RevitalVision Re-Boot!

Here's one of the very cool things about the RevitalVision program: your vision trainer is in contact with you pretty much all the time and responds to your questions right away. Dr. White's trainer is Terry and she realized from Dr. White's questions that he would actually be better off doing one of the other RevitalVision programs in order to meet his goals.

"I was talking to the executives and head scientists about Dr. White and his progress. We decided that what Dr. White was really after was to reduce the amount of time he uses his glasses for things like driving at night. He was doing very well on the Sportsvision module and would likely have really seen a jump in his vision while wearing his glasses, but we felt that he would be more likely to achieve his primary goal by switching to our "Myopia" protocol."

Dr. White did the intro session for "Myopia" today without his glasses and is ready to forge ahead! "I'm very impressed by the responsiveness Terry showed to my questions. I've always loved this part of the RevitalVision program and approach, the interaction between the patient and the people running the program and the software," said Dr. White. "I love that Terry and her teammates are looking after my patients this closely!"

By the way, Dr. White scored a 94 in a 15:00 introductory session on Myopia.  Check back here for updates on his progress!

Debunking Eye Myths*

How many times have you heard someone tell you something about your eyes or your vision that made you scratch your head? Something that you've heard a thousand times and always wondered about? Us too!

Let's look at a couple and see how they stack up to reality:

1) "Don't sit so close to the TV; you'll ruin your eyes!"

FALSE! It turns out that this one was never true. There has never really been anything harmful coming out of a TV screen, at least as far as your eyes go. People have been sitting closer to the TV for decades just to see better. Kids have a natural tendency to do this. It doesn't necessarily mean that you need glasses, and sitting closer definitely won't hurt your eyes or your eyesight. Cable TV might rot your brain...

2) "Don't read in the dark; it'll make your eyes weak!"

FALSE! Reading in dark or dim light just makes reading harder, but it doesn't do any harm to your eyes or your vision. Heck, Abe Lincoln used to read by candlelight as a kid, and HE turned out alright!

3) "If you wear your reading glasses you'll just need to wear them more."

TRUE and FALSE. Once you hit your 40's almost everyone starts to lose the ability to focus up close due to a combination of hardening of the lens in your eye and decreased strength in your focusing muscles. You will need more help with reading glasses or bifocals in time no matter what, but fighting against them by forcing yourself to focus can make you need them a little less for a little longer. Use 'em or don't, whichever makes you more comfortable.

4) "Give your eyes a break, you're gonna wear them out!"

FALSE. Your eyes are different from a muscle like your biceps. You can't wear them out. Go ahead and use them!

5) "If you don't stop it, you'll go blind".

WHOA! Wait a minute. This is a PG-rated blog! :-)

*Props to Dr. Carey Silverman for the idea.

A New Era in Dry Eye Management - Article

A little more about tear osmolarity and the treatment of Dry Eye Syndrome.  The recent article below tells how the instrument used by SkyVision doctors is leading the pack to help give patients the best care for their symptoms.

http://tlc.tearlab.com/resources//articles/A_New_Era_in_Dry_Eye_Management_-_Jerry_Nolfi__OD.pdf

Newsflash: Tear Osmolarity Is Now Covered By Medicare

Skyvision Centers is the top referral center for the treatment of Dry Eye and Ocular Surface Disease in the Cleveland area. Dr. Darrell White has been a leader in the development of diagnostic and treatment protocols in these clinical areas for more than 10 years. Along with his partners Dr. Scott Schlegel and Dr. Gregory Kaye, Dr. White introduced Tear Osmolarity using the TearLab instrument to Northeast Ohio in March 2010.


"We are delighted to let people know that Tear Osmolarity, testing the level of 'saltiness' in our tears, is now covered by Medicare. In order to perform this test Skyvision obtained its certification as a CLIA laboratory. We are very proud to have achieved this, and we are very pleased that this news will make Tear Osmolarity available to more of our patients."

This test is important not only in making the diagnosis of Dry Eye, but in the hands of the Skyvision Centers doctors it is developing a very important role in helping to decide the proper treatment for any individual patient. Once again, Skyvision is on the cutting edge when it comes to making your eyes healthier!

Dr. White RevitalVision Sessions 6 & 7

Dr. White scared the heck out of our technicians when he came out of the RevitalVision room...no one knew he was even in the office! Let's see what he had to say:

"My floaters got in the way!! I've had floaters since I was a young teenager and I almost never see them unless I'm looking for them. One of them sat right in the middle of my vision for about half of my Session 6. Thankfully no one was in the room with me; I would have had a
hard time explaining why I was
shaking my head so hard!

See yesterdays blog for some great info about floaters: http://skyvisioncenters.blogspot.com/2011/11/what-are-those-spots-in-front-of-my.html

I have the rhythm of the sessions down now. About 30 minutes each time. Smaller and smaller, lighter and lighter. I like the "Which one is darker?" sessions--I seem to be able to see them really well. I scored a 90 on Session 6 but only an 85 on Session 7. I'll have to wait for Kelly to let me know what that means. Does your score go down as it gets harder, or does this mean I'm slipping back into the average category? We'll see what she says.

This is really hard work, though. You really have to want to improve your vision to do this, but everything we've seen at Skyvision leads us to believe that it's worth it. I've joked over the years that the faster I get at doing cataract surgery the shorter my attention span gets! These 30+ minute sessions of intense concentration are good training for my attention span, too!"

Tune in for updates on Dr. White's progress.

Dr. White and RevitalVision Sessions 4 & 5

Dr. White is still doing great with RevitalVision and the SportsVision module. Here's what he had to say about Sessions 4 and 5:


"Wow! This is getting HARD! I mentioned last time that the images get smaller and smaller while they also get dimmer and dimmer. It turns out that the better you do on your previous sessions the smaller and dimmer they get as you go on! Tough stuff.

I'm finding that I need to take mini-breaks a little more frequently now since I am concentrating so hard. I've always had a bit of a dry eye problem (I use Restasis) so I've been using artificial tears during my sessions as well. It seems like my results are good, though. The program sends you an email after each session with a graph to show your results, and my trainer Kelly has been very encouraging. Each session is taking just a little over 30 minutes, and I got my highest score yet today on Session 5: a 92!

My goal is to get in at least 4 sessions per week and so far, so good. I'm still wondering when I will have to do this without my glasses, though."


Stay tuned for more updates from Dr. White as his RevitalVision adventure continues.

Contact Lens Cardinal Rules

Do you wear contact lenses? Are you thinking about wearing contact lenses? Well, whether you are young or old there are some very important "Cardinal Rules" for contact lens wear, especially if you are wearing the most modern soft contacts. Our contact lens expert is Dr. Greg Kaye, one of the most experienced contact lens eye doctors in all of Cleveland!

Cardinal rule #1 is very simple, and we actually had a previous post on this subject: everyone who wears contact lenses MUST have a back-up pair of glasses that they can wear. If you are getting your very first eye prescription and you want to wear contacts you have to get glasses, too. No matter how old or young you are. Sometimes things happen where you can't wear your contacts, like infections or scratches, and you just have to have a pair of glasses that will allow you to see.

Rule #2 is that every person who wears contact lenses, no matter how much or how little, has to have an appointment with an eye doctor who knows their stuff EVERY YEAR! You may not need a full, dilated exam, but someone needs to check your prescription, your fit, and the health of your cornea (the window to the eye) at least once every year.

The third rule is all about safety: if you get a red or a painful eye TAKE YOUR CONTACT LENSES OUT, put your glasses on, and bring your contact lens and your eye in to see your eye doctor. Don't try to tough it out! Be sure to bring your contact lens in with you, though. Sometimes we can use it to find out why you have a problem.

Dr. White likes to say that there's a rule 3 1/2 for kids: there's no reason for a kid to wear a contact lens overnight. They should ALWAYS take their contacts out before going to bed.

We LOVE contact lenses at Skyvision, and we want you to enjoy them in the safest way possible!

Dr. White and RevitalVision: Training Begins!

Dr. White is going gangbusters with his RevitalVision training using the SportsVision Program. He finished the 3 introductory "Session 0" sessions and moved into the training sessions; there are 20 training sessions. So far he has done Sessions 1 and  2.

"Wow! That's hard work! The program asked me to wear my glasses for each session so far; the hardest part is remembering to bring them to the office from my car since I don't really wear them that much. The sessions take a TON of concentration, and since my vision with my glasses is very good I have to hang in there with very small images that are very, VERY faint. Whew!

Although I knew the basic structure of the training program it's hard to truly be prepared for the work you do until you start. I knew that the images would get more and more faint, and I sorta knew that I would work with smaller and smaller targets. What was a little bit of a surprise is how the 3-image tests work. Not only do you have to pick which option has 3, rather than 2, images, and not only are they really tiny, and not only do they get really faint, but the images get closer and closer together as the session goes on! I was really concentrating hard there at the end of this one.

I think my scores were pretty good, 87 on Session 1 and 91 on Session 2, but I admit I have no idea what a top score might be. Maybe 100? My vision trainer Terry's boss told me I'm not really in the "High Achiever" category, though; it took me 29:56 minutes to do Session 1 and 25:00 mins to do Session 2 which he said was sort of average speed. [Terry's boss is a friend of Dr. White's so we don't know how seriously to take this!]"


So far Dr. White is on a pace of about 3 Sessions per week. Tune in for more progress reports.

Transitions Vantage!

What will they think of next?! The Transitions company has not only brought out some of the coolest photochromatic lenses (lenses that change color depending on light levels) including the DriveWear lens that will darken in a car, but now they have introduced a lens that becomes polarized as it darkens! As the amount of UV light increases and the day gets brighter, the Transitions Vantage lens will not only become darker, it also becomes polarized to decrease the amount of horizontal glare that reaches the eye.

Bright levels of sunlight can cause not only discomfort but also difficulty seeing. A part of this comes from increased glare off on horizontal surfaces like roads, water, snow and ice, and the hood of your car. Polarization decreases this glare by dramatically reducing the reflected light off of these surfaces. Since the reflections increase as it gets brighter the Vantage lens INCREASES the polarization at the same time as it darkens.

Controlling the amount, color, and direction of the light entering the eye can deliver a much higher level of comfort. The Vantage lenses can be put into most fashion frames so that you can continue to enjoy the look you prefer at the same time you enjoy better vision and better comfort! We are all excited about this new lens from Transitions, and now we can't wait for the next cool thing they dream up!!

Dr. White's RevitalVision Session 2

Dr. White went right back to RevitalVision to do his second session:

"Well, this time I was smart enough to bring my distance glasses in to the room right in the beginning! I'm going to have to ask my Vision Trainer when I'm supposed to stop wearing them because my goal is to increase my uncorrected vision, my vision WITHOUT wearing my driving glasses.

I think I know how this is going to go, now. Session 2 is the first calibration session where the RevitalVision program figures out where you are to start. I was a little intimidated when I saw the screen announcing 10 sections, though; it took me 35 minutes to do 4 in round 1! The program worked through images called GABOR PATCHES, little circles with lines in them that are various sizes and have various degrees of contrast or darkness. The tests worked me through series of images that were of gradually smaller sizes and gradually less darkness or contrast. I felt pretty quick, although I goofed up the responses on occasion by pushing the wrong mouse button, even though I knew the answer. I wonder if the program or my trainer knows when I do that?!

I've been telling patients that Sessions 2 and 3 last about 45:00; mine took 37:00 and I felt pretty good about the results. I do see very well with my glasses so that's not very surprising. Each screen in all 10 rounds only had one image, though. I have a sneaky suspicion that Session 3 is going to have 2 or 3 images on each screen, getting smaller and smaller, and dimmer and dimmer!

Hmmm...I might need to slow down a bit!"


Tune in for updates on Dr. White's experience and results as he does the RevitalVision Sportsvision Training Program.

RevitalVision Session 1 With Dr. White

Dr. White just came out of our darkened RevitalVision room after completing the introductory session. Here's what he had to say:

"I was a little surprised that the calibration process was repeated right in the beginning! We had the room and the computer and the monitor all set up yesterday so I thought I'd just fly into battle. No big deal, but I wonder if that will happen every day when I step up to bat?

The first training session is just to show you how to do the program so it's really important to be able to see everything. My time in the room is just a little bit longer than it might have been; I had to run out to my car when the program told me 'If you have glasses or contacts wear them for this part."!! I had a little crisis of confidence in the first module. I THOUGHT it said left button for first choice offered and right button for the second, but I got all flustered when the computer dinged at me! Was a ding good or bad?!

OK...dings are bad. First choice, left mouse button. Second choice, right mouse button. GOT IT! Phew!

After I got that critical detail down pat I flew through the second and third  modules. Total time for my introductory RevitalVision session = 27:00! I have a feeling it's gonna be way harder once I stop wearing even the tiny distance prescription I have in my driving glasses though!"

Stay tuned for more news from Dr. White's RevitalVision adventures!

Comics Day At Skyvision

We are always amazed at how many jokes and puns come up every day in the office. While macular degeneration is nothing to joke about, the term is often mispronounced in very funny ways. Our favorite here at Skyvision used to be"Immaculate Degeneration"! Now, thanks to "Crankshaft", we have a new one.

Electric Bifocals! The EMPOWER Lens

Here's the latest news in eyewear, the PixelOptics EMPOWER lens. Believe it or not, this lens can actually change its focus, either automatically by changing the position of your head, or at any power you choose.

Skyvision Centers is one of only a handful of practices in the whole United States to introduce this revolutionary lens. Our main office in Westlake, just outside of Cleveland, Ohio will be the place to find all 28 frame styles. Our Optical staff is ready to answer your questions and assist  in fitting you properly, and Dr. White will be the first person in Cleveland to try out the Empower lens!

Tiny batteries are charged each night to power the piso-electric current passing through the lenses. Stay tuned for more updates. We'll make sure to get the scoop from Dr. White!