Category: Eye Health

Last month we started the conversation about the increasing prevalence of myopia and how environmental factors may play a significant role. This month we will concentrate on some of those factors and what current management options we have. At birth, the human eye typically has a low amount of hyperopia (farsightedness). Throughout childhood, this hyperopia…

I can still remember the day that I got my first pair of glasses.  It isn’t my fondest memory, but quite a common one.  I was struggling to see the blackboard at school, so my parents took me back to the optometrist. It was a disappointment to learn that I needed glasses, but not unexpected…

While many people know the risks of smoking to their overall health, often there is less awareness of the impact of smoking on vision and the eyes. Avoiding smoking or taking steps to quit, lowers your risk of vision impairment and vision loss. Smokers are at higher risk for the following conditions: Age-related Macular Degeneration…

A new report reveals a potential breakthrough in the treatment of a common eye condition known as pterygium that impacts the vision, eye health, and cosmetic appearance of people around the world. The newly published report shows that eye drops containing the anti-thrombosis drug dipyridamole (Persantin®, Cardoxin®) led to almost total disappearance of an inflamed…

What if computer screens had glasses instead of the people staring at the monitors? That concept is not too far afield from technology being developed by UC Berkeley computer and vision scientists. The researchers are developing computer algorithms to compensate for an individual’s visual impairment, and creating vision-correcting displays that enable users to see text…

Several times each week patients call our Optometry clinics with symptoms of new floaters in their vision and/or flashes of light. The sudden onset of these symptoms can be concerning and for good reason - they can signal something very serious like a retinal tear or detachment. More commonly, they signify an aging change in…

Macular degeneration is a visually devastating disease that primarily affects poeple over the age of 75.  Waste products produced by the retina are normally filtered out of the eye.  In macular degeneration, however, the waste products are not properly filtered from the eye and are left in the retina.  In early stages of the disease,…

The probability of blindness due to the serious eye disease glaucoma has decreased by nearly half since 1980, according to a study published last month in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. The researchers speculate that advances in diagnosis and therapy are likely causes for the decrease, but caution that a significant proportion of patients…

One of the most common questions I am asked during an eye exam is “Doc, what can I do to protect my eyes against cataracts?”  My advice has always remained the same, UV protection! New research from the National Eye Institute may change my tried and true answer. Data from the Physicians’ Health Study (PHS)…

Have you ever wondered what triggers us to get tired every night and what wakes us up in the morning (Besides that pesky alarm clock)?  It’s our circadian rhythm and it is regulated, in large part, by our eyes. Certain retinal cells, called intrinsically regulated ganglion photoreceptor cells, become inactivated when they absorb blue light. …