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Posted on December 29, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog
Dysport is a similar injectible product to Botox, but Dysport was just approved this May in the U.S. for the treatment of facial wrinkles. It’s been used with great success in Europe since 1991. Some American doctors are hesitant to use Dysport, though, because the injection is more likely to diffuse to tissue beyond the targeted treatment area. In other words, Dysport appears to be more likely to cause droopy eyelids or a “plastic” look to the face. On the other hand, some physicians have noted that Dysport tends to have an effect within 24-36 hours as opposed to Botox’s 3 days. Eye Doctors of Washington continues to offer Botox treatments to those interested in reducing the fine lines and wrinkles on their faces. For more information, please visit our webpage on Botox.
Posted on December 17, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog, Latest News
The frequency of myopia among Asians and other is on the rise and appears to increase with education. A study was conducted in Singapore in 1992 to investigate the prevalence of nearsightedness (known as myopia) as one’s education increased. The findings were astonishing: Just over 15% of male subjects with little education were myopic compared to 65% of the male subjects that were university graduates. A 1994 study found that almost 87% of first year students at the University of Hong Kong were myopic. In other words, in a class of 50 college students, approximately 43 needed glasses or contacts. A separate study found that over 70% of school age children in Taiwan are nearsighted. The studies with results like these go on and on. So, can we prevent this from continuing and how do we treat it?
The speculations about the causes of increased myopia are myriad. Some think optometrists are conspiring against the public and are prescribing glasses to children unnecessarily to make money! More often, it is hypothesized that genetics, increased up-close work like video games and computers, and a decrease in the time children spent outside are contributing to the rise in the frequency and severity of myopia.
The treatment for high myopia is strong glasses, strong contact lenses, laser vision correction like LASIK, and implantable contact lens surgery like Visian. In fact, the Visian ICL was designed specifically for individuals with very high degress of nearsightedness. Because of the prevalence of myopia among the Asian population, a study that was publised earlier this year involved placing the Visian ICL in only Asian eyes. The lens that was used also corrected astigmatism. The results were very similar to the results of the FDA clinical trials: after 6 months, almost 95% of all subjects could see 20/25 or better without correction. Remember that these are high myopes who probably couldn’t even see the eye chart when they were evaluated for surgery!
So with myopia on the rise we anticipate more and more people will see out correction for their vision using the Visian ICL. For more information about the Visian ICL, call our office to schedule a complimentary consultation.
Posted on December 15, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog
About 40,000 corneal transplants are performed each year, making it the most frequently performed transplant surgery in the world. Fewer donor corneas are available because more and more people are having laser vision correction surgery like LASIK, which makes their corneas unsuitable for transplants. Because of this shrinking pool of donors, scientists at the University of Cincinnati have attempting to create corneal tissue from umbilical stem cells to repair the damaged corneas of mice…and they’ve been successful! These stem cell transplants are only successful for corneal injuries, infections, and scarring. The scientists will begin doing the stem cell transplants on larger animals before beginning any research on humans. Some ophthalmologists are projecting that stem cell corneal transplants may one day replace cornea transplants!
Posted on November 30, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog
With all the feasting that goes on around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, I thought I’d write about the nutrition you’ll be getting and which nutrients can enhance the health of your eyes. In the 1990s, the National Eye Institute conducted a major study that examined eye health and nutrition. This extensive study concluded that high levels of vitamins A, C, and E and the mineral zinc significantly reduce the risk of advanced macualar degeneration and its associated vision loss. This study showed no impact on cataracts, but more recent data suggests that eye supplements containing vitamin C may be helpful in reducing the risk of cataracts.
How do specific nutrients strengthen your eyes? Vitamin A improves night vision. In fact, vitamin A deficiency is the leading cause of blindness in developing countries. B complex vitamins may promote healthy blood flow to the retina and reduce the risk of macular degeneration. Vitamin D is also associated with a lower risk of macular degeneration, and vitamin E joins vitamin C in helping to reduce the risk of cataracts. Lastly, omega-3 fatty acids like flaxseed oil and fish oil may reduce the risk of dry eyes.
Now that you know what you need, you need to know where to get them if you don’t want to take too many supplements. Good sources of vitamin A are carrots and sweet potatoes, so have a nice serving of that sweet potato casserole or carrot souffle. Help yourself to the steamed broccoli and fruits to get a dose of vitamin C. Put some sunflower seeds or almonds on your salad for a healthy helping of vitamin E. And you can be sure to get omega-3 fatty acids in cold water fish like salmon and trout. For those of you scoffing at these healthy suggestions, have a hamburger to get your zinc! But don’t overdo it on the refined sugars. It can cause a spike in your blood sugar which, in turn, can increase your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration.
Posted on November 23, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog
…and it’s pretty disheartening, I know. But, fear not! You may still have vision correction options available to you. If you were told you can’t have LASIK, your doctor may have mentioned that you should consider PRK. PRK, or photo refractive keratectomy, is LASIK’s ancestor that is still widely performed today. The outcomes of LASIK and PRK are virtually the same (in fact, some doctors argue that their PRK patients see slightly better 6 months after surgery when compared to their LASIK patients). Some people with high levels of nearsightedness may not have thick enough corneas for LASIK. With PRK, the laser treatment is performed directly on the surface of the eye as opposed to under a corneal flap as in LASIK. For this reason, you may have enough corneal tissue for PRK but not for LASIK.
Another option may be implantable contact lenses (ICLs) like Visian and Verisyse. The surgeons at Eye Doctors of Washington, Dr. Clinch and Dr. Kang, tend to use the Visian ICL because it’s a foldable lens requiring a smaller incision and it’s placed behind the iris so it’s not visible to the naked eye. ICLs were designed for individuals with very high degrees of nearsightedness, up to a -22.0D! Since it doesn’t permanently alter the cornea like LASIK, some patients with moderate levels of nearsightedness elect to have the Visian lens implanted. And your natural lens is left in place, so the Visian procedure is technically reversible.
If you have specific questions about what vision correction procedure best meets your needs, be sure to contact Eye Doctors of Washington to schedule your complimentary consultation.
Posted on November 16, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog, Latest News
LATISSE™ is a treatment for inadequate eyelashes available only by prescription from your doctor. It helps eyelashes grow, making them longer, thicker, and darker.
Using LATISSE is easy. Before going to bed, place one drop of the Latisse solution on the applicator. Then draw the applicator carefully across the skin of the upper eyelid at the base of the eyelashes moving from the inner part of your lash line near your nose to the outer part.
There is a small group of people who are allergic to one of the ingredients of Latisse. In addition, if you have been told you have eye pressure problems or have a family history of glaucoma, please let me know during you initial consultation. Of course if you are presently using drops for eye pressure or have a history of glaucoma, please schedule a complete eye exam before starting Latisse.
The most common side effect is an itching sensation or redness of the eye. In addition, Latisse may cause darkening of the eyelid skin, which may be reversible. Although not reported in the clinical trial, Latisse may cause brown pigment to deposit in the color part of the eye of certain individuals, and this likely to be permanent. It is important to allow me to do a close eye exam to determine if you are at risk.
Stop by our Facial Rejuvenation Center to determine if Latisse will work for you!
Posted on November 10, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog
No, I’m not talking about how you envision your future with a new baby. That’s for another blog! I mean your eyes may actually change during your pregnancy. If you’re reading this article, you know that hormones can wreak havoc on everything from you ankles on up to your complexion. And hormones can change your eyes as well. Just like fluid retention in your fingers and ankles, your eyes may retain more water during pregnancy. An increase in fluid in your eyes can actually increase your nearsightedness temporarily. Your prescription should go back to the way it was before you became pregnant once you deliver or finish nursing. Most women who notice the changes in their vision don’t find they need to get a new prescription, but that is a possibility if the changes you notice are pronounced. But chances are you’ll have to switch back to your prior prescription after pregnancy. Remember persistent blurry vision can be a sign of gestational diabetes or preeclampsia, so report any changes in your vision to your OB.
In addition, some women find wearing contacts uncomfortable during pregnancy. Because of the fluid retention, the curvature of your eye may be different so the contacts may no longer fit properly. Hormones can also cause dry eyes which make wearing contacts difficult. If lubricating eye drops don’t provide enough relief, you may want to decrease how long you wear your contacts or just wear glasses for the duration of your pregnancy.
Because of all of these changes in vision that may occur during pregnancy, you should not have laser vision correction like LASIK performed while you are pregnant because the measurements taken during pregnancy are not a true representation of your actual visual needs. In fact, many doctors suggest waiting 3 months after you finish nursing before having the measurements taken for your LASIK surgery to give your hormones time to settle down.
Posted on in EDOWs' Blog
A study published in Ophthalmology examined the relationship between health, socioeconomic status, employment status, marital status, and participation in organizations and how they correlated with vision in adults. The almost-10,000 subjects were born in 1958 and were all assessed when they were either 44 or 45.
The study found that those with vision impairments at the time of the assessment were more likely to have been low birth weight babies, to have been small for gestational age, to have had mothers who smoked during their pregnancies, and to have had low socioeconomic status as children. It also found that in mid-life those subjects were more likely to be unemployed because of permanent sickness, have low socioeconomic status, and have poorer general and mental health.
These findings suggest that visual health may be directly affected by prenatal and childhood factors. So take care of yourself when you’re pregnant and take good care of your children to help ensure that they have healthy eyes as adults. And if you think your child needs to be seen by a pediatric ophthalmologist, be sure to schedule an exam with Dr. Vicente.
Posted on November 4, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog
A study conducted by Synovate Inc. asked contact lens wearers about how they wear and care for their contacts. Startlingly, 70% of wearers said that they had worn their contact lenses while swimming. Additionally, 40% of wearers surveyed said that they did not wash their hands before putting in their contacts. Forty percent also said that they had put their contact lenses in their mouths to clean them. Lastly, 20% of wearers surveyed said that they did not always use fresh solution when cleaning their contacts. This all adds up to one thing: bacteria. And bacteria can result in vision-threatening infections.
So how should you care for your contacts? First of all, always wash your hands before inserting them. Carefully clean them after you remove them from your eyes as instructed by your eye doctor. Keep you contact lens case clean and use fresh solution every time. Be sure to replace the case every 3 months to prevent the spread of bacteria. And don’t wear them when swimming.
For more information about you contact lenses, contact our Optical Department.
Posted on October 29, 2009 in EDOWs' Blog
When counseling patients as to whether they are good candidates for LASIK or not, I’m often asked about the effect the surgery may have on their night-vision. With older LASIK technologies, night vision was sometimes adversely affected. Recently, though, a fantastic study came out of the military. The LASIK eye surgeons who perform the vision correction procedure on the military pilots studied the pilots’ quality of vision at night before and after surgery. Not only did they find that the procedure did not worsen night vision, they were shocked to find that night vision was improved with the combination of using the Intralase laser to create the flap and the CustomVue laser to correct the vision! Can you imagine what sort of advantage it can create for a fighter pilot to have improved night vision? In fact, as a result of this study, the military has now said that all enlisted who are good candidates are approved to have CustomVue LASIK with Intralase. Now that’s a government with a vision if you ask me!
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