No this is not a late-night personal injury lawyer infomercial.

This is a recommendation that you have your records available, for your own good, later in life.

There are 2 million cataract surgeries done yearly in the U.S. and the odds are, if you live long enough, you will eventually need cataract surgery too.

What does this have to do with LASIK surgery? 

When doctors perform cataract surgery we remove the cataract, which is the lens of your eye that has become cloudy.  And we replace that lens with an artificial lens called an Intraocular Lens implant (IOL).

The IOL needs to have a strength to it to match your eye so that things are in focus without the need for strong prescription eyeglasses.

Currently, we determine what the strength the IOL needs to be by using formulas that mostly depend on the measurements of the curvature of the cornea and the length of the eye.

Those formulas work best when the cornea is its natural shape – i.e., not previously altered in shape after LASIK.

[…]

Eye exams, education are important when it comes to knowing about cataracts

Cataracts affect millions of Americans and are a common cause of vision loss as we age.

That’s why it’s important to be aware of cataract symptoms and to have regular eye exams to help diagnose problems and monitor your vision.

Cataracts affect your eyes by causing cloudiness or opacity to the normally clear lenses that focus light to the retina at the back of your eyes. A cataract distorts that light, which can cause blurry vision and make your eyes sensitive to bright lights – especially at night.

The water and protein that make up the lens or each eye can change as you age, with the protein clumping together to cloud the lens. As the cataract grows it becomes harder to see clearly and may require surgery to remove and replace the lens.

Causes of cataracts:

• Aging is the most common cause.
• Diseases such as diabetes or hypertension.
• Exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun.
• Smoking and excessive alcohol use.
• Injury to your […]
  

The word “astigmatism” is used so much in the ophthalmic world that most people have talked about it when discussing their eye health with their doctor.

“Astigmatism” comes from the Greek “a” – meaning “without” – and “stigma” – meaning “a point.” In technical ocular terms, astigmatism means that instead of there being one point of focus in the eye, there are two. In other words, light merges not on to a singular point, but on two different points.

This is experienced in the real world by blurred, hazy vision, and can sometimes lead to eye strain or headaches if not corrected with either glasses or contact lenses.

Astigmatism is not a disease. In fact, more than 90% of people have some degree of astigmatism.

Astigmatism occurs when the cornea, the clear front surface of the eye like a watch crystal, is not perfectly round. The real-world example we often use to explain astigmatism is the difference between a basketball and a football.

If you cut a basketball in half you get a nice round half […]

That Depends On The Option You Choose

Should you pay extra for cataract surgery? Many surgeons refer to these options as “Premium,” “Advanced,” “Custom” or “Refractive” cataract surgery.

First let me describe the three basic choices that are available today.

Option 1 – Basic cataract surgery

Basic surgery is what we have been doing for the last 30 years. The cataract is removed through a small incision in the eye, in almost all cases with the assistance of an instrument called a phacoemulsifier. This is an ultrasound-driven instrument that breaks the cataract into small pieces before it is then sucked out of the eye.

Once that is completed an intraocular lens is placed in the eye. This lens is called a fixed-focus lens, which means the lens allows you to see well in one place in space. Most of the time the lens is chosen for good distance vision (but it can be chosen for good near vision instead).

With this lens you see well at the distance chosen but can’t see well at other distances […]

When soft contact lenses first came on the scene, the ocular community went wild.

People no longer had to put up with the initial discomfort of hard lenses, and a more frequent replacement schedule surely meant better overall health for the eye, right?

In many cases this was so. The first soft lenses were made of a material called HEMA, a plastic-like polymer that made the lenses very soft and comfortable. The downside to this material was that it didn’t allow very much oxygen to the cornea (significantly less than the hard lenses), which bred a different line of health risks to the eye.

As contact lens companies tried to deal with these new issues, they started to create lenses that you not only replaced more frequently, but also the materials themselves changed from HEMA to SiHy, or silicone hydrogel. The oxygen transmission problem was solved, but an interesting new phenomenon occurred.

Because these were supposed to be the “healthiest” lenses ever created, many people started to over wear their lenses, which led things, such as […]

The retina is the nerve tissue that lines the inside back wall of your eye. Light travels through the pupil and lens and is focused on the retina, where it is converted into a neural impulse and transmitted to the brain. If there is a break in the retina, fluid can track underneath the retina and separate it from the eye wall. Depending on the location and degree of retinal detachment, there can be very serious vision loss.

Symptoms

The three 3 F’s are the most common symptoms of a retinal detachment:

• Flashes: Flashing lights that are usually seen in peripheral (side) vision.

• Floaters: Hundreds of dark spots that persist in the center of vision.

• Field cut: Curtain or shadow that usually starts in peripheral vision that may move to involve the center of vision.

Causes

Retinal detachments can be broadly divided into three categories depending on the cause of the detachment:

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachments: Rhegmatogenous means “arising from a rupture,” so these detachments are due to a break in the […]

Alzheimer's Disease International estimates that the number of people living with dementia worldwide – nearly 44 million in 2014 – will almost double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050.

There is no single test that can show if a person has Alzheimer's, but doctors can almost always determine if a person has dementia, although it may be difficult to determine the exact cause. Diagnosing Alzheimer's requires careful medical evaluation, neurological testing and sometimes brain imaging and blood tests to rule out other causes of dementia.

Most of the testing for early disease – MRI scans of the brain, brain PET scans looking for amyloid, and spinal taps looking for certain proteins in the spinal fluid – are not very accurate, they are invasive and they can be expensive.

Researchers have now turned to findings in the eye to help with early detection and are hoping to find ways to make the diagnosis earlier when potential treatments may have a better outcome. There is also hope that these tests will be less expensive and invasive […]

Do you have the right kind of eyewear to protect yourself from serious injury or blindness – or even just daily irritation?

Each year, tens of thousands of people are treated for eye injuries related to the hazards of their jobs, doing chores in the yard or playing sports. Most of these injuries could have been prevented by the right kind of eye protection – including wearing safety glasses, goggles or safety shields.

And for those not exposed to physical dangers, there are coatings that can be added to your regular glasses that protect you from UV rays from the sun and blue light from computer screens.

Ask us about how the right eye protection can help save your sight and what options you have based on your individual needs.

Video credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health (NEI/NIH) (https://nei.nih.gov/)

Your Eyes Are A Gift, Protect Them During The Holidays

“I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!”

“No, you'll shoot your eye out.”

This line from “A Christmas Story” is one of the most memorable Christmas movie quotes ever. Funny in the movie, but the holiday season does present a real eye injury threat.

For those of who celebrate Christmas that risk begins before the actual day.

Some of the most frequent holiday-related eye injuries come from the Christmas tree itself.

Holiday eye safety begins with the acquisition of the tree. If you are cutting down your own tree please wear eye protection when doing the cutting, especially if you are going to be using a mechanical saw such as a chain saw or sawzall. You need to also be careful of your eyes when loading a tree on top of the car. It is easy to get poked in the eye when heaving the tree up over your head.

Once back at home take care to make sure […]

Is it safe to use ‘Redness Relief’ eye drops regularly?

The short answer is NO.

Here’s the slightly longer answer.

There are several eye “Redness Relief” products on the over-the-counter market, such as those made by Visine, Clear Eyes, and Bausch & Lomb – as well as generic versions sold by pharmacy chains.

Most commonly, the active ingredient in redness relief drops is either Tetrahydrozoline or Naphazoline. Both of these drugs are in a category called sympathomimetics.

Sympathomimetics, the active ingredient in redness relief drops, work by a process called vasoconstriction, or artificially clamping down the superficial blood vessels on the eye surface. These blood vessels often dilate in response to the irritation. This increase in blood flow is trying to help repair whatever irritation is affecting the surface of the eye. Clamping down on those vessels by using a vasoconstrictor counteracts the body’s efforts to repair the problem.

The other downside to repetitively using redness relief drops is that after the vasoconstrictor wears off the vessels often dilate to an even larger degree than when the process started. This stimulates […]