It's Almost Back to School Time

We said it last year and we'll say it again: It's never too early for an eye exam!

School is back in session and kids are back to reading, writing, and math. If you want your children to succeed, you should make sure to have their eyes checked. If kids can’t see, their grades, behaviors, and learning abilities are severely affected. “They learn to compensate with their vision problems without fixing them, which can lead to more problems in school and later in life.” (Prevention Blindness America)

It’s not just children that should have their eyes checked. Even as an adult, if you have had 20/20 vision your whole life, there are age-related vision problems that occur with everyone. Presbyopia is just one of these vision impairments. After the age of 40, the lens of your eye begins to harden and lose its flexibility. You may not begin to notice it at first, but eventually you will have trouble reading things up close. You’ll start to notice you need to stretch your arms further and further away in order to read your cell phone or a restaurant menu.

The good news is that there is a solution to Presbyopia. Often people will start wearing bifocals. Bifocals allow someone with Presbyopia to see up close, but also to focus in the distance if they have nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.

If you don’t want to wear lenses, you can also speak with an Ophthalmologist about your options. Many doctors can provide lens replacement surgery. The lens of your eye is removed and replaced by a synthetic lens that will never harden. Depending on the type of lens, you may also be able to correct your existing refractive error at the same time.

So don’t put up with bad vision any longer! Come in and see us at Davis Eye Center today!

Less Vision Problems for Older Americans

In a recent report from the Chicago Tribune, fewer older Americans are complaining of vision problems.

As you age, your eyes also age. There are certain inevitable issues you will have with your eyes, one being presbyopia. The other is cataracts. Both happen to everyone, eventually.

So what’s behind the decline on vision problems in older American’s? Researchers think it could be due to cataract surgery, healthy eating, better lifestyles, and even less people smoking.

Whatever the issue, it’s good news for many older Americans.

Read the Chicago Tribune article here.

Super Human Vision

Superhero powers are only a thing of comic books. No one person has super powers.

Or do they?

Scientists have begun to uncover an ability found in only about 12% of women – the ability to see more colors in the color spectrum than originally thought possible. While studies are still being performed to test this new vision ability, the thought that our world holds more color than most can see is quite intriguing.

The eyes are a very powerful thing.

To read the full article, click here.

Fears and Misconceptions of LASIK – Is the Price Worth it in the Long Run?

We have personally seen many different types of people come through our Free LASIK Consultation. Some people question technology, some concern themselves with safety, and many are concerned that the cost of the procedure may not outweigh the benefits. Since our website deals largely with the issues of technology and safety, let’s address the issue of cost versus benefits.

First, let’s look at the benefits of a laser vision correction procedure, like LASIK or PRK:

It is possible for a patient to achieve 20/20 eyesight, or even better, with laser vision correction. You could live your life waking up and seeing immediately instead of searching for your glasses. You can experience the spontaneity of life, such as jumping in a swimming pool, playing in the rain, or going out on a windy day, without the fear of how any of these actions may affect your contacts and your ability to see. You can take a nap, free from the worry of taking your contacts out of your eyes first. You don’t have to rush to the store every time you are out of contact lens solution or order more glasses when yours accidentally break. You will be able to see life, naturally.

Is all that worth the cost of LASIK?

Our patients think so.

Honestly, having LASIK was the best money I've ever spent!! I absolutely love my 20/15 vision and all of the freedom that comes with it. The procedure itself was quick and much easier than I thought possible.

I definately recommend Dr. Davis to anyone who is considering the LASIK procedure. He is the most experienced in this area and gave me the results I so desired.

Thank you Dr. Davis and to all of your caring staff for my new vision!

Sherri Harshbarger

 

However, some people have heard that people who have had LASIK eventually return to wearing glasses. How can this be if they have already had their vision corrected?

Let’s clear up one fact – LASIK or laser vision correction will NOT give you excellent vision for your whole lifetime.

Wait – what?

It’s true. Your eyes are living organs and there are certain, inevitable conditions that occur due to aging. One of these conditions is known as Presbyopia. Presbyopia is when the natural lenses in your eyes begin to harden. When you are young, your lenses are flexible so they can adjust to seeing near and far. As you age, these lenses harden. When they lose their flexibility, bifocals or reading glasses are used to help your eyes adjust.

Another inevitable is cataracts. Everyone will develop cataracts as they age. The affect that a cataract has on your vision depends largely upon the degree to which they form. Some people will never notice the affect while others may go blind.

The age at which you develop cataracts and/or presbyopia is not predetermined. For some, the symptoms of presbyopia can begin appearing as early as 40. For others, they may not have any side effects until 50 or older. For cataracts, most don’t appear until your early 60s or even into your 70s.

So back to the question – is the cost of LASIK worth it in the long run?

Let’s say you are nearsighted and you purchase disposable contact lenses every month. Then you have to purchase cleaning solution each month. If you lose a contact, tear it, it falls out, etc., then you have to replace your monthly supply faster than anticipated. You also have to get a pair of glasses for the times you don’t have contacts or if you have an eye infection or you’ve worn your contacts for too long. These glasses can easily be lost or broken, so it’s not just a one-time expense. 

This is a cost you have to pay, every month, consistently for 20 or more years. You are stuck with plastic on your eyes and the constraints they present just so you don’t have to compromise the ability to see.

Or you can have laser vision correction and have your procedure paid off in two years or less. You'll gain the extra money in your budget and excellent eyesight to view life as it is. You’ll also gain the spontaneity that life has to offer because you can see clearly, naturally - for 10, 15, or 20 or more years.

LASIK versus PRK

Refractive errors occur when the cornea of your eye, or the front part of your eye, is misshaped. These refractive errors produce nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism. Laser vision correction is the procedure through which a laser is used to reshape the cornea of the eye, in order to achieve better vision.

While the actual correction of the cornea is completed with a laser, the steps leading up to this correction, and subsequently the healing after, will differ depending on the specific procedure the surgeon chooses for the patients’ eyes. The two main procedures most commonly used are LASIK (Laser-Assisted Sin-Situ-Keratomileusis) or PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy).

LASIK and PRK

Most people have heard of LASIK; however, in some cases, LASIK isn’t the best procedure for them. This can be due to a multitude of reasons, but most often if their cornea is too thin, LASIK will not be advised. This is why visiting an ophthalmologist that performs more than just LASIK is so important. Other procedures, such as PRK, can be recommended and performed to achieve the same, and sometimes even better, results.

The main difference between LASIK and PRK comes during the first step of the process – creating the corneal flap. During LASIK, the surgeon creates flap within the first few layers of the outer surface of the cornea, so that the laser can reach the area that needs to be corrected. This can be done with a microkeratome (a mechanical oscillating blade), or during bladeless LASIK, it can be done with a second laser that separates the outer layer of the cornea. After the primary laser is applied to correct the refractive error, this flap is folded back into place where it bonds readily.

PRK, which is usually performed on patients with thin corneas, removes the surface layer of cells on the cornea. This is why it is often referred to as a surface treatment. After treatment, the body will regenerate new cells to replace the cells removed through a relatively quick healing process. The results of PRK are equal to that of LASIK though the healing times are slightly longer.

Visiting a Qualified Ophthalmologist

Performing LASIK on a patient that is better suited for a procedure like PRK will increase the likelihood of potential risks, such as poor night vision or less than optimal results. To decrease these risks, visit a board-certified ophthalmologist who is skilled at multiple vision correction procedures. This will ensure you the best possible chances to achieve the vision results you are seeking.

Protect Your Eyesight - Vodka Eyeballing

Whether you have glasses, contacts, or 20/20 vision after LASIK, it’s very important to protect your eyes. The University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology reports an estimate of “… 1.1 to 2.4 million eye injuries occur each year, and about 42,000 of these injuries require hospitalization.”

While accidents are common for eye injuries, some younger people intentionally put their eyes at risk in a new drinking game called Vodka Eyeballing.

Yes, you read that right.

People are actually drinking through their eyes, in an attempt to get drunk faster. With Vodka Eyeballing, a person will take a bottle of vodka and put the opening up to their eye and pour the vodka directly onto the eye. The idea is that the alcohol will be absorbed through the eye and into the bloodstream faster than drinking it. However, there are no actual facts that prove this is the case.

The eye can only absorb a very limited amount of alcohol. The actual alcohol can do more damage and harm to your eyesight – burning through your cornea and causing permanent damage. Repeated often enough, the alcohol may even cause permanent blindness.

While not all eye-related injuries can be avoided, this is one instance where it can be.

Fears and Misconceptions of Vision Correction – Losing Your Vision

Glasses and contacts have their benefits – mainly helping people with refractive errors see clearly. Since the late 90’s, lasers have been used to correct these refractive errors in very safe and effective ways. Procedures such as LASIK and PRK have been providing patients with clear vision for over 15 years now. However, many people continue to put up with the inconveniences of glasses and contacts because they have fears or misconceptions about laser vision correction, like LASIK.

One of the most common fears of laser vision correction is losing vision as a result of the procedure. This fear comes from not understanding how your eye works and how specifically laser vision correction works.

How LASIK Works

There are three main parts to the human eye: the cornea, the lens, and the retina. In normal vision, the cornea refracts (bends) light so it can be directed correctly through the lens and onto the retina. The retina works as a transmitter to transfer the message to your brain, where it processes the message to tell you what you are looking at. Refractive errors – nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism – are caused by the cornea being slightly misshapen. LASIK utilizes cool lasers to reshape the curve of the cornea so you can have normal, clear, vision.

Prior to surgery, Dr. Charles H. Davis maps out your specific eye and plans out exactly how to correct your vision. He then programs this plan into the laser, ensuring that the correct amount of your cornea is altered.

There are risks associated with laser vision correction, mainly dry eye. It is essential to ensure that you are an excellent candidate prior to receiving treatment, to give you the best results possible.

Officially there is no reported case of a patient losing their eyesight from LASIK.

To find out more about LASIK, including risk information, see our website. To schedule a Free LASIK Consultation, give us a call today at 330-923-5676.

Women – More Susceptible to Vision Problems than Men

According to Prevent Blindness America, “Every year, more women than men are diagnosed with eye diseases and conditions such as cataracts, dry eye, Fuchs’ dystrophy, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and Sjögren’s syndrome.  The “Vision Problems in the U.S.” study from Prevent Blindness America (PBA) and the National Eye Institute (NEI) shows that of the more than 3.6 million Americans age 40 and older who suffer from visual impairment, including blindness, 2.3 million are women” (Women Must Take Steps to Avoid Vision Loss, March 27, 2012).

Hereditary diseases aside, these problems are often caused by hormones, or the fluctuations in hormones like pregnancy or menopause. Sometimes they can even be triggered by birth control, which is a hormone regulating medication. Even keeping your eye makeup for too long can cause problems with your eyes.

At Davis Eye Center, we recommend to our female patients that they pay close attention to their eyesight while pregnant, when changing prescription pills or going on new medication, and to switch out their makeup every six months to a year. If you feel that your glasses or contacts are not helping as much as they used to, make sure to have an eye exam. Mention to your doctor any new prescription changes so that he may accurately diagnose the underlying issue.

Your eyes are how you see the world. Keep them in great health.

Why Your Eye Surgeon Needs to be Local - Part 3

Corporate medicine has its benefits and its downfalls. In regards to the refractive surgery field, there are more downfalls to a corporate practice than there are benefits. Last week we discussed the availability of other vision correction procedures and why this is important. This week we will look at technology.

Technological Differences

LASIK has been around since the late 1990s, and since then, technology has been improved, advanced, and refined, all to increase the customer experience. There are many options today for LASIK technology, some still using a metal blade while others are 100% blade-free. While all of the technology is safe for your eyes, the benefits of the newest technology often reduces the risk of side-effects and may result in faster healing times.

If you want the optimal outcome for your eyes, selecting a doctor that uses the most advanced and latest equipment is the best option. However, not all doctors have access to this equipment. Take doctors that work at a corporate LASIK practice, for example. They don’t even get to choose which equipment they use to perform your procedure. They have to use the equipment provided to them by their board of directors. They may know the convenience and benefits of newer technology, but they have no say when it comes to what they get to use.

In contrast, a doctor who owns his/her own practice gets to choose the technology they use in their practice. They have 100% authority over what tools and technology goes into the practice. This makes them accountable to their patients and the patients’ outcomes. If they provide inadequate technology and the outcomes aren’t the best, they’ll lose out on new patients. 

Not all doctors will provide the best technology. Some doctors don’t want to make the investment so they will continue to use outdated technology on their patients. When you visit a new LASIK practice, make sure to ask about the technology that the doctor will use. Understand your options and why that doctor chose the technology that they use at that practice. The technology and the doctor’s previous patient outcomes may mean the difference between an exceptional LASIK experience, and something else.

Why Your Eye Surgeon Needs to be Local - Part 2

Corporate medicine has its benefits and its downfalls. In regards to the refractive surgery field, there are more downfalls to a corporate practice than there are benefits. Last week we discussed the difference between the doctors at each type of practice. This week, let’s look at the services offered.

The Right Procedure for Your Eyes

Another big difference between local and corporate owned practices are the services they offer. When a corporate practice is set up, it’s one of hundreds, maybe thousands of locations. In order to keep control over the brand name, these practices only offer a very small number of services, sometimes just LASIK and nothing else. Performing LASIK on patients that are not excellent candidates increases the likelihood of side-effects and less than optimal outcomes.

By providing only one service, the headquarters can ensure that each practice is exactly the same, offering the same service, providing the same website, and the same marketing and advertising collateral. They also don’t have to worry too much about training doctors who don’t know anything other than LASIK. This brings the cost of operation down for them and allows the board of directors to earn more money.

All of this is quite the opposite for a local doctor and local practice. The doctor (or a small group of local doctors) decides to open up a practice in order to improve the eye health of the community. The doctor will spend his/her own money because they know they can provide excellent eyesight to their patients. They are vested in their community because they know the people and they care about them.

These doctors will offer different types of services because they know that the best care that can be provided isn’t through one single solution. LASIK isn’t the best procedure for someone with very thin corneas. A patient with this issue may be better suited for PRK. Some patients may not be suited for laser vision correction at all. If this is the case, there are other options but usually only provided by a local ophthalmologist. 

A local ophthalmologist can decide which procedures to offer his/her patients. They will be the one responsible for your treatment and follow-up care and they wouldn’t provide anything less just to earn a dollar. They are held accountable by their patients, not a board of directors looking to make a profit.

This all points to a new consideration on your quest for excellent vision:

Would you rather have vision correction performed on you that may not be right, but it’s all the practice offers? Or would you want to be fully examined by the surgeon performing your procedure who can offer other proven procedures that may actually be better for the health of your eyes? 

Check back in next week when we continue this topic and discuss Technology.

Why Your Eye Surgeon Needs to be Local - Part 1

Corporate medicine has its benefits and its downfalls. In regards to the refractive surgery field, there are more downfalls to a corporate practice than there are benefits. But first, let’s take a look at what the difference is between a local ophthalmology practice and a corporate one.

Local Ophthalmology Practice

A local ophthalmology practice is one that has one or just a few locations, all found within the same state, the same geographical region. The doctors and staff are all from the area as well

Local practices, like Davis Eye Center, are usually owned by the doctor or surgeon, or a small group of doctors or surgeons. They are responsible for all of the decisions regarding staffing, technology, services offered, and everything else that is included with their particular practice.

Corporate-Owned Ophthalmology Practice

A corporate-owned ophthalmology practice is one that has multiple locations, usually nationwide. These practices are run through a company, which is run by a board of directors. They often only offer one or two services, usually just LASIK, and maybe PRK. They employ thousands of doctors and traditionally these doctors work at multiple locations. They travel to different locations, perform surgery and then travel to another location. Some doctors even travel to different states just to perform surgeries.

All decisions are made by a board of directors, not the staff or doctors working in each particular location.

The Difference

So what’s the difference? Why should you choose one location over the other?

Doctor Availability

Perhaps the biggest factor in why you should really know the difference between the two types of ophthalmology practices is doctor availability. In a locally owned practice, the doctor lives in or near town. S/he works at the practice full-time and performs consultations, the planning of treatment, the surgery, and the post-operative follow-up exams on each patient that comes through the door. They have a relationship with their patients, and they are most likely there for anything the patient may need.

In a corporate practice, the doctor sees patients at multiple locations. S/he will fly in, review the chart and work-up of the patient without even meeting or personally examining the patient, perform the surgery, and then fly off. This means that the surgeon that performs your particular surgery is not available for pre-surgery exams, follow-up, or even during emergency-related issues that may have resulted from your surgery. They usually have an optometrist perform these tasks. An optometrist, while a perfectly capable doctor, is not trained in the actual performance of the surgery. If a complication arises that the optometrist is not qualified to respond to, where are you going to go? Who’s going to help?

Sometimes an optometrist refers a patient for LASIK. When this happens, the LASIK surgeon will perform the surgery and then refer you back to your optometrist for follow-up exams. This works well when you are referred to a local practice, so that your surgeon will still be available for any emergency issues that may arise.

So which would you prefer – a surgeon operating on your eyes, someone you’ve never met, who’s never actually seen your eyes and who won’t be around if you have an emergency? Or would you rather have someone who is local, available all week, and who takes it as a personal responsibility to care for you and your eyesight?

Check back in next week when we continue this topic and discuss The Right Procedure for Your Eyes.