Protect Your Eyesight - Vodka Eyeballing

Whether you have glasses, contacts, or 20/20 vision after LASIK, it’s very important to protect your eyes. The University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology reports an estimate of “… 1.1 to 2.4 million eye injuries occur each year, and about 42,000 of these injuries require hospitalization.”

While accidents are common for eye injuries, some younger people intentionally put their eyes at risk in a new drinking game called Vodka Eyeballing.

Yes, you read that right.

People are actually drinking through their eyes, in an attempt to get drunk faster. With Vodka Eyeballing, a person will take a bottle of vodka and put the opening up to their eye and pour the vodka directly onto the eye. The idea is that the alcohol will be absorbed through the eye and into the bloodstream faster than drinking it. However, there are no actual facts that prove this is the case.

The eye can only absorb a very limited amount of alcohol. The actual alcohol can do more damage and harm to your eyesight – burning through your cornea and causing permanent damage. Repeated often enough, the alcohol may even cause permanent blindness.

While not all eye-related injuries can be avoided, this is one instance where it can be.

Fears and Misconceptions of Vision Correction – Losing Your Vision

Glasses and contacts have their benefits – mainly helping people with refractive errors see clearly. Since the late 90’s, lasers have been used to correct these refractive errors in very safe and effective ways. Procedures such as LASIK and PRK have been providing patients with clear vision for over 15 years now. However, many people continue to put up with the inconveniences of glasses and contacts because they have fears or misconceptions about laser vision correction, like LASIK.

One of the most common fears of laser vision correction is losing vision as a result of the procedure. This fear comes from not understanding how your eye works and how specifically laser vision correction works.

How LASIK Works

There are three main parts to the human eye: the cornea, the lens, and the retina. In normal vision, the cornea refracts (bends) light so it can be directed correctly through the lens and onto the retina. The retina works as a transmitter to transfer the message to your brain, where it processes the message to tell you what you are looking at. Refractive errors – nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism – are caused by the cornea being slightly misshapen. LASIK utilizes cool lasers to reshape the curve of the cornea so you can have normal, clear, vision.

Prior to surgery, Dr. Wright or Dr. Fromm will map out your specific eye and plan out exactly how to correct your vision. They will then program this plan into the laser, ensuring that the correct amount of your cornea is altered.

There are risks associated with laser vision correction, mainly dry eye. It is essential to ensure that you are an excellent candidate prior to receiving treatment, to give you the best results possible.

Officially there is no reported case of a patient losing their eyesight from LASIK.

To find out more about LASIK, including risk information, see our website. To schedule a Free LASIK Consultation, give us a call today at 877-576-0202.

Women – More Susceptible to Vision Problems than Men

According to Prevent Blindness America, “Every year, more women than men are diagnosed with eye diseases and conditions such as cataracts, dry eye, Fuchs’ dystrophy, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and Sjögren’s syndrome. The “Vision Problems in the U.S.” study from Prevent Blindness America (PBA) and the National Eye Institute (NEI) shows that of the more than 3.6 million Americans age 40 and older who suffer from visual impairment, including blindness, 2.3 million are women” (Women Must Take Steps to Avoid Vision Loss, March 27, 2012).

Hereditary diseases aside, these problems are often caused by hormones, or the fluctuations in hormones like pregnancy or menopause. Sometimes they can even be triggered by birth control, which is a hormone regulating medication. Even keeping your eye makeup for too long can cause problems with your eyes.

At Wright Vision Center, we recommend to our female patients that they pay close attention to their eyesight while pregnant, when changing prescription pills or going on new medication, and to switch out their makeup every six months to a year. If you feel that your glasses or contacts are not helping as much as they used to, make sure to have an eye exam. Mention to your doctor any new prescription changes so that he may accurately diagnose the underlying issue. 

Your eyes are how you see the world. Keep them in great health.

Why Your Eye Surgeon Needs to be Local - Part 1

Corporate medicine has its benefits and its downfalls. In regards to the refractive surgery field, there are more downfalls to a corporate practice than there are benefits. But first, let’s take a look at what the difference is between a local ophthalmology practice and a corporate one.

Local Ophthalmology Practice

A local ophthalmology practice is one that has one or just a few locations, all found within the same state, the same geographical region. The doctors and staff are all from the area as well. 

Local practices are usually owned by the doctor or surgeon, or a small group of doctors or surgeons. They are responsible for all of the decisions regarding staffing, technology, services offered, and everything else that is included with their particular practice.

Corporate-Owned Ophthalmology Practice

A corporate-owned ophthalmology practice is one that has multiple locations, usually nationwide. These practices are run through a company, which is run by a board of directors. They often only offer one or two services, usually just LASIK, and maybe PRK. They employ thousands of doctors and traditionally these doctors work at multiple locations. They travel to different locations, perform surgery and then travel to another location. Some doctors even travel to different states just to perform surgeries.

All decisions are made by a board of directors, not the staff or doctors working in each particular location.

The Difference

So what’s the difference? Why should you choose one location over the other?

Doctor Availability

Perhaps the biggest factor in why you should really know the difference between the two types of ophthalmology practices is doctor availability. In a locally owned practice, the doctor lives in or near town. S/he works at the practice full-time and performs consultations, the planning of treatment, the surgery, and the post-operative follow-up exams on each patient that comes through the door. They have a relationship with their patients, and they are most likely there for anything the patient may need.

In a corporate practice, the doctor sees patients at multiple locations. S/he will fly in, review the chart and work-up of the patient without even meeting or personally examining the patient, perform the surgery, and then fly off. This means that the surgeon that performs your particular surgery is not available for pre-surgery exams, follow-up, or even during emergency-related issues that may have resulted from your surgery. They usually have an optometrist perform these tasks. An optometrist, while a perfectly capable doctor, is not trained in the actual performance of the surgery. If a complication arises that the optometrist is not qualified to respond to, where are you going to go? Who’s going to help?

Sometimes an optometrist refers a patient for LASIK. When this happens, the LASIK surgeon will perform the surgery and then refer you back to your optometrist for follow-up exams. This works well when you are referred to a local practice, so that your surgeon will still be available for any emergency issues that may arise.

So which would you prefer – a surgeon operating on your eyes, someone you’ve never met, who’s never actually seen your eyes and who won’t be around if you have an emergency? Or would you rather have someone who is local, available throughout the week, and who takes it as a personal responsibility to care for you and your eyesight?

Check back in next week when we continue this topic and discuss The Right Procedure for Your Eyes.