In my first year of optometry school, as part of the practical portion of our studies, we used to do vision screenings on kids in elementary schools around Boston. So picture me, the tall optometric freshman, kneeling down to examine the eyes of this adorable little 6 year old girl when she steps back and […]
LIKE PULLING TEETH
A couple of months ago, I had the wonderful pleasure of attending the American Academy of Optometry’s annual conference in Boston. I had the chance to reconnect with a lot of classmates and friends, as well as visit my school and attend lectures at the meeting. One evening, as we were enjoying a night out on […]
CONTACT LENS ADDICTS
Yesterday I had the not so pleasant experience of having to scare one of my patients out of wearing contact lenses. It inspired me to write a little about contact lenses and those who (over)wear them. It has occurred to me, over the past year or so, that some patients are addicted to wearing contact lenses. […]
DO CUCUMBERS HELP DARK CIRCLES AROUND YOUR EYES?
Numerous times in my life, mostly in my teens, I had people approach me and ask me if I had been in a fight or punched in the face for some reason. Most of the time, the answer was no. At first I wondered why people kept asking me this question? I soon realized that, […]
SUNBURN IN YOUR EYES?
Many people, especially those of us who are pigmenatally-challenged (not to be mistaken with people who are pigmentally-confused… urbandictionary.com), have suffered from the occasional sunburn. You get it on your shoulders, your back, even your face. But what about on or inside your eye? Yes, it can happen. Photokeratitis, aka Solar keratitis, is basically sunburn of the cornea (the clear dome […]
SNOOP DOC AND DR. DRE, OD – MARIJUANA AND GLAUCOMA
DISCLAIMER: Marijuana laws are a little more lenient now than they were when this blog was originally written… Maybe a little more than a little more lenient, considering there’s a medical marijuana “clinic” on every other block in Vancouver these days. Nonetheless, I decided to leave the blog in its original form out of respect […]
IS READING IN THE DARK BAD FOR YOUR EYES?
I get asked about this almost every day at work. Will it make my eyes worse? Is it why my eyes feel tired? Should I turn the lights up? No. Probably. Yes. Our eyes have to work to focus every time we are reading or looking at things up close. It’s called accomodation. Little muscles inside […]
LIL’ WAYNE AND CATARACTS
“You can’t see me baby boy, you got them cataracts” – Lil’ Wayne in Best Rapper Alive Who said rap music is bad for you? I think its educational! Lil’ Wayne may not know exactly what a cataract is, but he definitely has the right idea. A cataract is the clouding of the lens that […]
COMPUTER VISION SYNDROME
I have a lot of patients who come in with complaints of eye strain while on the computer, while at work and home. This is a condition referred to as Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS). What causes CVS? 1) Need glasses? Uncorrected refractive error (see: All Kinds of Blurry) can make viewing the computer monitor very uncomfortable. 2) […]
VISINE
Picture this: You’re eyes are a little irritated, possibly even a little red. You’re not sure why this is happening, but you figure an eye drop could help. You walk into the eye drops section in the pharmacy and you’re bombarded by about 131,239 different types of eye drops that tell you they do all sorts […]