Today was floater day in the office. The most common questions today were all about floaters. The questions were centered around what do they look like, how do they start and what causes them. Not long ago I published in The Eye Doc blog an article about floaters but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. While researching for a future article I came across a very realistic video that does a good job simulating what floaters look like. By the way, most people have some floaters but not everyone has seen their floaters (and some people wish they had never seen their floaters).
If you want to see your floaters look up at the sky on an overcast day or at an evenly illuminated wall and you will most likely see those wispy cobwebs float by your vision. Check out the video below for a good representation of what a floater looks like. Most people don’t have as many floaters as is shown in the video but you’ll get the idea. If you want to learn more about floaters check out these articles I’ve written about them.
A new study just out showed that took a baby aspirin were twice as likely to have wet age related macular degeneration. The study did not show that the aspirin caused the macular degeneration and the authors did not recommend that patients stop aspirin therapy. Here is a good video discussing the study. Aspirin may be tied to vision loss
Here is an excellent video on a mission trip from VOSH Indiana to Villanueva, Honduras. VOSH stands for Volunteer Optometric Services to Humanity. The Lion’s Club collects old eye glasses from doctor’s offices all over the US. These glasses are then catalogued and sent on mission trips with optometrists to underserved areas all over the world. This video shows what happens on a VOSH mission trip from the beginning to the end.
I was lucky enough to go on one of these trips to Costa Rica many years ago with VOSH Illinois, an unforgettable experience. I hope to go again soon.
Want to learn more about Total Eye Care? Take a look at this video, take a tour of our office and meet our great staff. Total Eye Care provides comprehensive eye care services for patients with offices in Keller, Texas and Colleyville, Texas.
Our offices are conveniently located serving patients in northeast Tarrant county, including the cities of Southlake, Grapevine, North Richland Hills, Bedford, Euless and Fort Worth.
Good Morning America reports that the American Academy of Ophthalmology states 90% of patients achieve 20/20 vision following laser vision correction. What the AAO report does not address is that 20/20 does not mean that the patients have a good quality of visual acuity. The Good Morning America Video (video at the end) interviews both satisfied and unsatisfied patients. Some patients complain of a worsening of their dry eye symptoms, halos or shadows, glare or starbursting, poor night vision, reduced contrast or simply uncorrectable blurry vision. The vast majority of the patients that have had LASIK or PRK are happy with the result. However, laser vision correction is not reversible and some of the resultant problems from refractive surgery are not resolvable.
Options available to patients that are not happy with their surgical result, of course depend on the symptom. Some of the options available to patients are:
Post Surgical Contact Lenses
These special contact lenses are available as soft contacts, as gas permeable lenses and as a combination soft/gas permeable. Post refractive surgery contact lenses are usually used when a patients vision can not be corrected by additional surgery, glasses or regular contact lenses because their corneal surface has become slightly irregular or distorted. The symptoms may include, blurry vision, halos and shadows.
Dry Eye Syndrome
The most common complaint following refractive surgery is dry eyes. Most often the dryness improves two to six months following surgery. Ocular dryness can also cause blurry vision. Should the dryness not improve there are numerous solutions to improve patient comfort and it is worth seeking help from an eye doctor that is familiar with treating dry eye syndrome.
Glare and Poor Night Vision
Often glare, halos and night vision problems are due to large pupils and/or uncorrected refractive error. Night driving glasses will usually help patients that are still a little nearsighted following refractive surgery. Treating the glare is little more difficult. Glare often improves with time, however a medication called Alphagan has been known to improve night glare symptoms by causing the pupil to constrict slightly. Alphagan may contribute to the ocular dryness, however.
Know Your Vision Correction Options
LASIK and PRK are good procedures and can greatly improve one’s quality of life. Prior to taking the refractive surgery plunge patients should thoroughly research their options. In an upcoming article I’ll cover the alternatives to refractive surgery.
At Total Eye Care we offer all of the refractive surgery and non surgical vision correction options available and we pride ourselves on giving our patients an objective opinion of all of their choices. It is important for our patients to be well educated on the pros and cons of each option so that they can make an informed decision.
Check out the video below from the Good Morning America’s investigation on LASIK, it offers a balanced report on refractive surgery.
Have you ever wondered how soft contact lenses are made? We found this Discovery Channel video from the show How Do they do it? showing how custom soft contact lenses are made.
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