More Good News About Omega-3 Fatty Acids

It seems a day doesn't go by without more good news about Omega-3 Fatty Acid dietary supplements! We are anxiously awaiting the publication of the AREDS II study on Macular Degeneration (AMD), but in the mean time a study looking at just Omega-3 supplements has some very good news for AMD prevention.

A study has been following a number of health problems in almost 40,000 female nurses over more than 10 years. One of the things studied has been the development of AMD. Analyzing the diets of these nurses the investigators discovered that those women who consume Omega-3 Fatty Acids in the DHA and EPA forms have an approximately 33% LOWER chance of getting AMD!

The DHA and IPA forms of Omega-3 Fatty Acids are called the Triglyceride forms. After many years of trying to keep up on the literally hundreds of brands and levels of quality in drug stores the doctors at Skyvision recently chose a very special company, Doctor's Advantage, to supply our patients with the highest quality nutritional supplements for AMD and other problems.

Doctor's Advantage makes an Omega-3 Fatty Acid supplement called "Omega Shield". It is only available from eye doctors, but the company will send it directly to your home! Make sure that you ask about "Omega Shield" when you come to see the eye doctors at Skyvision Centers. This one very good way to practice preventative medicine for your eyes!

Premium Surgeries At A Premium Surgery Center!

Although we have a very large, very beautiful main office in Westlake ( see pictures on our website) we don't have enough room to do our surgeries right there. So where does Dr. White do cataract surgery, especially surgery using all of the new Lifestyle implanst? Well, glad you asked!


For more than 15 years Dr. White has been doing lots of his surgeries at a simply fantastic outpatient center called The Surgery Center in Berea. You can find their website here. The Surgery Center has been run since it opened by a woman who is simply the best surgical administrator in America, Barb Draves! Barb was part of the original team who opened the center some 27 years ago, and it has grown into one of the busiest outpatient surgery centers in the whole country.

So why there? Why choose THIS particular outpatient center to use for our most exciting, premium cataract surgeries? In a word it all comes down to excellent patient care. The entire staff at The Surgery Center is fully dedicated to providing not only the very best care possible but also to give our Skyvision patients the best experience possible. Just like in our office at Skyvision Centers!

We couldn't be happier with the care our patients get at The Surgery Center, and we know you will be happy there if you need to have surgery!

Diabetes and the Eye

The occurrence of Diabetes is rapidly increasing in the United States. It has been estimated that there will be more than 30 Million diabetics in the U.S. by 2030, and there are presently 23 Million. In addition, another 57 million people are considered to have prediabetes, meaning that their blood sugar is not normal but not quite abnormal enough to make a diagnosis. Diabetes has many complications associated with it like increased heart disease, stroke risk, and a loss of sensation in your limbs causing difficulty walking. Here at Skyvision, of course, we are engaged every day in the fight against blindness caused by Diabetes.

Diabetes remains a major cause of blindness in all age groups. Diabetic retinopathy consists of abnormal blood vessels which occur where they do not belong. In time these blood vessels can leak causing swelling. The also break and bleed, sometimes filling the eye up with blood. The bleeding often causes a kind of scarring which can lead to a retinal detachment. The most effective treatment is to PREVENT DIABETIC RETINOPATHY from ever happening. Once it occurs, the treatment of all types of diabetic retinopathy is much more successful if it starts early.

Do you have diabetes? If so, what can you do to prevent yourself from going blind? There are two well-studied things you should do. First, and this is really easy, make sure you have an eye exam every year. This exam should include eyedrops that dilate your pupil. Your eye doctor should then explain any findings, and a letter should be sent to your diabetes doctor.

The other thing you can do is keep your diabetes under control! The measurements that are the most important are your morning fasting sugar level, and your Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). The safest levels according to the most recent research are a fasting sugar of 100 or below, and an HbA1c or 6.0 or lower. Your risk of diabetic retinopathy goes up by a factor of 2.5--it more than doubles--if your fasting sugars are over 108. The same holds true for your HbA1c: your risk more than doubles with a value of 6.5 rather than 6.0.

Do you have diabetes? Get an annual eye exam. Know your morning fasting sugar levels. Ask your doctor what your Hemoglobin A1c is. You CAN prevent diabetic retinopathy!

How Often For Eye Exams?

Dr. White came back to the office the other day after a dentist appointment. Apparently the dentist was unhappy with our good Doctor. It seems that it had been a little more than a year since Dr. White had been in to have his teeth checked, and the dentist said it should be every 6 months. That got us to thinking: how often should you have your eyes checked?

Every infant has an eye exam performed by a pediatrician before leaving the hospital. This exam rules out any major, obvious problems that can be visible at birth. From that time on a child is examined during well-baby and well-child checks by the pediatrician. In the United States almost all schools test vision at some time around the beginning of first grade and then every few years after that.

While this is wonderful for screening purposes, the doctors at Skyvision Centers feel very strongly that EVERY child should have a complete eye exam performed by an eye doctor, either an ophthalmologist or an optometrist, before starting kindergarten or first grade. If there is a history of eye problems like amblyopia (lazy eye) in the family, an exam at age three should be performed. Children without any eye problems who do not need to wear glasses should then be examined at school junctures: grade school to middle school, middle school to high school, high school to college.

Every day we see an adult who hasn't had an eye exam since leaving high school! Adults under the age of 40 should have a complete exam at least every 4 or 5 years. At the age of 40 there are some eye diseases and problems that start to develop that don't have any symptoms. We suggest that adults between 40 and 60 get an exam every 2 years. After age 60 EVERYONE should have a complete exam every year!

So there you have it, a roadmap to healthy eyes over your lifetime, courtesy of Skyvision Centers and Dr. White's dentist!

Contact Lens Cardinal Rules

We are HUGE fans of contact lenses here at Skyvision Centers! Like most really good things, though, there are some rules to follow in order to get the most out of your contacts. Here are our "Cardinal Rules"!

1) Everyone who wears contact lenses needs to have a back up pair of glasses that they can wear to do regular things like drive a car. The biggest risk factor for complications from wearing contacts is actually not owning a pair of glasses because people who don't will continue to wear contacts when they shouldn't!

2) Everyone who wears contact lenses needs to see someone who knows how to examine the front of the eye at least once every year. There can be hidden complications or problems caused by your contacts that can only gbe picked up by an eye doctor during an examination.

3) If you have a red or a painful eye you need to take your contact lenses out and bring your contacts AND YOUR EYE to that same eye doctor who knows what they are doing!

Dr. White likes today that there is a rule "3 1/2" for kids: no kid should where a contact lens overnight! No matter what type of contact lens is prescribed a child should sleep WITHOUT wearing contact lenses.

And there you go! Cardinal rules for safe and happy contact lens wear courtesy of Skyvision Centers.