Ever wonder if there are any celebrities, or people in the media who have had LASIK surgery? I have.  And today I found at least one celebrity that has had the procedure done.  Cindy Crawford.  And she tells her story in a testimonial.

After learning about Lasik and hearing many other celebrities had undergone it, former supermodel Cindy Crawford found it the best option for her. Before the surgery she had to wear glasses while driving and had great difficulty inserting contact lenses. She decided to have the surgery performed by celebrity eye surgeon, Dr. Maloney.

Expressing her happiness and initial fear about her Lasik surgery, Cindy said in her testimonial: “I’d been considering corrective vision surgery since I’d heard about the procedure, but of course, I was very nervous about it. I heard about Dr. Maloney from my agent, who had his vision corrected with great results. I got up my courage and scheduled an appointment. They were very patient and explained all my options. The procedure was painless and I can see so much clearer now. It’s great to wake up in the middle of the night and watch television without my glasses, and, best of all, I can drive without glasses or contacts. I would recommend it to anyone”.

The benefits of Lasik? There are many, Cindy says in her testimonial video. First off, she doesn’t have to bother with annoying contact lenses, which she says, she had great difficulty putting in. She also claims she really enjoys not having to wear glasses anymore, and loves the little things, like being able to watch TV clearly from her bed.

Cindy is now enjoying her improved life with no hassles of wearing glasses and contact lenses.

Cindy Crawford

At Simon Eye Associates we’re often asked the question, “why is it so important to get an eye exam?” We have many answers to this, but today I found this well written answer from Gail Gilman-Waldner.  Enjoy!

Your vision seems great and your eyes feel completely fine so you may be putting off that visit to the eye doctor. If you haven’t seen your eye care professional in a while, you might have an eye problem that you don’t know about. Many eye diseases have no early warning signs. You may not notice anything so it’s critical to have your eyes examined on a regular basis. A comprehensive dilated eye exam involves looking at all the parts of your eye. It also tests eye movement, the reaction of your pupil to light and the fluid pressure inside your eyes.

It’s critical to pay attention to your eye health, because eye health actually is a reflection of overall health. Changes in the eyes, for example, can tip a doctor off that you have diabetes.
Comprehensive dilated eye exams can catch problems that could lead to blindness and visual impairment while they can still be halted or reversed. If you have glaucoma or diabetic eye disease (a group of eye problems that can accompany diabetes) you may notice a problem only when it’s too late to regain your lost vision. Glaucoma, for example, first affects your side, or peripheral vision, which can be hard to notice. If left untreated, the vision loss will continue to move toward the center of your vision. It’s a painless process much like hypertension or high blood pressure can be painless. Having regular eye exams can help detect eye diseases in their early stages, when they can still be treated. Regular eye exams are important for everyone, but especially for African Americans over age 40, those with a family history of eye disease, people with diabetes and everyone over 60.

An eye exam can also spot uncorrected refractive errors, meaning your eye is out of focus. Uncorrected refractive errors affect more than 11 million Americans. Eye care professionals usually prescribe eyeglasses or contact lenses to solve the problem. More than 150 million Americans now use corrective eyewear. How often you should have your eyes examined depends on your age, family history and other risk factors. Your eye care professional can tell you when your next exam should be. If you haven’t had an eye exam for a while, now is the time. Your eyes are an important part of your health. Healthy vision can help keep you safe while you’re driving, participating in sports and taking part in recreational activities. It can also help you maintain a healthy and active lifestyle well into your golden years.

Eye Exam

Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak is located in North Eastern Tanzania.  It is a beautiful sight to see. It has been written about in countless books and articles.  Most notably, The Snows of Kilimanjaro, by Ernest Hemingway.  These praises have lead many people to try and climb this beast.  Many have tried and most have failed.  There is one person in particular that recently succeeded in conquering this African Goliath.  That’s not the most impressive thing about this story though.  What makes it even more amazing is that the 31 year old Kev Lowther climbed the mountain and lost his vision part way up the mountain, but managed to make it to the summit.  Kev was climbing to raise money for a charity called Macmillan Cancer Support.

When asked about the climb, Kev told one newspaper, “The hardest part was dealing with the exhaustion and altitude sickness. At one point I even lost my eyesight and one guy told me I was staggering about like someone who had just been kicked out of the pub at closing time!”

I’m sure we can all agree that climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is hard enough, to do it without your sight is something all together spectacular.  We applaud Kev for his incredible feat.

Mount Kilimanjaro

Don’t let vision problems stop you from reading the new Dan Brown book, which was released today, The Lost Symbol, or any of your favorite books for that matter. If you have extreme trouble while reading and you have tried every solution your Optometrist has given you without luck, there is a new device on the market which may be able to help. It’s called the MonoMouse and is made by Bierley Associates. The MonoMouse looks like a mouse you’d use with your computer, though it is slightly larger. The MonoMouse is placed over the page and an electronic eye reads the text and relays it to your television instantly. What you see is an enlarged version of the text on the page.

The MonoMouse sells for $300, which may be a little bit too much money for some people. But, for those that miss reading this may be the perfect solution.  For more information please visit the Bierley Associates website.

MonoMouse

The below is an article first published in the Philadelphia Inquirer and then later picked up by UPI. Does this remind anyone else of that movie Minority Report? Things are getting interesting in this world when science starts to imitate art.

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 9 (UPI) — A South Jersey man says his eyesight is returning, weeks after doctors at Wills Eye Institute in Philadelphia implanted electrodes behind his left eye.

Michael Adler, 49, began losing his sight as a child, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday. Recently, when he was sitting in church he saw what he described as an odd white glow — which turned out to be an open hymnal.

“Every day, I can make out more than I could the day before,” he told the newspaper after tests at the University of Pennsylvania. “It’s very weird trying to get used to it.”

The type of surgery Adler went through has been tried on 32 people who have lost their eyesight to a severe type of retinitis pigmentosa.

The implants bypass damaged eyes and send signals to the brain.

“It’s sort of like, all the phone lines are in place and you didn’t have the phone,” said Julia Haller, the head ophthalmologist at Wills. “This replaces the phone.”

So far, the surgery does not restore normal sight. Adler sees low-resolution black-and-white images lacking in detail — his daughter’s face shows up as a white oval.

But researchers say great advances have been made in the past few years, and even greater progress is likely in the near future.

Science Imitating Art