Category: Eye Health

It’s generally assumed that “20/20” is perfect vision, but what does this mean?

Visual acuity is the term used to describe the sharpness of your vision. When doctors do a visual acuity test, they have you view something (usually the Snellen eye chart of letters) from a standard distance and tell them what you see.

One of the lines on the typical eye chart has letters that are a size which has been deemed “20/20 visual acuity,” meaning that at 20 feet, most people can accurately read those characters. This is the standard, so at 20 feet, you read them as well as someone at 20 feet should be able to. It is possible for some people to read smaller letters that fall on lines below. This would be 20/15 or 20/10 visual acuity, meaning at 20 feet, you read letters that most people can only read at 10 or 15 feet. Great!

For people who have less visual acuity, they may be 20/40 or 20/60. The largest letter on the chart (an E on most Snellen charts) corresponds to 20/200 vision. If someone cannot distinguish that letter without assistance, they are considered legally blind.

Did you know the 20-foot measurement isn’t used everywhere? In some countries they use 6 meters as the standard viewing distance.

Visual acuity of 20/20 is considered “perfect vision” because no aids are required to see better, but people can have better than 20/20 vision. Many young people are able to see letters smaller than the general “20/20” size. Even people who know that they see 20/20 or better, but feel that other aspects of their vision are lacking have options for improvement.

Some people who can pass a visual acuity test sufficiently may still have what we refer to as “high-order aberrations.” Low-order aberrations are familiar to most people as nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism, but high-order aberrations are less well-known. The eye doctor may find that you have coma, spherical aberration, or trefoil. These can produce symptoms including bad night vision, double vision, starbursts or halos, glare, or blurring.

Options exist for people with high-order aberrations who would like sharper vision. Gas permeable (GP) contact lenses are rigid lenses that may improve your vision better than glasses or soft contacts can. There are also laser vision correction surgeries that can address some eye irregularities leading to various types of eyesight problems.

Of course, if you want to know your visual acuity, a comprehensive eye exam is the best way to assess your vision. You can speak to the doctor about how well you’re seeing now, and what options are available to help you get 20/20 vision!

Everyone wants to know how eating can affect the ways our bodies function. Maybe it’s because we want even more reasons to eat healthy, or because more of us want natural ways to lower our risk for diseases and deficiencies, but the good news is that you can easily eat right for your vision!

Antioxidants
Many foods contain antioxidants. Antioxidants literally remove oxidizing agents in living organisms. These oxidizing agents may be potentially damaging to our various systems, so many people believe that foods rich in antioxidants could help lower our risk for certain illnesses.

There are many delicious foods that can help promote overall health and may be part of a plan to lower your risk for eye disease.

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) helps with building and maintaining connective tissues in the human body. It also helps maintain collagen found in the cornea. By promoting healthy skin, bones, and circulation, you retina may be aided by vitamin C. People who have healthy levels of vitamin C in their diet are also at a lower risk of forming a cataract and vision loss from macular degeneration.

Red peppers are especially high in vitamin C, as are green peppers, strawberries, broccoli, and some citrus fruits.

Flavonoids
Many of the foods that contain vitamin C also contain flavonoids. Unlike vitamins, these substances are not necessarily required for life and crucial functions of the body, but they are generally linked with health benefits as part of an overall healthy diet.

Anthocyanins are a type of pigment and antioxidant that are considered good for your eyes because they may reduce risk of cataracts or macular degeneration. These substances are found in many berries like blueberries, cranberries, raspberries, and blackberries. You can also get anthocyanins from grapes, red cabbage, and red apples.

Fatty Acids
Many people falsely believe all fat is bad, but there are lots of healthy fats that we need in our diets. Our brains demand various kinds of fats to function properly, and healthy fats help our circulation, digestion, and even things like our outward appearance. Diets with proper omega-3 fatty acids are also very good for your eyes, and are especially important for eye development in children.

You can get these essential nutrients from foods like flaxseed, walnuts, fish, soy, and veggies like brussel sprouts and cauliflower.

Though we can’t be totally sure how much these foods help lower our risk for illnesses, there’s no doubt that a balanced diet and healthful lifestyle are important for a strong body and healthy eyes!

Risks of blue light exposure have become a topic of discussion in recent years. More eyecare professionals and scientists are studying the effects of blue light to assess the effects of relying on blue light for so much of our lighting.

It’s hard to say for sure how much added blue light exposure may lead to additional cases of degenerative eye health problems like macular degeneration. Plus, there is some evidence that overexposure to high-energy blue light can cause side effects such as sleep disturbances, eye strain, and headaches. With this in mind, how can you reduce your exposure, inside and out?

Inside
• Lower the brightness of your electronic screens, especially at night, but make sure you are not straining to see the words if you’re reading.
• Take frequent breaks while working at a computer. Regardless of blue light exposure, Computer Vision Syndrome is another problem you may face, and taking breaks to relax your eyes will help.
• Stop using your devices at least a couple hours before bed. Unplug and read a book instead, which will give your eyes something easy to focus on and help you wind down for good sleep.
• Adjust your distance. Viewing a bright screen up close is fatiguing. Make sure to set your computer monitor and television at a comfortable distance, and don’t hold handheld devices too close to your eyes. You can adjust text size if reading a device at arm’s length is difficult.
• Opt for non-glare lenses. Non-glare or anti-reflective treatments on your lenses will help reduce bright lights affecting your eyes.

Outside
• Wear sunglasses. Sunglasses that are an appropriate darkness and block 99-100% of UVA-UVB rays are the best protection for your eyes.
• Consider polarized lenses, too. Polarization cuts harsh glares that bounce off of water and other surfaces.
• Don’t forget a hat! In especially bright outdoor settings a hat will help block bright light from above, even if your eyes are protected from the front.

Ask us about what blue light-blocking options are available for your eyewear. We can help with your everyday lenses, reading glasses, and especially with sunglasses!

Many medical professionals are aware of the benefits of adding healthy oils to our diets. Most of the fats that are essential for a healthy heart, skin, brain, and other systems come from things like fish, nuts, seeds, and vegetables. Doctors will sometimes prescribe fish oil or flaxseed oil to help improve someone’s health, but we are learning more and more about how these beneficial oils can help more than previously thought. In the case of your eyes, certain oils may aid in treatment of dry eyes.

Vision Benefits of Flaxseed and Fish Oil
Fish oil and flaxseed oil are beneficial because of the omega-3 fatty acids they include. These materials are needed to support optimal health. Flaxseed oil contains high levels of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), an omega-3 fatty acid. ALA is converted into two different omega-3 fatty acids during digestion. These acids are called EPA and DHA and they protect cell membranes all over the body.

By adding flaxseed oil or fish oil to your diet, you may be protecting against dry eyes. These items appear to reduce dry eye symptoms, and can be used with or without eye drops to alleviate some aspects of dry eyes. Many eye doctors are recommending fish oil or flaxseed oil as part of an overall plan to treat dry eyes, or to prevent the onset or progression of symptoms.

Symptoms of dry eyes include:

• Chronic dryness
• Burning
• Stinging
• Redness
• Eye fatigue
• Sore eyes
• Light sensitivity
• Blurred vision

How to Start Taking Flaxseed and Fish Oil
If you’re looking for how to get these substances into your diet, keep in mind that many kinds of fish are high in these oils. Look for things like salmon, sardines, tilapia, and shrimp. For people who don’t like fish, or want other options, fish oil supplements are usually pretty inexpensive and easy to come by. You may ask a pharmacist for suggestions on which over the counter versions are best.

The downside of fish oil is that sometimes people will get a fishy aftertaste from the supplements. A great alternative is flaxseed oil. These supplements are readily available as well, and will provide similar benefits. Just be sure to find a brand that is cold pressed and remember to keep it refrigerated for freshness and optimal nutrient content (benefits of flaxseed oil are reduced by exposure to oxygen, light, and higher temperatures).

Flaxseed oil can get a little pricy, but you can buy flaxseeds and grind them in a coffee grinder before adding them to your diet. Use them immediately to get the full benefits!

Other Benefits
These fatty acids may help reduce your risk for several other health problems. The benefits include:
• Reduced risk of macular degeneration
• Reduced risk of cataracts
• Increased cardiovascular function
• Lower risk of heart disease
• Help maintain healthy weight

Diabetic retinopathy is a condition where diabetes causes damage to the retina. It is the leading cause of blindness among American adults. Sadly, many instances of vision loss from diabetic retinopathy could have been prevented with appropriate treatment and regular eye exams. Once damage has occurred, it is not possible to regain lost vision.

Light-sensitive tissue comprises the retina that lines the back of the eye. With diabetic retinopathy, changes to blood vessels in the rear of the eye cause bleeding or leaking fluid, which starts to distort vision. The changes in blood flow happen because diabetes (especially uncontrolled diabetes) can create chronically high blood sugar. This damages very small blood vessels in the retina and eventually leads to retinopathy.

There are four stages to this type of retinopathy:

1. Mild nonproliferative retinopathy is when small areas of the blood vessels sweet and balloon. These are called microaneurysms and may begin to leak fluid into the retina.
2. Moderate nonproliferative retinopathy happens as the disease progresses. Blood vessels that supply the retina with blood and essential nutrients may swell and distort. When this happens, they may also lose their ability to transport blood. This may contribute to diabetic macular edema (DME).
3. Severe nonproliferative retinopathy is when several blood vessels are blocked, depriving blood supply to parts of the retina. These problem areas secrete materials that tell the body to grow new blood vessels in the retina.
4. Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) is the advanced stage of diabetic retinopathy. Growth factors secreted by the retina cause too many new blood vessels to form. They grow inside the retina and into surrounding areas, but are fragile and likely to leak and bleed. Scar tissue can shift and cause retinal detachment. If the retina pulls away from underlying tissue, permanent vision loss may occur.

If you have diabetes, it is very important to control blood sugar to guard against developing symptoms. Make sure that you are working closely with a qualified doctor to manage your care and have regular follow-ups.

The same is true for eye care with diabetes. Diabetic eye disease is a group of several eye conditions that are commonly caused by diabetes. These conditions include diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema, cataracts, and glaucoma. If caught in time, treated, and managed as part of a diabetes care plan, many people can maintain their vision or slow the progression of trouble seeing.

It seems like contact lenses and glasses would use the same prescription. After all, the idea is that your eyes don’t see quite right, so you use a lens to change the view, and then you see clearly, right? Well, the two prescriptions are quite different. Few patients check the numbers or notice any change during the exam process, but the prescriptions are not the same because of where the lens sits in relation to your eye.

The lens of your glasses rests about twelve millimeters from your eye. Contact lenses, on the other hand, are placed directly on the surface of your eye. Why would this make your prescription different? Well, think about holding a magnifying glass out in your hand. When you hold it far away and look through, the view you see is much different than if you try to hold the magnifying lens up close to your eye. The same principle is in play when you consider glasses in contrast to contact lenses.

If you’re still imagining the magnifying glass held out in your hand, think about how grass would look if you’re sitting on the ground and have the magnifying glass down near the grass. You’d be able to see the blades clearly, right? If you held the magnifying glass up close to your eye, the refraction would be so strong that you wouldn’t be able to see anything other than a blur. The power of the glass would need to be reduced for you to see clearly. This is the reason why your contact lens prescription is weaker than your glasses, but you get the same crisp, clear vision with each. Neat, right?

Not all contact lens prescription powers are drastically less than the glasses prescription for the same person, but usually the power used for contact lenses is reduced. In addition to the powers being different, your eye care professional will need some additional measurements to fit you for contact lenses because there are specifications needed to fit contact lenses appropriately that aren’t needed for glasses.

Some things that need to be measured to receive an accurate contact lens prescription are the size of the cornea, the curve and overall size of the lens, and the suggested brand of lenses that will work best for you. Eye care professionals usually have an idea of which contact lenses work best with different eye conditions, so they will suggest a particular toric lens for your astigmatism, or a type of disposal lens based on your needs, for example.

Some aspects of the lens prescriptions are included for both kinds of eyewear. The lens power is included in both prescriptions. Lens power is the measurement used to correct your “refractive error,” or the nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism that you have. It wouldn’t be identical because of the magnifying glass analogy, but it is included in both prescriptions. They’re also laid out per eye—right vs. left—because very few people have the same prescription in both eyes, so they are measured individually regardless of what type of eyewear you’re getting. More technical aspects of your prescription (the power and axis determined to correct astigmatism, for instance) may also be included in both the contact lens and glasses versions of your prescription.

Hopefully that makes the difference between your contact lens and glasses prescriptions clearer. Talk to your eye care professional if you have any questions about your prescription or are curious about getting contact lenses or glasses.

Just as sports officials are becoming more concerned with overall physical safety for athletes, more people are wearing specialized eyewear to protect their eyes and give them protection and sharp vision while performing their sport. Specialty eyewear options are available and tailored to just about every sport. All you have to do is know your sporting needs and talk to an eye care professional to discuss your options. It’s nice to know what to expect and what you can get other than just wearing contact lenses.

Here are some of the most common options and things to consider for glasses, goggles, or other specialty eyewear with unique capabilities to increase your sporting performance.

Darkened/tinted or photochromic lenses. Is your sport outdoors? Protection from bright sunlight and UV rays is crucial! Watersports and winter sports involve glares coming up from the snow or water. The bright light is damaging to your eyes and very uncomfortable if you’re not protected. Certain color tints can also help make sports glasses more functional. Golf glasses, for example, often use a copper or amber color that improves the contrast of grass and sky so you can read the course better. Make sure that you invest in glasses that will fit your outdoor setting.

Fitting with other gear. Eyewear for activities like motorsports, cycling, or football will need to fit with headgear. Be sure to test your eyewear with your uniform or additional gear, and talk to your eye care professional about the other items you’ll be wearing along with your eyewear.

Durability. In sports like racquetball, or really any sport with objects that are swung or flung around, you face the risk of getting hit and injuring your eyes if they’re not protected. This also means that your glasses or goggles are likely to take a beating while protecting your eyes. Scratch-resistance and high-impact polycarbonate materials are often used in sports eyewear to be sure that they will have a long life and will be able to shield your eyes from harm.

Considerations for contact lenses. Those who wear contact lenses and will be doing their sport in the elements can benefit greatly from glasses that wrap around the face. Protection from wind and debris will ensure that no irritants enter the eye and affect your contact lenses.

Protection from other substances. Watersports may come to mind when you think of goggles that protect your eyes from liquid, but there are other sports like paintball that could greatly damage the eyes if not protected. Specialty masks with breathable vents that allow air in will be sure to keep paint out. Goggles for watersports have similar features to keep water out of your eyes so you can see clearly under the water or above.

Polarized lenses. Probably the most important aspect of eyewear for fishing is polarization. Polarized lenses make it possible to see under the surface of the water because the lenses are specially made to cut down refracted light. Once the sunlight bouncing off the water is minimized, it’s far easier to see into the water and read important fishing features like vegetation, depth, underwater landscape, and even fish! Other water and winter sports can benefit from polarization as well to prevent the eyes from glaring sunlight.

Make sure that you’re prepared for your sport with protective gear and the right eyewear to keep your eyes on the prize. See an eye care professional to give your eyes a sporting chance!

When it comes to pediatric care, parents are usually concerned with finding the best pediatrician and following their medical advice exactly, but what about pediatric eye care? Eye care for kids is sometimes an area parents overlook because they aren’t always aware of the importance of eye health for children. Many don’t seek eye exams for their children until either the child reports having difficulty seeing at school, or the child’s grades begin to slip and parents take a closer look at why their child isn’t developing academically.

Experts recommend that children receive several eye exams before starting school. Infants should receive their first comprehensive eye exam around six months of age. Children should have an eye exam around age three, and again when they reach age five or six. Before reaching first grade, parents are strongly encouraged to have their children receive a full eye exam to make sure the child has no visual problems as they start elementary school.

Eye exams for young children are important because vision problems can negatively affect a child’s performance in school long before you are aware of the issue. The American Optometric Association reports that 5 to 10 percent of preschoolers and 25 percent of school-age children are diagnosed with vision problems once they receive proper eye care. Experts are always stressing the significance of appropriate early education and full participation from youngsters in programs and learning that will become a foundation for critical skills. Children risk not being able to fully participate if they are experiencing undiagnosed visual impairments. An early eye exam and regular eye care for children can alleviate this potential problem.

Identifying eye problems early is crucial to the child’s learning and development in school. A child with poor vision may have difficulty with seeing text and comprehending words causing difficulty in reading. No parent wants their child to be frustrated with reading, especially when most vision problems are easily fixed with glasses. Unable to explain problems in a group, children may choose not to volunteer for reading in class out of embarrassment, or opt out of picking a library book because it’s hard to see. This will negatively affect academic achievement and the enjoyment that comes with reading for many children.

Other symptoms of learning-related vision problems include headaches or eyestrain, short attention span for visual tasks, difficulty identifying or reproducing shapes, poor hand-eye coordination, and developmental delay. Talk to your family eye care professional about scheduling eye care visits for your children. They will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have about your child’s eye health, and let you know when is a good time to start doing regular check-ups.