blog

Gift of Sight!

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 18:58:33 +0100

Now with the Holidays fast approaching we look to our friends and family for comfort and understanding we should be reminded that our vision allows us to enjoy life's wonderful special views, our children, family and friends. During the month of December our office always collects Toys and Stuffed animals for The Children's Crisis Nursery. You too can give the Gift of Sight by donating our old and unused glasses for The Lion Clubs of Arizona and receive a Gift Certificate for FREE Single Vision Lenses.

Summer Eye Burning

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 19:36:18 +0100

July was Prevent Blindness America month, and us with our partners Community Health Charities helped to raise awareness about summer eye safety.

Most people are aware of the effect the sun can have on their skin and also what to do to protect it. Unfortunately not as many are as aware of the problems it can cause to their eyes. In countries that have lots of sunny days, and mostly everywhere during the summer months, it is important that eyes are protected and sunglasses can do this. A further problem is the fact that many people do not understand how much protection their sunglasses give them.

Sunglasses are designed to help protect the eyes but others are more suited to fashion. For a short time in the sun the fashion ones may be OK but if there is going to be a prolonged exposure to the sun, more consideration should be given to protection. There are concerns that in order to get full protection the glasses will have to be very expensive but it is possible to buy a pair with good protection for under $20. Very often the added price is for the stylish frames rather than the amount of eye protection the sunglasses give.

The eyes can get sunburned and this will cause lasting damage. Squint lines do not look good on anyone and can make someone look much older than they are but then once someone knows they could go blind as a result of the burn it is more than likely that they will decide to wear sunglasses and realize that eye protection is something that should not be ignored.

There are two different types of sunburn that can affect the eyes, and that is one that is temporary and uncomfortable and another that is permanent and serious.

Tips for Choosing Sunglasses
• Thicker frames will help prevent the rays reaching the eyes as will curved lenses.
• The frames should fit close to the face stopping rays getting into the gaps.
• Wraparound sunglasses have become popular as they shield more of the eyes. It may not often be noticed that the sun can still reach the eyes from the side so by doing this there is maximum protection from sunburn and less risk of damage for the eyes.

Groupon Coupon Offer revised

Sat, 18 Jun 2011 19:40:52 +0100

We are all very excited to be the East Valley’s first Optical Boutique to be featured on Groupon. In order to provide outstanding customer service, we have increased the number of staff hours and have expanded the Doctors examination schedule to accommodate the volume of calls and exam needs. To all my regular customers you too can take advantage of the BEST OFFER we have ever had. Thanks to the People at Groupon this offer will be our best yet.

Update: We again were asked to have a Groupon in March of 2011 and it was a big sucess, now you can find us doing the Groupon Coupon NOW....

Insurance Changes for the Spring

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:22:15 +0100

Understanding Your Coverage

The New Year brings a refreshed look at the updated insurance coverage or just new benefits from when open enrollment may have changed your providers and or optical shops.

Insurance companies sometimes handle routine eye exams differently than medical eye exams. Your medical insurance may cover a medical eye problem, but not pay for the exam if it is a "routine" eye exam. Many vision plans provide coverage for glasses and contact lenses, or at least give you some type of discount on the doctor’s fees. Your medical insurance will pay for examinations if you have eye health problems.

Many people with medical insurance have a separate rider policy to cover routine eye exams. To complicate matters more, some medical insurance will cover one routine eye exam every two years in addition to covering an eye exam that is for a medical eye problem. Study your policy closely, as plan coverage varies among insurance companies.

What happens if you have concerns about your eye health but you also need new glasses? Can you have your vision checked even though you have a medical eye problem? The answer, of course, is yes. However, your eye doctor may charge you a refraction fee. Insurance companies usually separate the components of an eye exam, one being the comprehensive exam and the other being the refraction. Typically, vision insurance policies usually cover both the eye exam and the refraction, while medical policies cover the exam only.

Always check with your vision care provider or contact the insurance company directly to ensure that your coverage will provide a complete health check plus some extras for optical equipment.

Winter Blues

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 20:54:43 +0100

Well, it's that time of year again when getting out on the slopes in the cold country is a normal event for most Phoenicians. Remember to get your BLUE Blocker sunglasses filled with your most up to date RX so that you do not have the WINTER BLUES, better known as SNOW BLINDNESS.

I have been in the desert so long that sometimes I forget what good eye protection is when you go to the snow country. Pack your with you as I do.. Mention our end of year special CODE word and get up to $100.00 off .

Special Eyewear & Frames

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:04:25 +0100

Specialty Eyewear

Just as "one-size-fits-all" doesn't always fit, neither does one pair of eyeglasses for all situations.

Whether you want optimum vision and comfort for a specific activity, such as computer use, work, hobbies or driving, or you need glasses that provide an extra margin of safety for work or recreation, special-purpose eyeglasses will usually meet these needs better than your “everyday” glasses.

Computer glasses

If you spend much time in front of a computer, you probably already know that eye strain, fatigue and muscle strains are common problems associated with prolonged computer use. “Computer glasses” have lenses that are specially-designed to maximize your vision at the intermediate and close-up distances you use during computer work. Computer-specific eyewear will give you the best correction for these distances and help reduce eyestrain.

Reading and hobbies

If you wear bifocals, you may find you have to tip your head back slightly to use the reading portion of the lens. That’s fine for most things, but if you want to sit and read a novel, this head-back posture can cause neck discomfort and fatigue. Often, a pair of single vision reading glasses are a much better solution for prolonged reading and other detailed near vision tasks, such as sewing or needlepoint work.

Charities & Events

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 05:07:10 +0100

Third Annual

Please help our Solders and Support us in this Event.

The Inaugural Kokopelf Charity Social

Benefitingldiers R US

Thursday, September 11, 2010 at 1800 West Guadalupe Road

Gilbert, Arizona 85233

www.soldiersrus.org

CONTACT MIchael Dressor at 480.926.3437

Sponsored in part by PerSpectacles Eyewear Gallery

Children's Vision FAQs

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:32:06 +0100

Q: How often should children have their eyes examined?

A: According to the American Optometric Association (AOA), infants should have their first comprehensive eye exam at 6 months of age. After that, kids should have routine eye exams at age 3 and again at age 5 or 6 (just before they enter kindergarten or the first grade).

For school-aged children, the AOA recommends an eye exam every two years if no vision correction is needed. Children who need eyeglasses or contact lenses should be examined annually.

Q: My 5-year-old daughter just had a vision screening at school and she passed. Does she still need an eye exam?

A: Yes. School vision screenings are designed to detect gross vision problems. But kids can pass a screening at school and still have vision problems that can affect their learning and school performance. A comprehensive eye exam by an optometrist can detect vision problems a school screening may miss. Also, a comprehensive eye exam includes an evaluation of your child’s eye health, which is not part of a school vision screening.

Q: What is vision therapy?

A: Vision therapy (also called vision training) is an individualized program of eye exercises and other methods to correct vision problems other than nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism. Problems treated with vision therapy include amblyopia (‘lazy eye”), eye movement and alignment problems, focusing problems, and certain visual-perceptual disorders. Vision therapy is usually performed in an optometrist’s office, but most treatment plans also include daily vision exercises to be performed at home.

Q: Can vision therapy cure learning disabilities?

A: No, vision therapy cannot correct learning disabilities. However, children with learning disabilities often have vision problems as well. Vision therapy can correct underlying vision problems that may be contributing to a child’s learning problems.

Q: Our active 1-year-old boy needs glasses to correct his farsightedness and the tendency for his eyes to cross. But he pulls them off the second they go on. We've tried an elastic band, holding his arms, tape... He just struggles and cries. How do we get him to wear his glasses?

A: In most cases, it just takes awhile for a toddler to get used to the sensation of wearing glasses. So persistence is the key. Also, you may want to put his glasses on as soon as he wakes up – this will usually help him adapt to the glasses easier.

But it’s also a good idea to recheck the prescription and make sure his glasses were made correctly and are fitting properly. Today, there are many styles of frames for young children, including some that come with an integrated elastic band to help keep them comfortably on the child’s head. Bring your son and the eyewear to our office. Even if you didn’t purchase the glasses from us, we will be happy to give you our opinion about why your son is having a tough time wearing them and what you can do about it.

Q: Our 3-year-old daughter was just diagnosed with strabismus and amblyopia. What are the percentages of a cure at this age?

A: With proper treatment, the odds are very good. Many researchers believe the visual system can still develop better visual acuity up to about age 8 to 10. If your daughter’s eye turn (strabismus) is constant, it’s likely surgery will be necessary to straighten her eyes in order for her therapy for amblyopia (or “lazy eye”) to be successful. Strabismus surgery may be needed even if her eyes alternate in their misalignment. See a pediatric ophthalmologist who specializes in strabismus surgery for more information.

Q: My daughter (age 10) is farsighted and has been wearing glasses since age two. We think she may have problems with depth perception. How can she be tested for this, and if there is a problem, can it be treated?

A: We can perform a very simple stereopsis test to determine if your daughter has normal depth perception. In this test, she wears “3-D glasses” and looks at a number of objects in a special book or on a chart across the room. If she has reduced stereopsis, a program of vision therapy may help improve her depth perception.

Q: We have an 11-year-old son who first became nearsighted when he was 7. Every year, his eyes get worse. Is there anything that can be done to prevent this?

A: Rigid gas permeable (GP) contact lenses may help. Research shows that, in many cases, fitting myopic youngsters with GP lenses may slow the progression of their nearsightedness. There's also a special fitting technique with GP contacts called orthokeratology (or “ortho-k”) that can even reverse certain amounts of myopia. There is also research that suggests bifocals and/or reading glasses may slow down the progression of myopia in some children.

Q: My 7-year-old son's teacher thinks he has “convergence insufficiency.” What is this, and what can I do about it?

A: Convergence insufficiency (CI) is a common learning-related vision problem where a person’s eyes don’t stay comfortably aligned when they are reading or doing close work. For reading and other close-up tasks, our eyes need to be pointed slightly inward (converged). A person with convergence insufficiency has a tough time doing this, which leads to eyestrain, headaches, fatigue, blurred vision and reading problems. Usually, a program of vision therapy can effectively treat CI and reduce or eliminate these problems. Sometimes, special reading glasses can also help.

Q: My son is 5 years old and has 20/40 vision in both eyes. Should I be concerned, or could this improve with time?

A: Usually, 5-year-olds can see 20/25 or better. But keep in mind that visual acuity testing is a subjective matter – during the test, your child is being asked to read smaller and smaller letters on a wall chart. Sometimes, kids give up at a certain line on the chart when they can actually read smaller letters. Other times, they may say they can’t read smaller letters because they want glasses. (Yes, this happens!) Also, if your son had his vision tested at a school screening (where there can be plenty of distractions), it’s a good idea to schedule a comprehensive eye exam to rule out nearsightedness, astigmatism or an eye health problem that may be keeping him from having better visual acuity.

Q: My daughter has been diagnosed with refractive amblyopia due to severe farsightedness in one eye. She just got her glasses and the lens for her bad eye is much thicker than the other lens. She complains that the glasses make her dizzy and she refuses to wear them. Can anything be done about this?

A: In situations like this, where one eye needs a much stronger correction than the other, contact lenses are a better option. With glasses, the unequal lens powers cause an unequal magnification effect, so the two eyes form images in the brain that are different in size. This can cause nausea, dizziness because the brain may not be able to blend the two separate images into a single, three-dimensional one. And, of course, the glasses will be unattractive because one lens will be much thicker than the other.

Even if your child is quite young, she can probably handle contact lens wear. Contact lenses don’t cause the differences in image magnification that glasses do. Continuous wear lenses (worn day and night for up to 30 days, then discarded) or one-day disposable lenses may be good options.

Keep in mind that amblyopia is a condition where one eye doesn’t see as well as the other, even with the best possible correction lens in place. Simply wearing the contacts may not improve the vision in her weak eye. Usually a program of vision therapy will also be needed.

For more information on children’s vision or eye exams, visit All About Vision®.

Common Vision Problems and Causes

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:33:53 +0100

Farsightedness (Hyperopia) Farsightedness is the ability of the eye to focus on items and tasks that are farther away, but inability to focus on items and tasks that are closer to the eye. This condition occurs when light entering the eyeball through the cornea does not focus correctly on the back of the eye. Rather the point where the light should come to a focus occurs beyond the back of the eyeball. This occurs because the cornea has too little curvature to adjust the light, or because the eyeball is shorter than in those without Hyperopia.

Unlike Nearsightedness (Myopia), Hyperopia is usually not diagnosed in school-aged children, and standard vision screening does not often find this problem.

If you have the symptoms of Hyperopia, like difficulty keeping focus on tasks that are close to the eye, headaches after close work or reading, or eye strain and fatigue after focusing on close projects, see your eye care professional. Only your eye care professional can diagnose this or any eye ailment.

Your eye care professional will discuss your options for vision correction. This may include glasses, or a contact lens prescription to correct your vision problems.

Nearsightedness (Myopia)

Nearsightedness or Myopia occurs in a large percentage of the population. It is usually diagnosed in school-aged children when they have difficulty seeing the chalkboard. Myopia occurs in people with a longer eyeball than normal, or those with greater curvature to the cornea of the eye. The light entering the eye then focuses closer to the front of the eye. This means that objects and tasks that are farther away may appear blurred.

There is evidence to support the theory that Myopia is partially hereditary. There is also some evidence that Myopia is a stress related condition caused by too much eye strain and close eye work. Myopia is usually fully developed and diagnosed by age 20, as the eye continues to grow and problems become more apparent throughout childhood.

Only your optometrist can diagnose Myopia. Your optometrist can prescribe eyeglasses or contact lenses that will correct Myopia by altering the way light enters your eye by changing the curvature of the cornea. Your eyeglasses or contact lenses may be worn for certain activities, like driving, or may be worn all the time. Another option for Myopia patients is orthokeratology, a process that reshapes the cornea through a series of non-invasive contact lens therapies.

Astigmatism

Astigmatism occurs when the cornea of the eye is shaped irregularly, more like a football than a baseball. Because of this cornea shape, light does not focus correctly on the back of the eye. Astigmatism can affect your vision by blurring objects and tasks placed at all distances. Patients with Astigmatism often see skewed images. Astigmatism can be accompanied by Myopia (nearsightedness) or Hyperopia (farsightedness).

Most people have some degree of Astigmatism, or deviation in the shape of the cornea. Many people with Astigmatism believe that they cannot wear contact lenses. However, most patients can benefit from properly fitted Toric contact lenses. These lenses are shaped with more than one power in the lens to correct the Astigmatism. These lenses are also stabilized on the eye to prevent the lens from rotating as spherical lenses do.

Sufferers of slight Astigmatism may also be candidates for aspherical lenses. These lenses have a slightly different shape than regular spherical lenses. If you suspect you have Astigmatism, see your eye care professional. Only an eye care professional can diagnose problems associated with vision.

Many people with Astigmatism believe they can't wear contact lenses, or that only rigid contact lenses can correct Astigmatism-but this is no longer true. Now there are soft lens designs, which correct Astigmatism, and these are called toric contact lenses. Toric lenses have a special correction built into them, and may also contain a prescription for nearsightedness or farsightedness.

Are contacts lenses hard to take care of?

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:36:28 +0100

It differs from lens to lens. Oxygen permeable contact lenses, which last for years, need daily cleaning and disinfecting but generally no enzyming, since their slick surface resists deposit buildup. Daily disposable lenses are worn once, and then discarded, with no maintenance required. Weekly soft disposables are rubbed and rinsed at the end of the day, then soaked in disinfecting solution until they're worn again. Since they're discarded before deposit buildups occur, they don't need to be soaked in an enzyme solution. Other soft lenses usually require daily cleaning/dis-infection and weekly enzyming.

Warning! Even though your contact lenses are shipped factory sealed and sterile, if you fail to use good hygiene or the recommended solutions correctly, you may cause an eye infection. Also, do not open the contact lens vials unless you have the proper solutions and a lens storage case. Never share your contact lenses with others or use their color contact lenses.