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 […]
STYE IN MY EYE
What is a Stye? A stye is basically a blocked gland in the eyelid which becomes infected. Kind of like getting a pimple on the eyelid. Bacteria, skin cells, and oil can cause the blockage. The medical term for a stye is Hordeolum. They tend to be painful and they can be either internal or external. […]
LAZY EYE
“Contrary to what some believe, a lazy eye is not one that doesn’t like to wake up and go to work in the morning.” – Anonymous Eye Doctor with a sense of humour The medical term for Lazy Eye is Amblyopia So why do eyes become lazy? The brain is very picky! When it is […]
CONTACT LENSES
They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colours… Soft contact lenses (SCL):These are the most common and they are disposable. This means that after wearing the lenses for a period of time, they are disposed of and a new, fresh pair is used Lenses can be monthly (ex. Air Optix, Frequency 55, Proclear, […]
WHY DON’T MY GLASSES HELP?
Last week, I had a patient (let’s call her Mary) come to see me because she noticed that she was having difficulty seeing the board at the front of the class clearly. Mary was in her early 30s and mentioned she had worn glasses for a little while as a teen but never thought they […]
ALL KINDS OF BLURRY
In my very first post I wrote a little about myopia, which is near-sightedness. Here we’ll discuss all the other “-opias” and “-isms” that can make your vision blurry. They are generally referred to as “refractive errors”. A quick review of Myopia. It is due the eye being longer than average. So, rather than an image […]
WHAT DOES 20/20 MEAN?
This week’s topic is something I get asked almost everyday. Unfortunately, the answer is never as simple as it may seem. I will do my best to explain it here. Simple definition: 20/20 is the size of letter that the average person should be able to see when fully corrected (assuming that there are no visual opacities […]
WHY RUBBING YOUR EYES IS BAD FOR YOU
Everyone knows you’re not supposed to. But why? Short-term: Rubbing your eyes when they’re itchy or irritated can cause break down of the cells within the eyelids and on the surface of the eye ball. This releases more histamines which make the itchiness worse. Also, rubbing can cause breakage of small blood vessels in the […]
THE DREADED AIR PUFF TEST
Almost everyone who has seen an Optometrist recently has had to endure the excruciating agony of a “gentle puff of air” to their eyes. But why?! Purpose: A screening test for glaucoma Measures the pressure inside your eyeball Increased pressure inside the eye can lead to glaucoma Technical term for the air puff is Non-Contact Tonometry FAQ:Q: […]
COLOUR BLINDNESS
Most people have heard of Rods and Cones in our eyes Cones are for color and Rods are for night vision There are 3 kinds of Cones: red, green, and blue Cones don’t actually sense color, they sense wavelengths of light and these are translated by the brain in to colors Its actually very rare for a person to be color “blind” […]
