9 Common Eye Care Mistakes

DrLee

I’ve been seeing a lot of people with dry, irritated eyes lately. It gets worse in the winter because the heat is on and the air is very dry. Avoid drops that “get the red out!” – These are just masking the problem and may make the redness worse. If you have eyes that look red or feel irritated, talk to Dr Lee so we can get to the root of the problem and offer some better solutions!

Read more for other common eye care mistakes that I see all the time. Girls, eyeliner on your waterline is a big no-no!

http://news.health.com/2014/08/11/eye-health-mistakes/

DrLee

Operating online is cheaper, but even Clearly Contacts has opened a few storefronts – they’ve realized how important it is to have your glasses customized to fit your face in order for the prescription to work well!

Also for the glasses to work well, the prescription needs to be filled correctly. A 2011 study evaluating online orders showed nearly half of the prescription glasses purchased online did not meet patients’ “visual or physical needs.” The study showed 28.6 per cent of the glasses contained at least one lens that failed a component of optical analysis (eg. failure to match prescription, failed impact testing, incorrect/added lens treatments, incorrect lens type single vision vs bifocal).
These things get inspected at an optometrist’s office before the glasses are dispensed. They may be sent back to the lab for correction, which is why your delivery gets sometimes takes a bit longer, but it’s worth the wait to ensure quality.

An experienced optometrist or optician will help you choose frames that work with your particular prescription needs, and make recommendations about coatings and lens materials based on your specific prescription. They require measurements to customize the lenses for the frames you choose, and in high prescriptions, even a small error can cause headaches.

Glasses are something that you have to depend on daily, so take the time to get them right!|

See here for an article about buying online from CTV News: Buying glasses online may be cheap, but not necessarily safe, doctors warn

DrLee

Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends!

This is something I found last month, and it serves as a reminder to not take our vision for granted. Be grateful for your eyesight and your ability to see all the sale signs this weekend! Be grateful that you don’t need to rely on your other senses, because all the extra hustle and bustle would be very confusing for your ears. Be grateful for this amazing sense which allows you to gather information about the world around you, and remember to take care of your eyes.

Tod and Justin Purvis suffer from choroideremia, a condition which causes progressive blindness. It starts with difficulty seeing at night, and causes tunnel vision, which eventually extends to your central vision. 6 years ago, they took a trip across America to gather memories before going completely blind. They filmed the experience, which you can watch in their documentary, Going Blind. Tod Purvis went on the internet community Reddit to answer questions about his trip and what it is like to go blind.

Here are some interesting descriptions of his vision, from Tod Purvis:
“It’s hard to describe nothing. It’s not black, it’s like if you were looking through a tunnel, and the walls of the tunnel were made of mirrors and it reflected what was at the end of the tunnel”

“It’s all on the outside, I would say it’s blurry/fuzzy. Honestly there’s no such thing as BLACK to a blind person. There’s just nothing. It’s very hard to describe. One of the best scenes in a film, is in the film BLINDNESS, a children (who’s blind in the film) walks into a desk, that the audiences does not see and then it pops into view. That moment is EXACTLY how we see.”

“Close, [wear] sunglasses and smeared them with vaseline, and wore them all the time that would be kind of like it. [sic]”

“My vision was fine as a kid, I really didn’t notice it until my mid 30’s where I noticed the losing the outside and the night vision. Justin noticed it much earlier than I.”

Additional descriptions of vision loss from other users:
“Try this: Close both eyes, then hold your left eye closed, open your eyes and look out your right eye while keeping the left one held closed. Notice how your left vision just vanishes, but it doesn’t go black, it just doesn’t exist anymore. Try it with the other eye too.” – user KernelTaint

On why they took the trip:
“But we took the trip to put the memories in our brain where we could always call them up even if we completely lost our sight. There is an amazing scene in the film about a man who is almost totally blind who calls up his memories in order to live a full ‘visual’ life.”

The most beautiful places they visited:
Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, Glacier Park in Montana, Grand Canyon

Their film’s main message:
“”No matter what your situation … live your life to the fullest.”

————-

See the rest of their responses here : Choroideremia Ask Me Anything (NSFW)

They also created an award winning documentary about their experiences which can be found here: Driving Blind

To help support those with Choroideremia, you can donate to the causes listed here: Choroideremia.org and here: Blindness.org

DrLee

This week, Dr. Lee partnered with Kids2See to provide free vision screenings for JK and SK students at Secord Elementary School in Toronto. Kids2See is an initiative run by University of Toronto Med students Emily Wright, Aaron Chan and Eli Kisilevsky with the purpose of identifying children with vision impairments which require early treatment, and ensuring that they receive a complete eye exam from a qualified eye specialist further to the screening. They also strive to educate parents and school officials on the importance of routine eye exams, as 10-20% of vision problems may be missed by the screening. The school screenings only flag certain problems, so it is still important to have yearly comprehensive eye exams for complete assessment of your child’s eye health.

Kids2See will be visiting other schools weekly throughout November – January. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to help out! 🙂

kids vision screening — Checking one eye at a time!

*No pictures of the kids due to privacy reasons

DrLee

Halloween is just around the corner, and while a crazy pair of contacts might seem like the perfect addition to your costume, DO NOT buy unprescribed lenses from over-the-counter or online sellers. Anyone who is not an optician, optometrist, or ophthalmologist selling contact lenses is doing so illegally. This also applies to circle lenses or any coloured lenses you can buy randomly at non-optical stores at the mall or online. Many websites claim to sell “100% authentic” and “#1 brand” lenses, but this is not safe.

Contact lenses are medical devices, which means they are subject to specific safety requirements. Online and over-the-counter products are produced by unknown manufacturers, who don’t follow the requirements. Contact lenses are NOT one-size-fits-all, and just like wearing the wrong shoe size, ill-fitting contacts can cause major discomfort and damage to your eyes.

The main concern is that these manufacturers may use unknown materials to make the lenses, and the sealed packaging does NOT guarantee that the lenses are sterile. Contaminants may scratch your cornea, cause an allergic reaction, or cause a serious infection which may result in permanent scarring and vision loss.
The risk of corneal infection when using cosmetic lenses compared to prescription contacts lenses is 12.5 times higher, as shown in a recent study

“In the past year we have received numerous incident reports from optometrists who have treated patients with serious cases of infection, corneal ulcers, corneal abrasion, allergic reactions and swelling resulting from novelty contact lenses,” said Dr. Paul Geneau, CAO president.
Read more here: Cosmetic contact lenses may cause blindness, warn doctors

You may think it’s not a big deal if you wear them for just one night…. Lots of people have prescribed contact lenses from their doctor for occasional wear! However, the risk is MUCH, MUCH higher with unprescribed lenses because 1) those lenses have not been approved for safety and 2) you have not been fitted with by a licensed professional.
In this 5 On Your Side clip, Robyn Rouse talks about wearing decorative lenses for a short period of time. “I put them in – wore them for 5 minutes… Took them out and went to sleep,” recalled Rouse. “In less than 24 hours – this is something that I have to deal with now for the rest of my life,” she added. Robyn developed an eye infection, which, after 10 years of eye problems, resulted in her having to get a corneal transplant.

There are good options out there for coloured lenses approved by Health Canada! You need to be fitted, even if you want non-prescription “strength” in the lenses. Make an appointment with Dr. Lee and let the staff know you are interested in coloured lenses so we can order in some trials to have ready at your next visit.

If you notice redness, swelling, excessive discharge, pain or discomfort from wearing contact lenses, remove the lenses and seek immediate medical attention from an optometrist. Eye infections like keratitis can quickly become serious and can cause blindness if left untreated.
Dr. Lee can be reached in Markham at (905) 805-0889 or in Pickering (905) 420-7070

9 Common Eye Care Mistakes

Buying Glasses Online Not A Good Idea

What It’s Like to Go Blind

School Vision Screening for Kids

Costume Contact Lenses Carry High Risk of Infection