Lutein

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in people over the age of 55. The number of cases is expected to triple by the year 2025. This information comes right from the American Optometric Association (AOA). If you are wondering what age-related macular degeneration is, you aren't alone. For as prevalent as the disease is, there isn't much talk about it. In the simplest of terms, age-related macular degeneration creates blind spots in the central vision. It can cause images to look "wavy" or have dark spots.

Proper nutrition is one of the keys to fighting it off. Studies have shown that taking vitamin and mineral supplements or a healthy change in diet reduced the risk of advanced stage age-related macular degeneration by 25% in some subjects. It's an encouraging number and doesn't hurt to eat extra vegetables or swallow a pill if the situation calls for it.

However, a proper balanced diet will help prevent age-related macular degeneration in the first place. One of the essential nutrients in warding it off is called lutein. The body doesn't naturally make lutein, so it has to come from other sources, namely leafy green vegetables. It is increasingly becoming true that we are what we eat, if it looks healthy its bound to be good for the body somewhere. One of the best sources for lutein is, strangely enough, kale.



Usually the left over garnish for many burgers and fries, cooked kale provides 23.8mg of lutein per serving. If the hardy cousin to cabbage isn't all that appetizing, spinach, collards, turnip greens, corn, green peas, broccoli, lettuce and other foods all contain lutein. Some of the benefits of lutein intake is that it is an antioxidant to keep cells healthy, it acts as a filter to block out harmful high-energy blue wavelengths, increased tolerance and recovery from light glare and may promote low light sight.

After an eye exam, optometrists might give out some Lutein supplements. There have been a number of studies done that show adding Lutein is good for eye health and companies who are involved in eye care are running as fast as they can to manufacture these new pills. People at risk for age-related macular degeneration should talk to their optometrist if they should be adding more lutein to their diet. Just be sure to always talk with your eye doctor first before taking any sort of medicine or supplement for  your eyes.

How the Eye is Able to See

It is really interesting how the eye is able to take light, bend it and reassemble the information into an object. Here is the basics of how it all works.

Being able to see all comes down to how the eye is able to focus light. As light enters the eye through the cornea (the outer part of the eye), light begins to bend. This is begins what is called "refraction." After light goes through the cornea, it bends one more time by a crystalline lens inside the eye as it goes to the retina, where the light is focused. Once the light is focused, it stimulates cells that send millions of electrochemical impulses along the optic nerve to the brain. The brain uses a special section near the back that interprets the signals into an image of an object. The amazing thing is that this complicated process happens automatically and in less than a blink of an eye.


However, sometimes the eye has trouble focusing light. Vision becomes blurry and objects don't appear as sharp anymore. That is where the importance of an eye exam and corrective prescription like glasses or contact lenses come to the rescue. It can adjust the focus of the light so that the eye and brain can clearly define objects. During an eye exam with an eye doctor, one of the technicians will use what is called an auto-refractor. It measures the approximate amount of correction is needed and tells the optometrist if there is an astigmatism or not.

What about animals? Well, they aren't exactly your typical eye exam patient, but I did dig up this YouTube video of what was just explained and how humans and animals see the world in sometimes different lights.



Here is a great resource for more about how the eye is able to see.

A consumer guide to eye topics such as Eye Twitching, Itchy Eyes, Conjunctivitis, Contact Lenses and more.

Eye Care 101: Inserting Contact Lenses

Eye Care is one of the most important parts in the practice of Optometry. Good eye care practices are both the responsibility of patients and doctors. This series of posts will cover the basics that highlight important topics in Optometry to show how eye care is important.

So many people wear contact lenses that they are just as common as glasses wearers. Every contact lens wearer is also trained in specific ways to make sure that they keep their contacts clean and eyes healthy when they insert them each morning. As wearers get more comfortable with inserting and removing the contacts, some bad habits can form. And it all starts with inserting contact lenses. In terms of eye care, it is paramount to keep up a good regimen so contacts won't expose the eye to disease and infection. The following is the proper steps to follow when handling contact lenses to insert them. The biggest key to keeping eyes healthy with contact lenses is making sure everything is clean

• First, make sure to wash your hands throughly. A mild anti-bacterial soap is the best kind to use.


• Be sure to check for any debris or particles in the solution or on the lens.


• Double check to the lens to see if it is inside out. A good way to tell is look at the contact at eye level. If there is a slight "bell" shape to the contact, it needs to be flipped inside out.


• Avoid over handling contacts. They are made from delicate materials and can pick up germs, particles or other thing you don't want touching your eye ball.


• Once the contact is on the eye, look down and close your eyes for a few seconds to let the contact settle.

This information is generally given out during an eye exam, but it is always good to call an Optometrist if you have any questions. Here is a video with some more information about contacts from the solution brand Opti-Free. That is the brand our eye doctors use and recommend.

Allergies and Your Eye

The change of the seasons usually means many people will start suffering from environmental allergies. Even during the colder winter months, there are irritants that will attack the eyes of allergy prone people. Since allergies and their symptoms are so common, it there are many methods for caring for the eyes when symptoms strike. Allergies can happen at any time, and those commercials where they use military words like "assault" and "strike" are actually good descriptors. Even people without allergies can develop an allergic reaction to something later in life. That is why you are asked during each eye exam if you have allergies.

Pollens, mold, pet dander or other environmental source can cause allergies. Contact lens wearers can be allergic to certain eye drops even. When someone who suffers from allergies is exposed to the irritant, a number of automatic responses from the body will happen naturally. Sneezing and nasal congestion are common, but the eyes also play into allergies in a big way.

When eyes come in contact with irritants, they will try and flush out the attacking microbes. The eyes will water and mucus will do its best to get rid of the allergies. If exposure is high enough, the eyes will become red and puffy as a reaction to what is causing the allergies. It's a miserable experience. When I suffer from allergies, I tell people I'm a leaky faucet.



The picture above of those spiky dodgeballs are actually what pollen look like a at microscopic level. Some people have a natural immunity to them and others are entirely susceptible to them and have to wait for the eye to kick in its defense if they are unable to get away from the pollen fast enough.

When allergies occur, there are a few things that can be done to ease the discomfort.  The first thing is avoid what is causing problems in the first place. The best treatment is to eliminate or drastically reduce the amount of time near known allergy sources (such as flowers, cats or dust). It really goes back to the old adage of, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." If that doesn't work or is impossible to do, there are medications out there that help manage the symptoms. There are over-the-counter solutions, however, it is best to consult a doctor before taking anything. If there is an allergy to eye drop solutions, there are other brands with different formulas that will hopefully not cause the same reaction.



Just keep some tissues handy, just in case.

Allergies are a problem, but they can be  managed. Knowing what causes the allergies and avoiding the irritants is the best way to deal with them. Contact lens wears should make it a point to tell their eye doctor if they have environmental or other types of allergies so they can be fitted with contacts that won't bother them if they are chronic sufferers.

Fashion Tuesday: Ray-Ban Wayfarer

If there is one, unmistakable fashion statement that can be made with sun glasses, the Ray-Ban Wayfarer is it. Hollywood stars like Audrey Hepburn to Robert Pattinson have worn them. Musicians like Bob Dylan all the way to Taylor Swift have worn them. Artist Andy Warhol wore them and president John F. Kennedy even wore them. The look is the epitome of "cool" and the Wayfarer has enjoyed popularity as the best selling sun glasses of all time for a good deal of the 20th and 21st century. However, there were some dark times.



One interesting fact about the Wayfarer is that during one of the dips in its popularity, it lost so much interest that the entire line was on the verge of being discontinued. What saved one of the most recognizable fashion trends ever? A movie called Risky Business starring a mostly unknown actor, at the time, Tom Cruise.

Half of Eye Injuries Happen at Home

Injuries to the eye are no laughing matter, they can  be annoying at best and all the way to very painful. It's always good to protect the eyes with safety glasses or other approved safety device. Many people think that construction workers or other type of profession that works a lot with tools are primarily at risk for eye injury. Not the case. According to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and the American Society of Ocular Trauma (ASOT) over 1.5 million eye injuries happen every year in the home. That is half of all eye injuries.

Of the most dangerous places, the lawn and garden rank number one. The reason is from lawnmowers tossing debris into the air. Those rocks, clippings or twigs can lodge themselves in the eye and cause serious damage. Household products like cleaning supplies, makeup, dinner utensils, scissors and hair brushes are another big source of eye injury. Kids now are about 20 percent of the total eye injury total, so it is more important than ever to teach children about not running in the house with potentially dangerous objects and play away from someone mowing the lawn.

It's a common misconception that safety glasses have to be "nerdy" or "dorky." There are plenty of options available now that look fashionable and offer the same type of protection needed to keep eyes healthy. So those glasses you wore in 7th grade chemistry-



Can now look more like this-



A whopping 90 percent of the nearly 3 million yearly injuries could have been prevented. By being a little more careful and wearing the proper safety glasses, the statistics for eye injury will plummet. If you have any questions about safety glasses, get in touch with an eye care expert.

Learn more about eye safety at All About Vision.

Astigmatisms

This five syllable word sounds a whole lot scarier than it actually is. Astigmatisms are a common diagnosis when someone comes to get an eye exam and they can be corrected. The word traces back to Greek roots with the literally meaning of "without a spot or mark." However, with astigmatisms, there are multiple points on where light focuses in the eye. Those multi focal points will cause vision to appear blurry.

The reason for this is because the cornea has an oblong shape, instead of a shape closer to a perfect sphere.

The picture above shows how the cornea is shaped in an odd way that is making the letter "A" appear to focus on two different parts of the eye. If that oddly shaped part followed the contour of the rest of the eye, there would only be one point of focus. That is where corrective lenses come into play.

Glasses are commonly thought to be the only way to correct for an astigmatism. This couldn't be further from the truth. Contact lenses are now able to fit around the astigmatism and properly correct vision, and not just the hard lenses. There are a number of soft lens options that are just as comfortable and have no discernible differences over the spherical counterparts. Refractive surgery like LASIK can also correct for astigmatism. Even if the astigmatism is severe, they can be corrected.

Astigmatisms can happen naturally or they can be caused by other factors. So if you have an astigmatism, your eye doctor will let you know and tell you about a proper course of correction.

If you want to learn more about Astigmatisms, visit All About Vision for more information.

Online Contact Lens Ordering Available

Just a quick update about the website for our patients. Online contact lens ordering is back online. If you have have a current prescription, follow the link below to get brand new contacts shipped directly to your door.

Eye Care 101: 20/20 Vision

Eye Care is one of the most important parts in the practice of Optometry. Good eye care practices are both the responsibility of patients and doctors. This series of posts will cover the basics that highlight important topics in Optometry to show how eye care is important.

One thing most people know about optometry is that 20/20 vision is good to have. It means that at a distance of 20 feet, objects are seen clearly and crisply. If an Optometrist were to say you had 20/100 vision, that would mean that you would have to stand 20 feet away from an object while someone with normal vision could stand 100 feet to see the object just as clearly.



I tend to find pictures help explain this. In the above image, the man has 20/100 vision. He has to stand 20 feet away from the vase on the table while the woman can stand 100 feet away and see the same clarity as the man. The 20/(number) figure that is given by Optometrists part of what is known as "visual acuity."

The reason why everyone doesn't have 20/20 vision is due to a variety of reasons including nearsightedness (blurry distance vision), farsightedness (blurry close-up vision), astigmatism (non-spherical eye) or eye disease. Optometrists will be able to determine the causes during a comprehensive eye exam. The way to check distance vision is generally done by reading lines off those famous eye charts. Because of there are many factors for differences in visual acuity, that could mean that even people with 20/20 vision will note their vision could use adjustment.

The most common way to correct distance vision by prescribing glasses or contacts. There are also visual therapy programs and medications that can help improve vision, when the situation calls for them. Since the eyes are rapidly changing all the time, annual eye exams are important to make sure that visual corrections are current and aiding the health of the eye.

20/20 vision is a good barometer for healthy vision as it tests distance and clarity; however, it is only one part in the story. Saying someone has "perfect" sight when they have 20/20 vision is entirely misleading. What is missing are the other indicators of optimal vision like peripheral (side) vision, coordination of the eyes, depth perception, ability to focus and color testing. In summary, 20/20 vision is important but it isn't the end all, be all measurement for healthy vision.

Learn about eye glasses at All About Vision.

143 Million American Workers Plugged into an Electronic Device at Least 6 Hours Daily

The time people spend in front of a desktop computer or laptop is on a minuscule decline. The only reason for that because there are more devices that have the same basic functionality like smartphones, tablet touchscreen devices and handheld gaming consoles are eating up more of our time. The video below shows some interesting statistics about how many hours our eyes are in front of an electronic media device. The video could have used some tighter pacing, but the 2 minutes are jam packed with eye opening statistics. Knowledge of these kinds of things is really important for healthy eye care. If you are experiencing eye fatigue related to staring at some kind of electronic display, call an optometrist immediately and schedule an appointment. Your eyes will thank you.

People are Turned Off by 3D TV Glasses

The biggest push in home consumer electronics right now is 3D. We've all been to the movies where you purchase a ticket and also get a pair of special glasses that allow wearers to see images "pop" out of the screen. The technology is moving into living rooms and so are those glasses.

According to a Nielsen TV study, USA Today is reporting that people do not like wearing special glasses that are only used for the one task of seeing 3D images from their TVs, even if they are impressed with what gets displayed. A lot of times, people will have to put these glasses on over their corrective vision glasses. It seems as if people aren't too keen on wearing glasses if they don't have to for healthy vision.



Another source of contention is the fact that different TV makers use slightly different 3D technology so the brand of glasses have to match the brand of television. That would be like having to wear a different pair of Ford corrective vision glasses to drive a Ford car and a pair of Chevy glasses to drive a Chevy car.  There is work being done to eliminate the need for  the glasses, but that technology might be a little further away than some people hope it to be.

In future posts, we'll cover how the eye see 3D images but this is an interesting finding that people do not want to wear glasses if they don't have to.

Have a Safe Labor Day

Labor Day weekend is officially here. We just wanted to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday.

Our offices will be open on Labor Day.

A Splash of Color

The site has been live for around 72 hours already and changes are happening by the hour. Like the blue background. The big change today is that there is now a page dedicated to insurance information.

Another short update, but stay tuned as 4greatvision V2.0 takes shape.

A Brand New Look

How do you like the new, fresh, updated look to 4greatvision.com? This has been in the works for some time now and it is fantastic to be able to have more flexibility with this new style. Expect to see many articles about information regarding eye care, eye health, eye exams and related medical news right here on this page.

Since there is still a lot of work to be done getting the other pages up and running, this will be a short post. I will sign-off for the time being with a memorial to the old site.