Hey! My Arms Shrunk!

We know what you're thinking...who shrunk my arms? It's happening a lot around the office at Skyvision Centers, too. We're all getting a little older  around here and it seems like there are a bunch of reading glasses lying around everywhere now. As a matter of fact, the only person in the office who can't seem to find Dr. White's readers is DR. WHITE!

Why do we start to have trouble reading when we get older? To answer that we have to go all the way back to age 2 or so. Almost all of us is born a little farsighted or hyperopic. We focus our eyes to overcome this little bit of farsightedness using the same muscles that we use to focus on objects up close. This muscular process is called ACCOMMODATION. When we look at things up close three things happen: our eyes come closer together, our pupils get smaller, and the lens inside our eyes gets fatter. We have massive powers of accommodation at age two and then we gradually lose those powers as wel get older.

The medical term for "Over 40 Eyes" is PRESBYOPIA. When we lose enough of our power of accommodation that we can no longer see things up close we become presbyopic. Of course your kids will just say you got old! Here's a LINK to the Eyemaginations video on presbyopia.

So what can we do? Well, there are a bunch of options, actually. If your eyes are health you can just buy reading glasses at the pharmacy. You might have a different prescription in each of your eyes, and if so your Skyvision Centers eye doctor can prescribe a pair of reading glasses that are specific to you. Many of us need to wear glasses to see things far away--a pair of bifocals takes care of the up-close problem. Bifocal contact lenses are available, and you can even correct your vision with something called MONOVISION, with one eye corrected for near and one eye corrected for far vision.

Whew! That's a lot of options! Don't worry...we'll have lots of answers for you in future posts, and of course,  you can go to the SkyVisionCenters101 YouTube channel see several "Dr. Whiteboard" videos about bifocals!

LASIK Volume and the Economy

In the United States there have been two disasters that had a major effect on the number of LASIK surgeries that were performed at the time. September 11, 2001 was the first, and the devastation of the housing market and resulting Great Recession that began in August of 2008. An interesting observation was made before and after both of these events: LASIK volume in the U.S. tracks almost exactly with the Consumer Confidence Index!

It's really an amazing statistic when you think of all the incredible advances that have occurred in Laser Vision Correction since the introduction of the first Excimer lasers in 1994. Treatment of Astigmatism. Pupil trackers to increase accuracy. The "Flying Spot" laser that allowed treatments in the peripheral as well as central cornea. Custom Laser to treat Higher Order Aberrations. Iris Recognition to correct for the natural rotation of the eye when we lie down. Not a single one of them has had an effect on the number of LASIK surgeries done in the U.S.!

LASIK is clearly one of the most successful, safest, most predictable elective procedures ever introduced in medical care. A study performed by the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ASCRS) found that more than 95% of patients who underwent LASIK  were satisfied, very satisfied, or extremely satisfied with their results. And most of the 5% who did not say they were satisfied DID say that they would do it again.

See what Nick Saban has to say! 
Nick Saban - football - and Lasik

So what are you waiting for?! If you live in Cleveland and you would like to have a chance to be free of glasses and contact lenses call Skyvision Centers today, visit our WEBSITE, or download our FREE APP on your Android or iPhone and make an appointment.

Dr. White talks about Lasik in his Dr. Whiteboard video here Intro to Lasik

See What's Next!

Astigmatism 101

What is Astigmatism? It's a funny word, isn't it? Lots of people think the word is "stigmatism" and that you have "a stigmatism". That of course means that you could have one or more "stigmatisms", but that's not really how it works!

Astigmatism is an optical term that relates to how an optical system focuses, or doesn't focus, light. In our situation the optical system is the eye! There are three different parts of the eye that make up the focusing elements of our vision system: the TEAR FILM that sits on the very surface of the eye (that's why Dry Eye causes vision problems!), the CORNEA or window to the eye, and the LENS that sits in back of the pupil. Astigmatism is present when the combination of these pieces parts creates two or more focused images from a beam of light.

Most of the time astigmatism is caused by the shape of the CORNEA. In a normal eye, one without astigmatism, the cornea is like the front of a sphere; it's round like a basketball or a soccer ball. A cornea that has astigmatism is longer in one direction than the other. It's STEEPER in one direction and FLATTER in the other. In other words the astigmatic cornea is shaped like a football instead of a basketball.

Whether you are nearsighted or farsighted, if you have astigmatism you will have at least two images focused in the eye. There are lots of ways to correct this, and we'll talk about all of them as time goes on. Be sure to check here, and watch for the videos on the Dr. Whiteboard over on Youtube for more info on ASTIGMATISM.

Why Does Dr. White Wear A Bowtie?

We recently asked Dr. White why he wears a bowtie. Here’s what he said (after he stopped laughing!):

“Why a bowtie? Wow...it’s been so long I haven’t given all that much thought to that. When I was in medical school my wife and I cleaned out the bargain tie bin at a local department store that was going out of business. Silk ties for 2 and 3 bucks! When we got home we noticed two bowties in the mix. I happened to be on call the next night so Beth tied one for me to wear—bowties stay out of the way of all kinds of icky stuff you encounter in a hospital.

Well, as luck would have it, the most popular show on TV was “Hill Street Blues”, and one of the detectives wore a bowtie. Whenever Henry Goldblum got stressed his bowtie came undone. Of course, my wiseguy fellow med students thought it would be fun to untie MINE...and I didn’t know how to tie it yet! Sooo, three hours in front of a mirror later and I was an expert on bowtie tying.

I must have gotten good feedback about the bowtie as a resident because I found myself wearing it more and more. Not everyone at NYU knew Dr. White the ophthalmology resident, but everyone knew Dr. Bowtie the eye doctor! Now if I go someplace without a bowtie I’m almost invisible.”

So there you have it, why Dr. White wears a bowtie. If you’re interested Dr. White gets his bowties from Beau Ties Ltd. in Vermont, and leeallison.com in Chicago.