Featured in the Huffington Post on December 13, 2011.

Written By: Amanda L Chan

Think you’re the picture of health when it comes to contact lens cleaning and use?

We’re not so sure we believe you.

A new study in the journal Optometry and Vision Science shows that just 2 percent of contact lens wearers actually follow all the rules when it comes to contact lens hygiene, while more than 80 percent of people believe that they follow good practices, NPR reported.

The biggest no-nos we commit are showering, swimming and sleeping while our contact lenses are still in, and using our contacts longer than we should before starting a fresh pair, NPR reported. Other contact lens sins include “topping off” the solution in the contact lens case instead of using fresh solution each day, and never or rarely replacing the lens case.

“This is particularly common with lenses approved for two-week use,” Randall Fuerst, OD, a spokesman for the American Optometric Association, told WebMD. “People often use them for three weeks or even a month, which can cause problems.”

In this new study, 72 percent of the surveyed contact lens wearers said they have experienced discomfort from their lenses and 47 percent reported having had an infection from their lenses, WebMD reported.

ABC News reported on the potential problems that can arise from not following proper hygiene:

Mild problems include conjunctivitis, an inflammation commonly known as “pink eye” that can be caused by a bacterial infection. Generally, a few days of eye drops and care can completely resolve this problem. On the other side of the spectrum are Acanthamoeba, pseudomonas and E. coli infections that have the potential to rob victims of their sight or even their entire eye.

We see patients all the time with pseudomonas ulcers, gray green pus, they go blind,” study researcher Dwight Cavanagh, a clinical professor of ophthalmology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, told NPR. “We see amoeba infections from people showering in their contacts, going swimming in lakes. These infections are horrible.”

To minimize the risk of these complications, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Contact Lens Association for Ophthalmologists, the Cornea Society and the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery offer these tips:

- Always use soap and water to wash your hands and make sure your hands are dried with a lint-free towel before handling lenses.

- Try to avoid contact between your lenses and water (example: remove lenses before going swimming).

- Don’t rinse or store lenses in just water, whether tap or sterile.

- Never wet your lenses with your saliva.

- Saline solution and rewetting drops are not meant to disinfect your contact lenses.

- Discard your old lenses and start a new pair when you are supposed to (based on the schedule given to you by your eye care professional).

- Properly clean and store your contact lenses.

- Rub your lenses with your fingers and then rinse them with solution, when cleaning your lenses (even if you have “no-rub” solution!).

- Rinse your contact lens case with solution, not water. Allow the case to air-dry.

- Replace your contact lens case every three months (at the very least!).

Image by graur razvan ionut via http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

A Stye is a small pimple that appears on the upper or lower eyelid when an oil gland becomes infected. A stye can also present itself as an inflammation of the eyelid, with no pimple appearing. This may cause the eyelid to swell and appear red, but no pimple actually forms.

These pesky and sometimes painful inflammations are caused by staphylococcal bacteria that live inside your nose. Generally transferring to your eye when you rub your nose first then your eyes.

Stye’s can be contagious when the bacteria within your eye come in contact with someone else’s eyes. It is best to think of this condition similar to pink eye in how it can be passed on and how you can avoid passing it on to others. Do not share towels, face clothes, pillow cases or ladies in your case, eye make ups.

How do you get rid of them?

Stye’s will generally go away on their own given time, but there are a few measures you can take to help speed along the process. Applying a hot, clean compress to your eye for about 10-12 min a few times a day can go along way to help speed up the healing process. You can also try over the counter anti-biotic drops or ointments specifically for the treatment of styes.

You should never try to “pop” a stye, as this can cause further infection. A stye should be left to rupture on its own, as it will drain and heal on its own.

Signs that you may have a Stye…

Generally, the first sign of a Stye is pain on the eyelid, followed by slight swelling and redness of the affected area, and then a small pimple appears. An eye that is infected with a stye, may be extra sensitive to light and you may notice excessive watering. Once the pimple appears on the eyelid it may create a foreign body sensation within the eye.

If the Stye develops on the inside of the eyelid, this may be something that you wish to visit your optometrist with, as these infections can be a little bit more complicated and may not rupture and drain on their own.

However, LASIK performed on those specifically with the monofocal lenses provided a more accurate end result than those with multifocal lenses.

For more information on this study, please visit Journal of Refractive Surgery.

Written by: KRISTEN ZAMBO

Be careful with contact lenses, and listen to your doctor!

Sometimes it takes a product recall, such as last month’s for more than 6 million contact lenses, to trigger a person’s concern for their vision and overall eye health.

On Nov. 16, CooperVision expanded a worldwide recall after certain lots of Avaira Sphere contact lenses – totaling 6.6 million – were found to have silicone oil residue on the lenses, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recall notice. An August recall targeted Avaira Toric contacts.

According to the recall, the silicone oil residue could cause hazy vision, discomfort, severe eye pain or eye injuries requiring medical treatment. The company recommended that any patient experiencing such symptoms contact their eye doctor and stop wearing the lenses immediately, according to the recall notice.

Mount Pleasant optometrist Doug Hinson said the amount of silicone oil left on the contacts was “a very, very small amount, from what they told me.”

He said some of his patients wear these lenses, but none experienced issues as detailed in the recall notice.

“One patient came in and said he did experience a little bit of irritation,” said Hinson, who operates Hinson Family Vision LLC, located inside Walmart, 3049 S. Oakes Road, Mount Pleasant.

But just like any allergy or sensitivity, no two patients will react the same, and many will have no reaction at all, Hinson explained.

Contact lenses are not the only sources of product recalls.

In another, a fungal eye infection swept through 33 states in 2005 and 2006. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 154 cases were confirmed and patients with these eye infections were at least 20 times more likely to have used Bausch & Lomb’s contact lens solution called ReNu with MoistureLoc, according to the CDC.

Investigators determined that 94 percent of the patients with these fungal infections wore contact lenses, and in 34 percent of the cases, patients required a cornea transplant, according to the research.

Newer types of contact lens, made with silicone hydrogel, were designed to allow more oxygen to pass through to the eyeball, some eye doctors and manufacturers said. These extended-wear contacts are billed as “super-permeable,” and allow for lengthier periods of extended wear, according to manufacturers and some doctors. These lenses are not part of a recall.

But this type of silicone also is stiffer, Hinson said, likening the older models vs. hydrogels to a person wearing trousers vs. jeans.

“You get tons of oxygen to the eye,” Hinson said, which is healthier to the eyeball. However, “there are studies that say 2 to 10 percent of people will have problems with it. The lens gets drier or coated up more quickly. If you get a little extra stiffness, that can cause problems for some people. (In others), it’s the silicone.”

Optometrist Bruce Savin, owner of Vision Clinic/Dr. Savin and Associates, 1421 Washington Ave., in Racine’s Uptown neighborhood, said doctors and patients should work to pair the correct lens solution with patients’ tear chemistry and lenses. Some solutions work better with silicone hydrogels than others, he said.

Even with extended wear lenses – of any kind, not just the silicone hydrogels – it is “important for the eyes to have a rest without lenses for at least one night following each scheduled removal,” according to the FDA.

However, few people lose vision because of a contact lens problem, said John Warren, past president of the Wisconsin Optometric Association.

But improperly caring for one’s eyes can be just as potentially dangerous, if not more, than tainted products, local eye doctors say.

Not following manufacturers’ and doctors’ recommendations can be fraught with potential risks to eye health and vision, and patient noncompliance remains the No. 1 problem for many eye doctors, Hinson, Savin and Warren said.

“We constantly (are dealing with), and the doctors are dealing with, people who don’t follow directions,” said Peter Theo, executive vice president of the Wisconsin Optometric Association.

Issues can arise when patients use the product incorrectly, or for a lengthier duration than recommended, Hinson said.

That’s when “you increase the risk for a problem astronomically,” Hinson said. Those types of patient errors “are the kinds of things we see a lot of.”

People experiencing an eye problem also may have a certain amount of denial, Savin said, and delay visiting a doctor. The root problem then may be compounded, and happens more among men than women, he said.

“I’ll find a male employee who will go an extra day or two with a metal chip in their eyes,” Savin said, adding he then must remove the chip plus the resultant rust ring on the eye. “They (said they) thought it would get better on its own. Or they would wait until it hurts enough.

“We treat a lot of injured eyeballs here,” Savin added.

Environmental factors also may affect patients’ eye health and vision.

Warren, an optometrist and head of Warren Eye Care, 4060 N. Main St., Caledonia, said he sees patients with eye or corneal infections who also have seasonal allergies. On the flip side of allergy season is dry eye season, Warren said. Throw in cold and flu season, and all three of these periods can result in eye infections, he said. They affect patients comfort, he said, but don’t typically result in vision loss.

Warren said he recommends everyone receive an annual eye exam. If a person hasn’t received an exam for five years, they may be unaware they have developed a retinal tear, the retina is beginning to detach, that they have glaucoma or even a form of macular degeneration, Warren and other eye doctors say.

“Macular degeneration, glaucoma and diabetic neuropathy are more likely to cause loss of vision,” Warren said. “Lost vision means you can’t get it back.”

]]> http://lasikthoughts.com/2012/01/12/be-careful-with-contact-lenses/feed/ 0 Karen contact lens consultation day http://lasikthoughts.com/2012/01/11/myth-two-blue-eyed-parents-cant-produce-a-child-with-brown-eyes/ http://lasikthoughts.com/2012/01/11/myth-two-blue-eyed-parents-cant-produce-a-child-with-brown-eyes/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:02:50 +0000 customlasik http://lasikthoughts.com/?p=1156 ]]> Fact: Two blue-eyed parents can have a child with brown eyes, although it’s very rare. Likewise, two brown-eyed parents can have a child with blue eyes, although this is also uncommon.

Excerpt from KidsHealth 

Excerpt from KidsHealth

How to View Stereograms

At first look stereogram is similar to nothing more but a tiled pattern, however, with a proper look you can discover amazing 3D image hidden inside. And it’s not just a play of imagination, the hidden image is very realistic. You will see exactly what was put in by a stereogram artist.

Basically you need to unfocus your eyes and look through the stereogram. Picture becomes blurry and doubled and that exactly what we want. This will make pattern tiles to overlap each other and each eye will be seeing slightly different image. Disparency in views will make your brain see hidden 3D image.

Some people who have problems with binolular vision most likely will not be able to see hidden image. Other vision issues such as nearsightedness and farsightedness will not affect much your ability to see stereograms. Check vision3d.com website for details.

There are different methods to learn seeing stereograms, one or another may work out better for you, though all will require some patience. You can try both stereogram on monitor and printed on paper.

Method 1 – Face it

1. Put your face close to the screen or printed stereogram. Try to look through the image, pretending it doesn’t exist. Of course you won’t be able to see anything yet because image is too close to the eyes.

2. Always hold stereogram horizontally, do not turn and do not bend it. Don’t tilt your head and try not to blink.

3. Then start to move back from the stereogram (or move stereogram away from you) very slowly. Your eyes naturally will try to refocus back on the image but you will need to force your eyes not to do so. Keep looking through the image and moving back from it slowly at the same time. If it happens that eyes focus on the image start Step 1 again.

4. Once you can keep looking through the stereogram, keep moving it (or your head) back and force very slowly. At some distance, when patterns overlap each other, you will notice that something strange is happening to the image. That’s a very good sign and after a while you will see blurry levels of depth or some 3D images.

5. Once you can see blurry 3D picture, keep looking at it this way. Don’t force your eyes to focus yet, they will need some time to adjust. After a few seconds or minutes you’ll see how image snaps and becomes very sharp. When it happens you will know that you can see the stereogram.

Method 2 – Relax Your Vision

1. Put stereogram in front of you, let’s say 30cm(1 foot) and start relaxing your vision. You can remember how you did the same when you were reading book too long and your eyes couldn’t concentrate on the text anymore. Try to do that again with a stereogram, relax your eyes until picture becomes blurry and doubled.

2. When you relax your eyes naturally diverge (look apart or to infinity). Using this trick try to relax eys a little or some more. This will make your eyes to diverge on different angles. At some angle you will see that a hidden image appears. When it happens eyes should stick to this angle and you’ll be able to see hidden 3D.

3. Once you can see blurry 3D picture, keep looking at it this way until it becomes sharp and recognizable.

Method 3 – Look Through

1. Find some object in your room, for example a picture on the wall, or a toy on your table, could be anything you can look at.

2. Take a stereogram in your hands and start looking on the object you picked.

3. Start moving the stereogram from low to high slowly, until it blocks view to the object, but keep looking at the object all the time. In other words you need to close object with the stereogram, keep looking on the object. If your eyes switch to the object, lower the stereogram and try Step 2 again.

4. Once you can keep looking at the object and the stereogram doesn’t distract you, try various distances between you and object. At some distance you will see the hidden image in the stereogram.

5. Once you can see blurry 3D picture, keep looking at it this way until it becomes sharp and recognizeble.

Method 4 – Reflection

1. Put your stereogram behind a glass door or window or laminate it with a glossy plastic. This method will work with CRT monitors as well.

2. Turn on a lamp behind you so that you can see its reflection in the glass.

3. Look at the stereogram which shoul be from the other side of the glass and then look at the lamp and the hidden image should pop up. If it doesn’t work try to move lamp closer to you and try again.

Method 5 – Blink Your Eye

1. This method is not very common, but it could work if nothing else worked. Close one eye and look at the stereogram with only one eye opened

2. Try to not to concentrate on the stereogram and relax your vision.

3. After a few seconds open the eye which was closed and 3D image will pop up.

November 25, 2011

Written by: BARBARA TURNBULL

Jason Dodds thought the Angelic Blue cosmetic contact lenses he bought online at clearlycontacts.ca would be great for Halloween.

He supplied his prescription and credit card information and the lenses arrived a week later.

After wearing them for about four hours, his left eye started watering. It felt as though the contact was suctioned on his eyeball, says Dodds, who was then 18. When he removed the lens he felt excruciating pain and couldn’t see.

No wonder. Removing the lens peeled off the epithelial surface of the cornea, says his optometrist, Dr. Fiona Soong.

“He was lucky not to have lost his vision,” she says. The extent of the abrasion in the central part of the eye could have resulted in scar tissue and permanently affected his vision. “All contact lenses are medical devices,” says Soong, who doesn’t think any should be sold online, without prescription and without regulation.

Dodds’ corneal abrasion took more than two months to heal. Now, three years later, he says the experience has permanently zapped his confidence in contacts.

And it explains why eye doctors are adamantly opposed to the unregulated selling of lenses online.

Eyeballs come in different shapes and sizes; lenses have varying curvatures, says Dr. Sheldon Salaba, president of the Ontario Association of Optometrists. If contact lenses do not fit properly and don’t move correctly, the cornea will swell and weaken. From red eyes to blindness, “a whole host of complications can develop,” he says.

Another problem with purchasing contacts online is that it opens the door for consumers to self-prescribe, adjusting their own prescription, say, if their sight is suddenly a little blurry. It could be that the altered vision is a consequence of an eye condition unrelated to the lens, which is why optometrists say a professional assessment is essential.

The legalities of buying contact lenses online is murky. Health Canada has the mandate to classify items as medical devices. It is then up to the provinces to regulate them.

Prescription contact lenses were listed as medical devices in 1978. Every province, except British Columbia, requires a health professional to dispense glasses and contacts. And yet many people, in every province, find no difficulty purchasing contacts online.

Cosmetic lenses — which change the colour of the wearer’s eye or, say, have patterns, such as a star or cat’s eye but do not correct vision — are not currently regarded as medical devices. That could change. A private member’s bill, supported by Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, was introduced in October to include cosmetic lenses as medical devices. Presentations on the proposed legislation, which has broad support from MPs, are scheduled early next year.

]]> http://lasikthoughts.com/2011/12/29/a-cautionary-contact-lens-tale/feed/ 0 Karen