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Comprehensive Eye Examinations
The American Optometric Association recommends that children should be seen for an eye exam beginning at age six months. A more detailed exam should be performed before the child enters kindergarten. I recommend that children be seen yearly for eye exams while in school. If your child is having problems in school, I recommend a developmental vision analysis. Adults should be examined every two years or yearly if the patient has diabetes, hypertension, or other chronic diseases or if the patient is taking any medications that have ocular side effects. For example if you have arthritis and are taking steroid medications, you are at risk of developing cataracts and/or glaucoma.
Our comprehensive eye exams include blood pressure testing, depth perception, color vision, glaucoma testing, eye muscle testing, and detailed extern and internal eye health exams that includes dilated exam of the retina.
Contact Lens Exams
In addition to all tests performed during a comprehensive eye exam, a contact lens exam includes a detailed history of the patient’s contact lens experience, examination of the eye with and without contact lenses, and evaluation of the patient’s vision, with and without contact lenses. If you wear contact lenses, you should have annual contact lens exams.
Low Vision Exams
Many patients have eye diseases that limit their vision. Conventional glasses may not be enough to allow these patients to see at near or distance. Diabetic eye disease and macular degeneration are the most common conditions seen in our low vision clinic. A low vision exam and follow-up visits allow us to work with various magnification devices such as hand held magnifiers, spectacle magnifiers, small spectacle mounted telescopes and microscopes, and video based magnification systems. Our goal is to make the most of the patients remaining vision. Most of our patients have been told that “there is nothing more that can be done”. Unfortunately, it is usually an eye surgeon who makes this statement. It would be better for the surgeon to tell the patient that there is nothing surgically that can be done.
Developmental Vision Analysis
If your child is not working at his or her grade level, a DVA is recommended. This detailed exam includes in depth binocular testing and perceptual testing. Near work is very stressful for our eyes. If the aiming system or the focusing system is not working properly, headaches, fatigue, and poor performance are common.
Vision Therapy
If a developmental delay or binocular dysfunction is diagnosed, vision therapy will be prescribed. Vision therapy consists of a series of procedures designed specifically for each patient. Vision therapy is typically done at home using a computer program to develop binocular skills and workbooks to develop perceptual skills. Currently I am evaluating computer driven perceptual programs. Our office is one of the only few in the state to offer computer assisted vision therapy.
Our computerized Visagraph measures actual eye movements as the patient reads a short story. This information is used to determine the efficiency of the readers eye movements.
Surgery Co-Management
If cataract surgery or refractive surgery is in your future, we will be an integral part of your eye care team. We provide pre-operative as well as post-operative care of surgery cases. In addition, we also co-manage serious eye diseases that require a specialist. Your specialist may request that we see you in between your visits to the specialist.
Emergency Medical Eye Treatment
If you work in hazardous areas and sustain an eye injury, call us immediately. You will be seen on an emergency basis. This also applies to serious red or irritated eyes.
Contact Lenses
Contact lens choices have grown exponentially in the past few years. We used to have two choices: hard and soft. In soft lenses we now have daily disposables, one to two week disposables, quarterly disposables, one to two week disposables for astigmatism correction, tinted one to two week disposables to change any eye color, tinted quarterly disposables for astigmatism correction that can change any eye color, one to two week disposable bifocal lenses, and the always strange "Wild Eyes" contacts to really freak out your friends. We also have a new monthly disposable lens that are approved for one-month wear without removal!
In gas permeable materials we have single vision and bifocal lenses that correct astigmatism, nearsightedness, and farsightedness. Gas Permeable lenses are available in visitint, blue, and green.
The most popular types and brands of contact lenses are listed below. If you have questions, please call our office.
ACUVUE
- 1-day Acuvue
- 2-week Acuvue
- 2-week Acuvue2
- Acuvue Toric
BAUSCH & LOMB
- Soflens 38
- Soflens 66
- Soflens 66 Toric
- Soflens Multifocal
- Soflens One Day
- Purevision (All Purevision lenses approved for 30 day continous wear)
- Purevision Toric
- Purevision Multifocal
- Nike Maxsight Sport Tinted Lenses
CIBA VISION
- O2 Optix
- Focus Night and Day (30 Day continuous wear)
- Focus Dailies
- Focus Dailies Progressives
- Focus Dailies Toric
- Freshlook Colors -- royal blue, aqua, evergreen, gray, brown, honey, green, amethyst, pure hazel, true sapphire, violet, pacific blue, sea green, carribean aqua, Moonlight, Autumn, Eden, Sunrise
- Freshlook Colors Toric -- blue, green, honey, gray
- Freshlook One Day Colors -- pure, hazel, blue, green, gray
- Precision UV
- Focus Torics
- Wild Eyes
COOPERVISION
- 2 Clear Premium (Exclusively from Vision Source)
- 2 Clear Toric
- Expressions Colors -- green, gray, aqua, blue, hazel, blue topaz, brown, jade
- Frequency 55
- Frequency 55 Multifocal
- Frequency 55 Toric
- Hydrosoft Toric Options (Individually designed for paitents with large amounts of astigmatism)
The following lenses are made exclusively for Vision Source:
- Neotech 2 week
- VS56 2 week
- Natural Eyes 2 week
Lens Designs
Single Vision Lenses-Single vision lenses work well for persons who still have the ability to focus at distance and near. Persons who have poor focus ability (presbyopia occurs around ages 35 to 45 and makes it fore difficult to shift focus from distance to near) can use a single vision lens prescription for distance or near, but not both.
Bifocal Lenses- There is a large variety of bifocal lenses. Some have round reading areas, but most have the typical flat top that looks like a capital D lying on its side. Flat top bifocals have been around for a very long time and allow persons with presbyopia or poor focusing function to see clearly at distance and near with only one pare of glasses.
Trifocal Lenses- Similar to bifocals, trifocal lenses also give a mid-range distance at about arms length. This mid-range is helpful for computer use, painting pictures, reading music, seeing the dashboard, and seeing thins on shelves.
Progressive Lenses- These “no-line” bifocals have two advantages over old style bifocals and trifocals. They actually give a full range of focus points depending on what part of the lens you look through. They are also cosmetically for pleasing because your have no line to deal with.
Occupational Lenses- Some jobs require special vision needs. For example, an electrician may need bifocals but has difficulty seeing items at near that are above him. A double segment bifocal would have a second bifocal placed the very top of the lens to allow the worker to see clearly even when the object is above the line of sight. Persons who spend a great deal of time working at a computer have several options in lens designs, coatings, and materials that will reduce the visual stress of computer work.
Lens Treatments
Anti-Reflective Coatings- AR coatings are applied to nearly all spectacle lenses in Europe. The USA is finally figuring our what the Europeans have known for years. AR coatings simply make you and your glasses look better, and they even improve your vision! Anti-reflective lenses are used on all telescopes, microscopes, and camera lenses. The coating reduces reflections so that more light goes through the lens, thus improving the optical quality of the lens. In addition, since the light is not reflected, your lenses appear invisible to other. They see your eyes, not the reflections off your lenses. This coating is also important if you work with the public or are a public speaker.
Anti-Scratch Coatings- Plastic lenses should always be ordered with a guaranteed scratch coating. The guarantee does not mean the glasses will not scratch, it means that the lab will replace the lenses one time during the year if they become scratched. Many scratches are due to carelessness but another cause of multiple fine scratches on the lens surface is due to excessive pressure applied to lenses when being cleaned. The harder a person rubs on the lenses, the more likely the lenses are to become scratched.
Ultraviolet Coating- Some lenses, like polycarbonate block UV light automatically due to the lens properties. Regular plastic lenses (CR-39) must be coated to eliminate UV rays from passing through the lens and entering the eyes. Ultraviolet rays damage every layer of tissue in the eye. It is the ultraviolet rays that cause “snow blindness” and “welders burn”. These conditions are similar to a sunburn on the front surface of the eye (cornea). The lens of the eye sits behind the colored part of the eye (iris). The lens absorbs UV light as it ages because it becomes more yellow in color. However, when a child or young adult is exposed to UV rays from the sun, the UV rays travel directly to the retina and may lead to a greater risk of macular degeneration in the future.
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