saturation levels” (Blencowe H F. A., 2013: ). Researchers also found that reducing the levels of oxygen at different stages of growth significantly reduced ROP. “The need of oxygen varies at different developmental stages and phases on ROP the use of low oxygen saturation (70% - 96 %) during the first postnatal weeks and high oxygen saturation (94% - 99%) at post menstrual ages 32 weeks” (Cernichiaro- Espinosa L, 2017. ). Incidentally monitoring the oxygen levels continuously has reduced the oxygen toxicity as a risk factor ROP can be easily treated and prevented using existing methods described