Fittest Eye Doc Challenge Update

We've heard lots of fun feedback from around the country from eye docs and just plain fitness folks about Dr White's "Fittest Eye Doc in America" Challenge. Everyone is having a blast doing it, and there have been some out-of-this-world results like Jeff Martin and his 228! Dr. White will be doing it again in a week or so here in Cleveland with a couple of former college athletes in their 20's. Be careful there, Dr. White! Don't let the young'uns hurt you!

A pretty consistent thing we have been hearing is how difficult it is turning out to be to get busy eye doctors to be able to carve out time at their convention to do a face-to-face challenge in San Diego. We certainly understand. Let's make this post a "call to action": if you think you can make a Challenge workout at 1:00PM on the Sunday of ASCRS in San Diego post a note here.

Now, if we can't pull off an extravaganza that's no big deal. Just send in your results here or on the Skyvision Centers Facebook page. We'll publish videos, too, on our Youtube channel: Skyvisioncenters105. And if you invite Dr. White to speak in your home town he will FOR SURE go head-to-head with you on the challenge while he's in town!

Choosing Medicines For Our Patients

How do your Skyvision Centers doctors choose which medicine is right for you? If there are several options, or several versions of the same or a similar medicine, why do they choose one over the other? Dr. White, Dr. Schlegel, and Dr. Kaye have followed the same general guidelines for many, many years. We have recently switched one of our most common prescribing patterns (cataract surgery medicines) so this is a good time to let you know how and why we choose your prescriptions.

First off, there is no financial incentive for any of our doctors or our staff to prescribe any single medicine (this is also true of things like implant choices for cataract surgery). Doctors and their staff are NEVER paid for writing a particular prescription by anyone. There are no kickbacks here, and there never were and never will be!

Here are our guidelines, in order of importance:

1) A patient must need to be treated with a medicine. In other words, a Skyvision doctor must diagnose a problem and feel that medicine is necessary.

2) The medicine must have the best proven outcome. It must be the best treatment for the job.

3) It must be safe. Among all of the available choices it must have the fewest side effects or complications possible.

4) It must be easy to take. It must be easy for patients to understand. In general, the fewer times each day one needs to take a medicine, the better. The shorter the course of treatment can be, the better.

5) It should be cost effective if possible. We only look at cost if guidelines 1-4 have been met and if there are multiple options available.


There you have it. Look for future updates on our pre- and post- cataract medicine protocols.

Smartphone App!

The new Skyvision Centers Smartphone App is up and running! Now you can contact us at your convenience. Request an appointment. Get a medicine refill. Ask a question. Even do a little research on eyecare and eye diseases. It's all there on the app.

Simply go to the iPhone app store and search for "skyvision" (the Android version will be out in a couple weeks). It's FREE!! Download the app and off you go. We will add content every week, and as the app developers add more sophisticated options we will add them, too.

Now it's as easy as thinking about your eyecare, whenever you do it, and picking up your smartphone! Just one more way Skyvision Centers lets you "See What's Next!" (R).

Fittest Eye Doc Challenge Update

Did you know that the Fittest Eye Doc Challenge will be going on all year long?! Any eye doctor can send in results to this very blog. In addition, Dr. White will be challenging the local eye docs as he travels around the country on his "speaking tour."

There has been lots of interest in the one-day Challenge in San Diego to coincide with the ASCRS convention, but so far no one has signed up. Let us know if you would like to participate. We think it will be early afternoon on Sunday at Crossfit San Diego.

What do YOU think? Who is more fit? Is it the powerlifter? Is it the triathlete? Or will it be a Crossfitter? Tune in sports fans...

Intro to Dry Eye

Over on our Youtube channel, Skyvisioncenters105, Dr. White is in the middle of a series on Dry Eye. We've talked a bit about Dry Eye here as well, but it's so very common it's worth talking about some more!

Our tears are a complex mixture, an EMULSION, of 3 distinct, separate substances. The major component or part of our tears is salt water; we call that the AQUEOUS component of the tears. The aqueous component is made by microscopic glands on the white part of the eye. Other glands right on the eye make the MUCIN component. The third part of our tears is an oil, or LIPID component, and it is made by glands that are just inside your eyelashes on your eyelids.

Your tears are a mixture of all three parts. They are kind of like Italian salad dressing after you shake it up! There is more Mucin closer to the surface of the eye, kind of like the spices that start in the bottom of the bottle of dressing. Aqueous is found throughout the tear layer, just like the vinegar in the Italian dressing. And the Lipid  part is mostly on the very outside of the tears, but just like the olive oil in the salad dressing after you shake it, the Lipid is also throughout the tears.

Skyvision Centers? There's an APP for that!!

Ok, so you're trying to reach your eye doctor to make an appointment or order some contact lenses. How do you do it? Phone book? Yellow pages? Google? Well, if you have an iPhone or a smartphone with the Android software (like a Droid, for example) now there's an easy way to do that, at least if you are trying to reach Skyvision Centers in Cleveland.

There's an APP for that!

That's right! In a couple of days you will be able to go to the Apple App store and download a FREE iPhone App for Skyvision that will allow you to contact us through your phone (without making a call!) to schedule an appointment, get a medicine refill, or ask a medical or billing question. In about 2 weeks you'll be able to do the same thing with your Android phone. We are also working on a service that will allow you to order replacement contact lenses and to check on the status of your new glasses.

All right from your smartphone!

As soon as the Skyvision App is in the store we'll share some pictures of it here on the blog and over on Facebook. We know you love your phone, and that it's convenient to do as much as possible without making a call or heading to a computer, so we've come up with a way for you to take care of all of your eyecare needs RIGHT FROM YOUR PHONE.

Yup...that's right...There's a Skyvision App for that!

Register for Fittest Eye Doc Challenge

Wow! We're getting lots more interest in Dr. White's Fittest Eye Doc in America Challenge than we expected. The folks at Crossfit San Diego have offered to host a face-to-face contest during the big Eye Doc ASCRS conference at the end of March. We need to know how many eye docs are going to "throw-down" with Dr. White so that we can arrange for voluteers and other help.

Want to give it a try? Deadlift, one-mile run, pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. Yes? Please leave a comment here with your name, age, email, and cell phone number (all of which will be kept confidential, of course). We'll announce date and time (probably occurring on the Sunday of ASCRS) soon.

Oh yeah...we hear that Dr. Johnny Gayton of Louisiana, the acclaimed power-lifting eye doc, declared himself the favorite at the Hawaiin Eye meeting. How about it, all you marathoners and triathletes out there in eye doc land? Is Dr. Gayton fitter than  you are?