A little something to ponder

Wanted to share a quote with you that made me think:

"The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity, and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen."

--Elizabeth Kubler Ros

Very quick post. Just feeling very thankful and fortunate for the difficult situations in my life. Without them, I would never grow as a person or learn compassion. Am learning the importance of appreciation for the present. Hope everyone is continuing to take care of themselves, and that you all have a fantastic day!

Well hello there! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! This is just going to be a quick post about resolutions... with it being 2012 now and all, what better time to hone in on your goals.

So, you guys know what I do for a living, so I wanted to have you consider putting your eye health at the forefront of your resolutions this year. Think about all the things your eyes do for you! They help you see the world! So please consider resolving to get your eye health checked with a friendly optometrist. As I've said before, I promise we are SO NICE! Not to brag, but I think we are one of the most awesome professions in health care because we get to help you see more clearly. So go out and get those eyeballs checked!

Another resolution I would like you to consider would be to do something that makes you happy every day. It can be something really simple like talking to someone you care about or working out. Just do it. Take time for yourself. You will be glad you did.

So the optimist optometrist has had kind of a rough year last year... but is doing better every day. One thing she learned from the drama of 2011 is the importance of appreciating what you have right now. Try not to live in the past or the future, but be here now and love what you have in your life at the present time. Trying to do that.

So again, just a short post to say hello and remind you of the importance of goal-setting and seeing your friendly optometrist. Hope you all have the best 2012 possible.

Eye Topics for my Optimistic Friends

Good morning, my friends! Hope you are all having a nice day. Hope you have some fun Halloween plans, if you celebrate Halloween.

This is just a mini-post with some ideas for topics from my crazy sibling, Sunshine. Said crazy sibling texted me a number of ideas, and I wanted to put them up here so I don't lose them (my crazy phone likes to erase stuff sometimes.)

So here are the topics suggested. Feel free to suggest your own! I am going to try to write more in here within the next couple of weeks.

1. Tucker's (Sunshine's dog) bionic eye

2. Prosthetic eyes

3. Astigmatism

4. What does the goo inside an eye look like?

5. My (Sunshine's) crazy optic nerve

6. Eye pressure

7. Emiry's (Sunshine's friend) optic nerve lesion

8. Lander's (Sunshine's other friend) neurological problem

9. Allergy bumps

10. Can my eyes freeze in my head on a really cold day? (Sunshine lives in the cold, which I will never, ever understand)

11. Is it bad to open your eyes under water?

12. Binocular/Monocular cues

13. Why do contacts act as onion shields?

14. My coworker never takes out his contacts. What should I say to him?

15. What's up with styes and what should I do about them?

16. Is it possible to safely share eye makeup or not at all?

17. My crazy client wants LASIK but I am worried that he won't follow directions. Is there aftercare involved?

18. Do chickens see in color?

19. What kind of glasses should I get?

20. How often should I replace my contact lens case?

21. I'm a big hussy and I am sleeping over at someone's house and didn't bring contact lens solution. Should I sleep in my contacts, or throw them out and be blind driving home?

22. What's the deal with transition lenses?

23. How bad is it for me to rub my eyes if they are itchy?

24. Why does my depth percetion suck when my vision isn't corrected?

25. I can order Rx goggles for cheap but they will only have the same Rx in both eyes rather than a different one for each eye. Will it f--- things up to get the goggles for the lower of my powers?

26. What do t-cells do and not do? (Hahaha Sunshine, thanks for your help studying back in the day. Mr. T cells don't do no CHO's)

27. When I'm driving at night the headlights of oncoming cars seem blinding. Am I sensitive or do other cars suck that much?

28. My blind friend is allergic to carrots. What should he eat for his eyes? Is that just a myth?

29. Are there any problems associated with certain eye colors? Like can people with blue eyes get eye sunburns?

30. Can non-students watch cadaver dissection at the nearest optometry school, or is that forbidden?

31. What is your craziest eye story? Besides Emiry's "I have a f---ed up eye" introduction.

32. What's your favorite antique or obsolete eye equipment or theory?

33. How do people react when they hear you're an optometrist? Do most people like optometrists more than they like dentists?

34. Is it possible to put an injection in an eye? Or would it pop like a water balloon or a drag queen's fake boobie?

35. Do those black lines that football players wear on their cheeks actually do anything or do they just look manly?

36. As an eye doctor, are you biased against the other senses? Is there even such thing as a taste doctor?

37. So on Teen Mom the baby has glasses. How can you even know if a baby needs glasses and what Rx to give them if they're not verbal?

38. How can you know which drug someone's on based on their eyes?

39. Is there a such thing as cyclops?

40. Is it dangerous to cross your eyes and make a silly face?

41. Have you noticed the trend of hipsters wearing ugly glasses?

42. How do you feel about fake glasses for fashion?

43. Is it really bad to read in the dark?

44. Will millions of hours of TV and computer screens kill your eyes?

So those are the questions I got from my crazy sibling. I may write on a couple of the (more normal) topics in the future. Just wanted to get them all listed on here.

So, time for a quick daily dose of some positive vibes... remember you are in control of your future! Make this day a wonderful one!

In Living Color - Color Vision Issues and the People that Have Them

Hello, all my friends who have eye questions! Hope you all have had the best summer ever. The optimist optometrist has really gotten to enjoy the beach and the outdoors a lot this summer. The beach has all kinds of colors, from the blue ocean to the white sand and the green umbrella covering up the fat guy in red speedos... So since colors have been a big part of my summer, I thought for this post I would talk a little bit about color vision.

You guys might remember from science class that your eyes have these things called photoreceptors. There are two types of photoreceptors in the eye, the rods and the cones. When your cones lack certain pigments, you can get the most common type of colorblindness, which is a red-green color deficiency.

So, let's say you were color deficient. I bet you would be a guy, because most color blindness is inherited and is X-linked recessive. That means guys will much more commonly have a color deficiency than girls. See how cool it is to be a girl? Girls rock. About 8% of men and 0.5% of women have some form of color deficiency.

To find out a little more about color deficient individuals, I text-interviewed my friend who is colorblind. He found out he was colorblind in elementary school. He claims to be good at identifying bold, solid colors, but has trouble distinguishing shades. My colorblind friend also said that his maternal grandfather was also colorblind (see, X-linked recessive). He said he has adapted very well to his color deficiency, but sometimes flashing yellow or red lights when driving can be a problem.

Unfortunately, there is no cure or treatment for colorblindness. There is tinted contact lens that can be used to pass the colorblindness tests, but it does not cure colorblindness or serve any purpose other than test-passing. Speaking of tests, one of the most common is a book full of colored pictures that looks like a number to people without color deficiency. They are called Ishihara plates, named after the cool Japanese dude that invented them. There is also a test called the D-15, that involves putting colors in order, kind of like a rainbow. Here are pictures:

The bright side of colorblindness: People who are colorblind are better at seeing camouflage than people with normal color vision. So don't try to hide in camo around your color-deficient friends, they will find your ass. Also, people who are colorblind are able to adapt very well to picking up non-color cues to help them out. They are awesome, wonderful people.

So, as the summer comes to a close, remember to be thankful for this beautiful, colorful world we live in. Have a fantastic day!

Lazy Eyes and the Lazy Days of Summer

Good afternoon, everyone! It's Fourth of July weekend. The heart of summertime! I think some of you know how much I love summertime.

That said, sometimes even the optimist optometrist has difficult situations in her life. She was getting kind of upset about them, but then read something that reminded her of why it's important to just cherish each moment that we have in our lives. Even the crappy moments. Because even with the crappiest of moments, you are still alive and breathing and here, and that is a very precious gift. Also same thing she was reading said that it's actually okay to have bad times, because without difficult situations to overcome, you would never truly learn compassion and understanding.

The optimist optometrist is attempting to better learn compassion, and is remembering to be thankful for each moment we have. She is trying to be here, live in the moment, and appreciate each moment.

Okay enough of the sappy junk! I am very blessed to have 3 wonderful siblings. One of them lives in Vermont and apparently has a number of friends with "weird eye conditions." So thought I would write a post or two about them. The first post will be about... (drumroll please)... Lazy eyes! Not the kind that sit on the couch and never get a job. We are talking about amblyopic (ooh, big optometry word) eyes in this post!

So what the heck is amblyopia? Basically, amblyopia means that, even with glasses or contacts, the eye cannot be corrected to 20/20. There are different reasons for amblyopia. One reason is something called strabismus, or when an eye turns in or out. Sunshine's friend has strabismic amblyopia. Another kind of amblyopia arises when one eye has a much higher glasses prescription than the other eye. This is called refractive amblyopia, and can be caused by nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.

Most of the time amblyopia is discovered in childhood, but not always. This is one reason why it's important for all you parents out there to make sure you have your kid's vision checked. Like I've said before, we optometrists are SO NICE, so you should come see us! You'll be glad you did.

So, let's say we discover amblyopia at your eye exam. Depending on the type of amblyopia, we may recommend:

1. Glasses or contact lenses: One of the most important things when treating amblyopia is to make sure we have accurate correction for each eye. We may recommend contact lenses rather than glasses if there is a very large difference in the prescription between the two eyes.

2. Vision Therapy: We can strengthen lazy eye muscles by putting them through a boot camp of sorts. There are a number of different activities that can help amblyopia. If you visit an optometrist that specializes in vision therapy, they will be happy to make a plan for you, just like a personal trainer would. (Sidebar: My friend and I recently started using a personal trainer to whip us in to shape. She is awesome. She reminds us of the Biggest Loser coaches).

3. Prism in glasses: This doesn't necessarily treat amblyopia, but if you are having double vision due to an eye turn, we can put these cool light-bending prisms in your glasses so you only see one image rather than two.

4. Patching: Yes, we still patch kids when it is indicated. Basically, we have the patient put a patch over the good eye. This makes that lazy eye work harder. Similar way to do this would be to use a strong dilating drop on the good eye, so that the lazy eye works harder. This is more successful if the patient uses the patch when doing near activities (coloring, using a computer, etc).

So there you have it, my post on eyes that are lazy asses. The optimist part of this post is that treatment of amblyopia can lead to some pretty cool stuff, like clearer vision, better depth perception, and a happier person overall.

Hope you kids have a very fun and safe Fourth of July!!! More posts to come soon!

Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to substitute medical advice from your doctor. Also, sorry there are not as many pictures on this post; need to be in line with the copyright laws. Thanks!

The power of mental focus

Hi everyone. So the optimist optometrist has been starting to practice yoga. She has found it very rewarding, and wanted to share her experience with you all. She just got back from yoga, and is, in fact, very relaxed right now. So please forgive her if this is a rambly post.

So today the yoga instructor guy talked about vision and focus. He mentioned that an important part of yoga involves keeping your mind and your gaze as as still as possible. He had us focus on one point in the room to keep our minds still as well. Being the optometry nerd that I am, I tought it was kind of neat that so much of the mind stillness was connected to visual stillness.

So this was just a very short post to say that yoga is wonderful and enlightening, and you should try it. Longer, more informative post to come soon.

I will leave you with a yoga quote: "You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside."

Namaste.

Why, oh why, are my eyes so DRY?

Well everyone, it's fall, and the air is starting to cool. The optimist optometrist isn't going to lie; she gets a little upset when summer is over. But fall is nice too! The cooler weather often can make our eyes more dry, so I thought a post about dry eye might be in order.

But my eyes water all the time, so they can't be dry... right? Wrong! The optimist optometrist wishes she had a dollar for every time she has heard a patient say that. Actually, periods of excess tearing can be a sign of dryness. Other signs of dryness include irritation of the eyes, light sensitivity, fluctuating vision, and a "foreign body sensation" (when it feels like there is something in your eye, like sand or dust).

I'm just a girl...
Women tend to suffer from dry eye more often than men, especially those who are near or past the age of menopause. Also, certain types of inflammatory diseases (such as Rheumatoid Arthritis) have been associated with dry eyes. Smoking can play a role with dry eyes as well, so there's yet another reason for you to kick the habit. You can do it!

What does dry eye look like to the doctor?
When you visit your friendly optometrist and mention that your eyes are irritated, they may check for dryness by using a special dye called fluorescein. The dye is in the form of a drop, and it is yellow. When the doc puts the drop in and looks with a blue light and a cool microscope, the areas that are dry will be visible to us. The pattern of dryness can help us determine a specific treatment plan for you. Sometimes, we may also do a test to check your tear production, called a Schirmer test. You may look a little silly during this test, because we put these little paper strips on the inside of your lower eyelids and leave them there for 5 minutes. Your tears will wet the paper, allowing us to measure your level of tear production.

So, what can I do about it?
Did you have a feeling I was going to recommend a healthy diet as a good place to start? You're right! You're so smart. Having omega-3's in your diet can help. Also, antioxidants and B-vitamins can help to keep your tear film healthy, so make sure they are part of your diet as well.

A good place to start if you're beginning to experience dryness in your eyes is by using artificial tears. There are a number of great artificial tears that can be purchased without prescription at your favorite pharmacy. (And say hello to your friendly pharmacist while you're there! They are nice too. Almost as nice as optometrists. Did I mention I married a pharmacist?) A good place to start is to use the artificial tears every 2-3 hours. Some cases of dry eye may require more frequent lubrication. If your eyes are drying out while you sleep, sometimes it can be helpful to use a gel form of artificial tears before bedtime.

If artificial tears aren't doing the trick, your optometrist or ophthalmologist may recommend prescription eye drops to help increase your tear production. Restasis is a common medication used for this purpose. Your eyecare practitioner can determine if this medicine will benefit you.

Sometimes, if drops and nutrition are not enough, we may sometimes put in punctal plugs to keep your tears from draining out. Each of your eyes has a small hole called a punctum on your top and bottom lid, in the inside corner. You can find yours if you look very closely in the mirror. We cool eye docs can plug your punctum permanently or temporarily using small silicone punctal plugs.

Thanks!
As usual, please remember how important it is to take care of yourself. Fueling your body with the proper nutrients and avoiding environmental toxins can really help to cut down on dry eye symptoms. Dry eye is a very common problem, but we are lucky to be living in a time when there are many excellent treatment options. We are so lucky to be alive and well... keep that in mind, and have a beautiful day!