Author: innexus

As you may know, the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays can cause damage to your skin, but how often do you think about the damage these rays can cause to your eyes? What about your child’s eyes? At a young age, children’s eyes are still developing, and with the substantial time they spend outdoors, it is important to purchase sunglasses to protect their eyes from harmful UV rays.

What Are UV Rays?

UV rays or ultraviolet radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation or energy. These rays are emitted from the sun as well as a few man-made sources, like tanning beds. A key factor in what makes ultraviolet rays so dangerous is our inability to see them. Ultraviolet rays fall outside the range of visible light for the human eye. To read more about UV rays, click here.

Your Exposure to UV Rays

Eye Development

The lens inside a child’s eye is still developing and is not as capable of filtering high energy rays similar to eye lenses in adults. This inability to filter and fully protect their eyes causes children to have a higher risk of damage from UV rays. Shielding your infant’s or child’s eyes from UV rays as early as possible will help prevent overexposure to UV radiation throughout their lifetime. For younger children and infants, a sun hat provides additional protection to their skin and eyes throughout the day as the sun shifts and in case they remove their sunglasses.

Environment

Exposure to UV radiation increases at high altitudes, tropical locations, and in reflective environments. Consider the level of risk in your environment and if protective eyewear should be worn. Here are a few environment aspects and how they could affect your exposure to harmful UV rays.

• Altitude: At higher altitudes, the earth’s atmosphere is thinner and unable to provide the same protection from UV rays.
• Location: As you move closer to the earth’s equator, the level of UV rays increase. If you and your family are visiting a tropical location near the earth’s equator, always wear 100% UV blocking eyewear when outdoors.
• Highly reflective services: Areas with highly reflective services like pools, lakes, oceans, and snow reflect UV rays. Snow can reflect up to 80% of UV rays creating a higher risk of UV damage to your eyes.
• Clouds: Keep in mind clouds do not block UV radiation. UV exposure can be high on cloudy days.

Time of Day

• Time of day: UV levels are higher between 10 am to 2 pm when the sun is at its peak.
• Setting: Highly reflective surfaces like sand, water, and snow provide a much higher risk of eye damage due to UV radiation.

Children’s Eyewear

We understand convincing your child to wear sunglasses can be a challenge. Use these pointers when talking with your kids about sunglasses! Don’t forget, you know your children better than anyone else, so some of these tips may not work for them.

• Match the current trends. If your child loves a certain color, pattern, or shape, purchase sunglasses to match their unique style.
• TV shows, young celebrities, and brands like Disney create sunglass lines to appeal specifically to children. That’s right, children notice and prefer brand named items just like teens and adults.
• Keep frame in the family. If the child has an adult or sibling they look up to and admire, purchase your child similar sunglasses to what the adult or sibling owns. This will appeal to the child’s desire to look more like their older sibling or parent!
• Let them do the shopping. Take children shopping specifically to pick out their very own special pair of sunglasses. The more they like their sunglasses, the more likely they are to wear them, and the better protected their eyes will be from harmful UV radiation from the sun.

Corrective eye surgery can address a number of eye problems. Most people have heard of laser eye surgery to eliminate the need for prescription glasses. As the procedure has gotten easier and less expensive, more people are opting for things like LASIK and telling their friends about the results.

LASIK

LASIK is the most popular refractive surgery. Because healing time is fast, many people check to see if they are good candidates for LASIK before considering other options. With LASIK, a flap is made on the front of the cornea. A laser is then used to remove some corneal tissue and smooth irregularities in the surface of the lens. The cornea can be made flatter or more rounded to cure nearsightedness or farsightedness, as well as astigmatism.

Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK)

Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK) was the first laser eye surgery that became widely available for vision correction. It may help people who are nearsighted, farsighted, or have astigmatism. PRK is similar to LASIK, but the main difference is that the procedure does not involve cutting a flap on the surface of the eye to resurface the lens. With PRK, the epithelium covering on the eye is essentially buffed away, and the surface of the cornea is reshaped using an excimer laser. This means the protective covering on the front of the eye has to heal which creates a longer healing process for PRK than some other procedures.

LASEK

LASEK is a corrective eye surgery that can also address myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASEK reshapes the front of the cornea with a specialized laser procedure, eliminating the need for glasses in some patients. The thin covering on the front of the eye is not entirely removed like with PRK. Instead, an even thinner flap than what LASIK uses is created and then replaced after the procedure to act as a natural bandage. Some people who cannot get LASIK are instead candidates for LASEK because it can be performed on someone with a thinner cornea.

Cataract Surgery

Cataract surgery is also considered corrective eye surgery. For this type of surgery, the cloudy lens of an eye with a cataract is removed and an artificial lens is replaced. Vision is then made clear again, which often reduces the patient’s need for glasses. The procedure is very common and considered one of the safest and most effective corrective eye surgeries. As our population ages, instances of cataracts surgery are on the rise and continue to provide great results.

The different kinds of corrective eye surgeries have their benefits and possible side effects. Make sure that you consult a qualified eye doctor if you have questions about these procedures.

Have you ever received your prescription at the end of your exam but were unsure how to interpret it? Below are some common questions and terms explained to help you better understand what each part of your prescription means. If you have any questions about your prescription, please reach out to our office.

What does it mean to be nearsighted?

Nearsightedness (myopia) is the most commonly diagnosed refractive error. Nearsighted individuals have difficulty reading road signs and clearly seeing distant objects. This refractive error typically begins in childhood and stabilizes in early adulthood. Symptoms of myopia include squinting, eye strain, and headaches.

What does it mean to be farsighted?

Farsightedness (hyperopia) affects about one-fourth of the population.* Farsighted individuals will have difficulty focusing on objects up close but can clearly see objects at a distance. The eye shape of someone who is farsighted is shorter than normal. For this reason, many children are born farsighted and outgrow it as their eyeball grows.

I have astigmatism, what does that mean?

Individuals with astigmatism usually experience some degree of blur or distortion at all distances. In astigmatism, light comes into the retina at multiple focus points because of an irregular shaped cornea, which causes blurring. With astigmatism, one or both eyes can be farsighted, one or both eyes can be nearsighted, or one eye can be nearsighted while the other is farsighted.

Reading the Prescription

Your prescription is an outline of corrections your eyes need in order to see as precisely as possible. Every prescription will look different based on the patient’s eyes. If you have questions or do not understand a section of your exam or prescription, be sure to ask your doctor.

OD and OS

Doctors use the abbreviations OD, OS, and OU when writing a prescription for eyeglasses, contact lenses, and eye medicines. OD and OS are abbreviations for the latin words oculus dexter (right eye) and oculus sinister (left eye). The latin term oculus uterque is used for describing both eyes.

Other terms on your prescription:

• Sphere (SPH): Indicates the lens power needed to correct nearsightedness or farsightedness. If you have a minus sign (-) you are nearsighted; if you have a plus sign (+) or no sign you are farsighted.
• Cylinder (CYL): Indicates the amount of lens power for astigmatism. If nothing appears in this column you do not have astigmatism. The minus sign is for nearsighted astigmatism and a plus sign for farsighted astigmatism.
• Axis: Indicates the direction of astigmatism. For example, if the axis is 180 degrees the astigmatism is horizontal.
• Add: Indicates the magnifying power applied to the bottom of multifocal lenses to correct presbyopia. The number is typically a plus power and will be the same for both eyes.
• Prism: This is to compensate for eye alignment problems, a very small percentage of prescriptions contain a prismatic power. Abbreviations used for prism direction: BU- base up, BD- base down, BI- base in, BO- base out.

Sample Prescription:

*All About Vision

Have you ever gone to pick out new eyeglasses, but been overwhelmed by all your options? Do you ever struggle to know what eyewear shape looks best on you? We’ve compiled our best tips for picking the perfect pair of eyewear to help make your decisions easier.

1. Contrast your face shape

   • There are seven basic face shapes to review including oval, base-up or base-down triangle, oblong, square, diamond, and round. Eyewear should contrast your face shape but be in scale with your face size. Find your face shape below and try out our recommended shape frames
     
     1. Oval: wide or walnut-shaped frames
        
     2. Base-up triangle: frames with a wider bottom, light color or lightweight
        
     3. Oblong: frames with more depth than width
        
     4. Square: narrow frames and with more width than depth
        
     5. Diamond: cat-eye shaped frames or other detailing on the brow line
        
     6. Round: narrow frames which are wider and have a clear bridge
        
     7. Base-down triangle: frames with color or detailing on the top half

2. Highlight your features

   • Pick your best or favorite feature and pick a frame to highlight it.
   • Some features to consider highlighting would be your eyes, hair, skin color, and face shape. For example, if you have blue eyes, try a blue frame to match and highlight your eye color.

3. Match or complement colors

   • Your skin, eyes, and hair work together to create your overall coloring. Everyone has either a cool (blue or pink undertones) or a warm (yellow or orange undertones) overall color. Try a frame from our color list below to complement your coloring.
   • Warm coloring: camel, khaki, gold, copper, peach, orange, coral, red, or warm blue
   • Cool coloring: black, silver, rose-brown, blue-gray, plum, magenta, pink, blue, or tortoise

4. Find the perfect size

   • Try on multiple pairs to see what size fits your face shape best.
   • If the frames are too small your peripheral vision will be limited and could potentially feel tight on the head. The frames should not pinch your nose, leave red marks, slide down your nose, or easily slip off your head. The tightness around your ears can be adjusted to get the perfect fit.  

5. Match your frames to your lifestyle

   • Make sure your frames will work for every part of your life and will be a representation of you and your personality.
   • Pick frames to match your unique lifestyle and hobbies. Consider your common activities when choosing frames. For example, if you are more active you may want a pair of sports eyewear or a wraparound band. If you spend a lot of time on the computer, you may want eyeglasses with a tinted lens.

6. Anti-reflective coating

   • An anti-reflective coating helps eliminate reflections on both sides of your lenses to cut down annoying glare and improve night vision.
   • Anti-reflective coatings allow for sharper, clearer vision with less glare. The lenses appear to be nearly invisible, giving the eyeglasses a more attractive appearance and allowing for better eye contact.

7. Are weight and material important to you?

   • Frames are most commonly made of plastic, metal, or a combination of materials. This combination determines the longevity, weight, and average cost of a frame.
   • Key Features:

• • • • • Stainless steel and titanium are long lasting
          
        • Metal frames often have adjustable nose pads
          
        • Metal frames can come in hypoallergenic materials
          
        • Plastic frames tend to be less expensive
          
        • Plastic frames are lighter
          
        • Plastic frames typically need less maintenance than metal frames
          
        • Flexible hinges allow the “arms” to bend more than regular hinges
          

Whether you’re playing or watching the game, one incident everyone dreads is an injury. Injuries can prevent players from finishing the game, or worse, end an athletic career. Protective sports eyewear helps to prevent injuries and allows players to continue to play their sport. In today’s world, many sports facilities and fitness clubs require athletes to wear proper eye gear in order to minimize injury.

Why is it important to wear protective eyewear?

Emergency rooms treat more than 40,000 sports-related eye injuries every year, and up to 90 percent of those injuries could have been prevented by using protective eyewear. Any sport in which a ball, racquet, or other flying object is present poses a risk for injury. However, injuries can also result from close contact with others in the way of pokes or jabs with fingers and elbows. Protective eyewear is important because it keeps your eyes safe from a variety of injuries. As an additional bonus, the sharper your vision, the better you will perform in your sport of choice.

Features to look for:

• Various sizes and shapes designed to fit the user.
• Customized to best suit the sport including reflective lenses, space for headgear, and wrap around bands.
• User’s prescription can be added to the lenses, which allows for better clarity during the game and increased overall performance.
• Lenses are often made of polycarbonate, an impact-resistant material, to protect eyes from high speed and high impact objects.
• Sports frames are also made of impact resistant material and often come with rubber padding where the frame comes in contact with the head or nose.
• Wraparound sports glasses help to ensure the eyewear remains in place for the duration of a sporting event and prevents dust or debris from entering through the sides of the glasses.

Get the Facts

Experts agree sports-related eye injuries can be prevented by wearing protective eyewear. Parents and coaches should ensure athletes are wearing safety glasses during sporting events, especially considering 43 percent of all sports-related eye injuries occur in children younger than age 15. Regular eyeglasses are not safe to use as protective sports eyewear because they do not have impact resistance and could shatter or break upon impact.  

It is imperative that protective eyewear properly fits the user. Resist the urge to buy children’s eyewear with “room to grow.” Purchasing protective eyewear too large for the user could cause eyewear to be less effective and increase the risk of injury. Additionally, be sure the user has not outgrown protective goggles as this increases the risk of injury as well.  

Sports using Protective Eyewear

• Badminton: sports goggles with polycarbonate lenses
• Baseball/softball: batting and baserunning- helmet with polycarbonate face shield. Fielding- sports goggles or sports sunglasses with shatterproof lenses and head strap
• Basketball: wraparound sports goggles
• Bicycling: performance sunglasses with anti-fog and anti-scratch lenses
• Fencing: full face mask made of rigid metal
• Field hockey: all players- sports goggles with a head strap. Goalies- full helmets and face masks
• Fishing: polarized sunglasses
• Football: polycarbonate shield attached to a helmet
• Hunting and shooting: polarized shatter resistant shooting glasses
• Ice hockey: full face helmet
• Lacrosse: form fitting and padded face mask
• Paintball: full face helmet
• Racquetball: sports goggles with polycarbonate lenses
• Skiing and snowboarding: ski goggles or wraparound polarized sunglasses with mirror coated lenses
• Soccer: sports goggles
• Squash/Tennis: sports goggles with wraparound frame
• Swimming and diving: swim goggles and diving masks
• Volleyball: sports goggles or sunglasses
• Water Polo: swim goggles with polycarbonate lenses