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!

An Attitude of Gratitude

Ah, Springtime! The prefect time to do a post that's a little more optimist, a little less optometrist...

So I wanted to do a quick post about gratitude. I am reading a book about the importance of being thankful and the great things that happen when you are appreciative. The book is called Living Life as a Thank You, and I found it to be an easy, inspirational read.

When you appreciate the good things in your life, you will bring more good things into your life. This reminds me a bit of the Law of Attraction. Whatever thoughts you have will expand to become the reality of your life, so thinking negative thoughts will only bring negative things to your life. Thinking positive thoughts and being grateful will bring you good things.

One of the practices I found interesting was the idea of a gratitude journal. Every day, you're supposed to jot down a few things that you are thankful for. We tend to think about this stuff around Thanksgiving , but I think we could benefit from thinking about it daily. Gratitude for the great things in our life can lead to positive thoughts and then wonderful things.

There was a chapter in the book about loss and difficult times too. Sometimes we find it hard to be grateful when we are hurting. The author took a "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger" attitude to loss, and reminds us that we need to be grateful for the good things that a loss has brought us.

I'm also reading (this one is an audiobook... still driving a lot) a book about living in a complaint-free world. Perhaps you have heard about the challenge to not complain for 21 days straight (the guy that wrote this book did a show on Oprah)... The people that set this up gave away purple bracelets that you switch to the other hand each time you complain. The goal is to not switch hands for 21 days. I haven't started it officially yet but am planning to. The idea here is that complaining is a negative thought, bringing more negative things into your life. You become what you complain about, and who wants that?

I think everyone can benefit from adopting a positive attitude. If you're not naturally a positive person, then you have the power to change that about yourself. I have personally found that focusing on gratitude and trying to see the bright side of things makes me a happier person. I think you will find the same is true.

Finally, I know this hasn't been too optometry-heavy, so just wanted to remind everyone to be thankful for their vision and good eye health. Hope everyone has a fantastic Easter weekend!

Here Comes the Sun!

Guess what everyone... it's almost SPRING! Which means then it's almost SUMMER!!! Hooray for warmer weather!!!

So the optimist optometrist took the winter off since it was so freaking cold out. Plus, she started a new job at a Lasik center, and plans on doing a Lasik blog post in the near future. So keep posted!

Today, since the weather will be (hopefully) warming up soon, I wanted to do a post about how sunlight can affect your eyes. Being from Florida, I must admit to loving the sun. Although I love the warmer weather, we should always remember how important it is to protect our eyes from the sun.

I wanted to go over a couple of ways the sun can affect the eyes, and then talk about some easy ways to protect our eyes from the sun. After all, you only get two eyes (unless you're a fly or an alien or something!)

1. Cataracts: (Dear patients - It is NOT funny to me anymore when you call them Cadillacs. Actually, it was never funny. Please don't be that guy.) Rays from the sun (UVA and UVB rays) have been shown to cause cataracts in patients. A cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye. The lens is partially responsible for giving you clear vision, so a cataract can make your vision very cloudy. Protecting your eyes from UV light can help to prevent or delay cataract formation. Please don't be like Magda... she probably has cataracts.

2. Corneal or Retinal Burns: Wait... you mean, you can get an eye sunburn? Yep! That doesn't sound very fun, does it? If your cornea has a burn from the sun, it's called photokeratitis. This happens sometimes on ski slopes or from tanning beds. People with corneal burns usually have some pain, redness, and tearing. Not a fun thing to have. Retinal burns, on the other hand, (called photoretinitis) are usually not as painful, but can leave permanent vision defets. So please don't look directly at the sun and keep those retinas healthy.

3. Pinguecula and Pterygium: Those sure are funny names, huh? Both of these things that afftect the conjunctiva are associated with sun exposure. They are usually found on the white part of your eye. They can cause dryness and irritation. Sometimes if you have a large pterygium, it can affect your vision. Pterygiums can be surgically removed, but sometimes they grow back after surgery.

Geez, Doc, I don't want any of those things. What can I do?

We all know (I hope) how important it is to protect our skin from the sun. Hopefully we also remember how important it is to protect our eyes! Sunglasses not only look cool, but they can also cut out the harmful rays from the sun that can damage our eyes. So, WEAR SUNGLASSES! You will be glad you did.

Look for sunglasses that offer 100% UV protection. Optical centers will usually have a cool machine called a spectrometer that can measure the amount of UV protection a lens offers. If you like to fish or engage in water sports, you should also consider getting polarized sunglasses to cut down on glare. For contact lens wearers, although contacts protect against UV rays, you should still wear sunglasses to protect the parts of the eye that are not covered by the contact lenses.

Remember, kids need sunglasses too! Don't forget about them.

Ready for the moral of the story? The sun is great for many reasons. It brings us warmth, it helps to synthesize Vitamin D, and it cheers some people (me) up! But everything in moderation, right? When you are out in the sun, please protect your eyes from the sun. You will be glad you did.

Now for the optimist part:

Remember, despite the rainy days, there will always be a sunny one coming up soon. We should try to make every day the best day it can possibly be; today is your only chance to live this particular day! So make it a great one and stay safe.

Happy Spring to everyone!!!

You Are What You Eat!... Getting Your Dose of Vitamin "Eye"

Hi everyone! I apologize for the delay in posting. The optimist optometrist has had a lot going on lately, but she's back and ready to talk about one of her favorite topics... nutrition and eye health! I had a patient the other day with macular degeneration who smokes and whose diet consists of potatoes and big macs... it reminded me of the importance of treating the patient as a whole and not just looking at the eyes alone.

What you put into your body certainly can affect many body systems, including those windows to your soul!

Anyone remember "Supersize Me"? I saw the movie and also read his second book, and found it quite interesting how many problems arose after a relatively short time of eating only McDonald's. We are so busy that sometimes it's hard to take the time to eat healthy foods. Hopefully we are trending toward healthier living.

So, let's talk about those eyeballs... What nutrients affect the eyes, and how do I get them? Let's talk about a few of the important ones:

Lutein & Zeaxanthin: These guys affect the health of a very important part of the eye called the macula. They are both antioxidants, and they affect something called the macular pigment optical density (MPOD). People with high MPOD levels have greater tolerance for glare, which can help night driving. They act like internal sunglasses to filter out harmful light. These nutrients can reduce the risk of macular degeneration and cataracts. Popeye probably has pretty high MPOD levels, since these nutrients are often found in spinach.

Vitamin C: As a Florida girl, I love my citrus fruits! Vitamin C is found in fruits such as oranges and grapefruits. Vitamin C affects many cells in the body, including those of the eye. Vitamin C can be especially important to reduce the risk of certain types of cataracts. Go drink some O.J.!

Vitamin E: Vitamin E is good for repairing cell membranes. Everyone wants healthy cell membranes, right? Your immune system is also affected by Vitamin E. This vitamin likes to hang out in foods such as nuts, fortified cereals, and sweet potatoes.

Essential Fatty Acids: Low levels of fatty acids are associated with dry eye syndrome. Dryness in the eyes can make your eyes feel uncomfortable, but increasing your EFAs can help deccrease the incidence of dry eyes. One way we optometrists look for signs of dryness in the eyes is by putting in a drop that lets us see dry spots on the front part of the eye (the cornea). A dry cornea has spots of dryness that look like the picture here. Essential Fatty Acids like DHA and EPA are found in fish such as salmon and tuna. Take a trip to Red Lobster or Bonefish Grille!

By the way, most of this info can be found on our national optometry association's website, http://www.aoa.org/. Not the stuff about Popeye though.

I also recently read a book about brain health, and a lot of the same nutrients that affect the eye also affect the brain. Good to know.

So, bottom line: What you put into your body affects you! I know I always feel better when I eat healthy foods. Your eyes need nutrients too, so don't forget about them! You may consider taking a dietary supplement if you are not getting adequate levels of nutrients via your diet. Also, stay positive about your health and your diet... don't get discouraged if you have a day or two when you need to eat chocolate (eat the dark kind... antioxidants!). Just remember that you are feeding all the cells of your body, and by eating nutritious foods, you can keep those cells happy.

Now go out and have some salmon with a side of spinach and a baked sweet potato, and drink some O.J.! Your eyes will love you for it.