Three-quarters of people who believe they have poor eyesight do not visit the optician to have their condition checked out, according to a new poll.  A survey carried out by Sight Care found that 75 per cent of people believe they have an issue with their eyesight which requires the attention of a professional but do not visit one, even though they suffer headaches as a result.  According to the poll, 45 percent of people would avoid wearing spectacles on a date and would instead opt for contact lenses or no optical aid, while 64 percent would not wear glasses on a night out.  Furthermore, 30 percent of people did not know where their nearest practice is, although 44 per cent said that they are happy with the service provided by their local independent optician.

Keep Your Eyes Healthy

People who take precautions to protect their eyes during the spring and summer months will significantly reduce their chances of suffering from vision problems in later life, according to one expert.  Dr Elizabeth Baze, assistant professor of ophthalmology at BCM and deputy executive of the Eye Care Line at the Michael DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, said that sun damage is a major cause of long-term eye damage.  She pointed out that people who take necessary precautions to safeguard themselves against the effects of the sun in the summer months, such as using sun block around the eyes, wearing hats and enhancing UV protection, will see the benefit.  “Ultraviolet light has certainly been linked to the development of macular degeneration, cataracts and other vision-loss problems. Practicing these measures can ensure for healthy fun in the sun,” Dr Baze said.

Her comments follow recent research carried out by Sight Care Group, which showed that many women are putting their eyesight at risk by not wearing glasses, because they fear spectacles will make them unattractive.

Before the sun really starts blasting your eyes, make sure you get a comprehensive eye exam from Simon Eye Associates.  An eye exam now can save you a lot of time and money later.  Eye exams can detect problems before they become an issue.  Call today 302-239-1933.

Protect Your Vision

THERE are hundreds of health-related old wives’ tales and myths. In the age of the internet it can be very easy to research health conditions online and assume that the information you find is accurate, when this may not be the case. While some old wives’ tales may be grounded in truth, many are inaccurate and some could even damage your eyes.

Old wives’ tale: Reading in the dark or dim light will damage your eyes.

False – Reading in dim light or in the dark is highly unlikely to cause any permanent damage to your eyes, but it could cause eye strain which can be uncomfortable. Your eyes adjust to the light around them and your pupils enlarge in order to collect the most light. We are designed to see detail better in the light, as detail is imaged on the central area of the retina, which contains cone photoreceptors which need more light than the rod receptors in our peripheral retina. Although you will not harm yourself by reading in the dark, it is more difficult to see and may cause a headache.

Old wives’ tale: Contact lenses can get lost behind your eyes.

False – The membrane that covers the white of your eye (the conjunctiva) also lines your eyelids, so it is impossible for a contact lens to get lost behind your eyes.

Old wives’ tale: You can sleep in your contact lenses

True and false – Unless you have been told specifically by your optometrist that you can sleep in your contact lenses, you should avoid this. Your eyes need to breathe while wearing contact lenses, and this is more difficult when your eyes are closed. This – and the fact that when you are not blinking your contact lenses will not move on your eyes as much as when you are awake – can mean that you are at more risk of infection if you sleep in contact lenses. Always follow the guidelines given to you by your optometrist and if in doubt, take them out.

Old wives’ tale: Wearing someone else’s glasses may damage your eyes.

False – Although you may not be able to see very well with them and may get a headache or double vision, you won’t come to any harm from wearing glasses that are not your prescription (unless you’re driving a motor vehicle).

Old wives’ tale: Watching television too much or too closely will damage your eyes.

False – Watching too much television or sitting very close to it may make your eyes tired or give you a headache, particularly if you are watching in the dark when you are effectively looking at a moving light, like a torch. But it won’t cause any serious permanent damage.

Old wives’ tale: Exercising the eye muscles can allow you to throw away your glasses.

False – People normally need specs because of the shape and size of their eye. Exercises won’t help this.

Old wives’ tale: Not wearing your glasses will make you depend upon them less.

False – If you don’t wear your glasses you may become more accustomed to the blur and won’t remember how bad it is, and thereby think that your eyes have got better (when they haven’t).

Old wives’ tale: By looking at the patterns, colours and other characteristics of the iris you can tell what health problems a person has.

False – There is no scientific proof for this. However, when an optometrist carries out an eye examination they will not only test your sight, but will also check the health of your eyes and look for signs of some general health problems.

Old wives’ tale: Eating carrots will improve your eyesight.

Some truth – Carrots are a source of vitamin A, which is important for the eyes. However, before you embark on an all-carrot diet to improve your vision, note that it is more important for eye health to have a good balanced diet that supports your all-round health. Poor nutrition has been implicated in diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Old wives’ tale: Using your eyes too much can wear them out.

False – They will last for your whole life if they are healthy (or have conditions that are treatable). The health of your eyes has nothing to do with the number of hours you use them.

Old wives’ tale: Holding books up close will damage a child’s eyes.

False – Where or how your child holds a book has no effect on the health of the eyes or the need for glasses.

Sometimes children find it more comfortable to read close-up and their very good focusing ability makes it easy for them to do so.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m one of the millions of people in the world that has worn eyeglasses since youth. I think it was genetic for me since everyone in my family has horrible eyesight, but I’m also guessing that those many mornings watching cartoons in front of the TV didn’t help my sight either.

I’ve owned at least 10 different pairs of eyeglasses in my lifetime, ranging from my first gigantor big pink plastic pair, to my current wanna-be hipster big brown plastic pair. Sadly, since I’m a packrat, I still have my last 4 pair of glasses. I know that many eyeglass locations recycle your old glasses, but I always seem to forget to bring my old pair when the new ones come in.  So I wanted to see what other eyeglass recycling options were out there for the absent-minded folks like me.

Here are 5 ways that you can finally get rid of those outdated eyeglasses!

1. Search online for a recycling center

Earth911.com has a great search engine for recyclables on its website. Click on the above image and type in the type of item you’d like to recycle, as well as your zip code. A list of recycling facilities will come up, and you can find a location that’s convenient for you.

2. Lions Club International

Ever heard of the Lions Club International? In 2009 the Lions Club collected almost 700,000 pairs of glasses to donate to developing nations with its program Lions Sight for Recycle.

3. New Eyes for the Needy

Founded in 1932, New Eyes for the Needy is a non-profit organization whose sole mission is to provide good eyesight to the less fortunate.

4. Third World Eye Care Society Canada

Here’s the mission of the Canada-based charity organization TWECS: “To collect old unused eyeglasses and distribute these eyeglasses in conjunction with eye exams given by properly trained individuals. The distribution of eyeglasses shall be in developing countries where, because of poverty or lack of availability of eye care services, individuals are unable to obtain eyeglasses and primary eye care.”

5. Make ART!

If you just can’t get rid of your old eyeglasses for some weird sentimental reason, then you can always convert them into a creative piece of art. Take for example the recycled eyeglass Spectacle chandelier of London designer Stuart Haygarth It was made from over 1000 old eyeglasses that were linked together!

Now that you know what to do with your old eyeglasses, take a deep breath, grab them from your drawer or from that box in your closet, and recycle them for a good cause!

Old Eyeglasses

A: For cosmetic purposes, Simon Eye Associates usually recommends contact lenses to those no younger than 12.  Wearing contact lenses is a responsibility.  There is work involved to keep them in proper order and that takes some maturity to do.  However, if there is a medical reason for contact lenses, we might be inclined to change our minds and recommend them to younger users.

Q: Are there any reasons why one wouldn’t be able to wear contact lenses?

A: Yes. Certain corneal conditions such as dry eye or history of infection are contraindications for contact lens wear. Certain work environments might not allow one to wear contact lenses.

Q: What types of contacts are available for me?

Rigid gas permeable (hard) and hydrogels (soft) are the two types of materials. There are contacts for nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and those that require presbyopic correction (bifocals). There are also special contact lenses for those with irregular corneas (keratoconus, corneal transplants).

Q: What factors should people consider before deciding whether to get contacts? Or when deciding what type of contacts to get?

A: Factors to consider are:

• Responsibility to care and handle the contacts correctly.
• Can the contacts meet my visual demands?
• Environmental factors — Where I will be wearing them (dusty work environment, camping, etc.)?
• Is my eye healthy enough to wear contact lenses?

Q: How much work is involved with wearing contacts?

A: Care and handling only require a few minutes a day but are critical for maintaining healthy vision and eyes.

Contact Lenses

Major League Baseball player Nate McLouth, Atlanta Braves center fielder, has explained how he can see the ball better than ever before with his contact lenses.  Talking with the Associated Press about the technical demands of batting, McLouth explained that making decent contact is important and it is frustrating when this is not happening - something that his contact lenses may help with.  He noted that he has still had difficulty with his timing, explaining to the news provider: “It`s being on time and being in the right position when the pitch is in the zone to take a good swing.  “It`s just something that`s difficult to do.” Now that his hamstring problems are fixed and his contact lenses are helping him see, McLouth could have a decent run in the coming months.  McLouth recently compared wearing contact lenses, which he picked up during the offseason, to going from standard-definition television to watching high-definition.

Nate McLouth Contact Lenses

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) are developing bionic contact lenses with light-emitting diode (LED) circuitry that may lead to a future with people accessing the World Wide Web directly on their eyeballs, effectively giving us superhuman eye sight with immediate demigod-like access to humankind’s knowledge.  Imagine meeting a man for the first time on the street, and without saying a word, knowing his name with Facebook-like precision and whether he brushed his teeth that morning.

Sound far-fetched?

Think again. Carnegie Mellon University game designer Jesse Schell (NOT connected to the UW bionic eye lens research) says we’ll have Wi-Fi connected toothbrushes within five years, signaling what he calls the coming “Gamepocalypse.  Not much of a leap to have your toothbrushing data uploaded to the Web and immediately seen by a complete stranger’s bionic eye lenses, is it? Schell’s idea is that everyone will be playing games on the Web, fun, supposedly harmless games that will help us brush our teeth more often and become better people. Yes, we all know that the entire reason we’re here and everything in life is about becoming “better people,”  more perfect people, right? But, my question is, what is coming? What is the real meaning of the future, the meaning beyond the “Gamepocalypse”? When you begin putting together all the technology and research going on, what kind of picture is emerging? Is it really what we, as human beings, want? Do we have any choice? Or does technology choose for us? Does our ability to build something actually mean that we should build it?

To hear some researchers talk, you’d think the future will be one big Garden of Eden paradise, a utopia of technology, that information will save everyone.  But at what cost to our humanity? What will it mean to be “human” in 100 years? Will human beings exist? Or will our humanity be erased by technology, when humans and machines become one? I’m highly suspicious this modern Prometheus will be all he’s cracked up to be, all he’s drummed up to be by these brilliant minds, the bored Pied Pipers of our age. What love and compassion and hope will Prometheus have when he becomes a mediocre puny, but arrogant “god,” lost in worship, not to Nature, or God, but rather, to a technological Cloud that pretends it has “all knowledge”?

Babak A. Parviz, the UW faculty member who spearheaded the bionic contact lenses research there, does a fantastic job thoroughly describing his research in an article he wrote for IEEE Spectrum. But, it’s also interesting that at the beginning of his article, in the third paragraph, he mentions the “Terminator” movies, in which the Terminator robot, programmed to kill humans, can see all kinds of information directly in his vision. In the films, as the Terminator sees a human, it can also see the human’s height, weight, all kinds of information, scrolling across his vision. Information that makes it so much easier to kill humans with. Keep in mind, the Terminators are a product of SkyNet, originally built by a military-industrial complex.

“These visions (if I may) might seem far-fetched, but a contact lens with simple built-in electronics is already within reach; in fact, my students and I are already producing such devices in small numbers in my laboratory,” Parviz writes, noting the lenses can’t “run subtitles on our surroundings yet.” But, according to the researcher, at least one lens has been built with LED, powered wirelessly. Parviz goes on to say, “What we’ve done so far barely hints at what will soon be possible with this technology.”

Bionic Contact Lenses

Macular degeneration has robbed a renowned concert pianist of her sight but not her ability to perform.  At 90 years old, Irene Alexander continues to perform around the city.  She says her piano is her rock.  At Friedman Place on Chicago’s North Side, residents in Irene Alexander’s building are being entertained with beautiful music. “I’m a classical pianist. When I could read music I could accompany anyone, a singer, a violinist, I could play show tunes. I love jazz, but I can’t play jazz,” Irene said.

Irene has been playing since she was 2 1/2 years old.  “It was right after I had polio; two weeks later I went to the piano after my mother played. We were back at my grandparents, and I walked to the piano and played what she did, and six months later I was in my first recital,” said Irene.  At the age of 6 Irene performed for Queen Marie of Romania, and later she performed for Rachmaninoff.  Irene has been legally blind for 20 years.  “I never had problems playing the piano, and now, the age that I am, I don’t have the stretch that I did to play octaves accurately,” she said. “And, see, my two fingers, so if I wanna hit the correct key, it’s a whole procedure, but it’s wonderful I’m still playing the piano.”  “I’ve had a very exciting life, some of it good, some of it not so good. I go to the piano, and that is me.”

At 90, Irene has no plans of slowing down.  “Oh, my life is just beginning. This is just a new life for me. I have the energy, I have the ability, I have the desire to do one thing, to help people.”

Irene Alexander: Making Beautiful Music

We want you to keep your eyes happy and healthy for the rest of your life.  And sure, maybe you don’t have a problem reading the newspaper in the morning, or that spreadsheet at work.  Good.  Eye exams will ensure that you never do have a problem.  Did you know that 50% of all cases of blindness or severe vision loss could have been prevented by early detection? Similarly, even if you have perfect vision, you are still at risk for developing glaucoma.  Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the US.

So before you pack your bags for the beach this weekend, remember to schedule your next eye exam.  This way you’ll be sure to enjoy all that there is to see this summer, with clear, beautiful vision.

Eye Exam - Simon Eye Associates

Vitamin E has been shown to be extremely beneficial to eyesight in most people. Taken orally, Vitamin E provides vital antioxidants and lubrication to the eyes.  But this Vitamin E, you don’t swallow.  This Vitamin E is inserted into a special contact lens.  The purpose is to make the drug molecules in the contact lens go around the Vitamin E and target the eye without streaming out like with eye drops.  These drugs are not able to penetrate Vitamin E and have no choice but to go around, thus hitting the eye.  The drug has a chance to stay in your eyes for 2-5 minutes with these contact lenses.

Glaucoma Contact Lenses