Eye Health Throughout Life: Part 2

Tips for Healthy Eyes in Kids, Teenagers, and Adults:

  • Limit screen time to 1 hour per day to limit eye strain (If you have teenagers in the house prepare for a dirty look when you give them a time restriction)

  • Wear protective eyewear when playing sports or working with power tools

  • Avoid smoking

  • Wear sunglasses when outside - Even if it’s overcast wear your sunglasses, up to 80% of UV rays can pass through clouds

  • Wash hands and contact lenses thoroughly - Better yet, use daily disposable contacts to avoid eye infections caused by not cleaning your lenses or case properly

  • Exercise everyday to increase circulation

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Teri Hines
Eye Health Throughout Life: Part 1

Hi there,

Dr. Teri Hines from View Optometry and Dr. Annie Savage from Bay Wellness Centre here.  To celebrate National Nutrition Month we have teamed up to create a series of blog posts regarding eye health throughout your lifespan! We created 3 articles that we’re going to post weekly in March about eye development and eye health. We’re really excited to be working together to provide well-rounded preventive care to our patients and our audiences. We’ll start by explaining how the eye works, then move throughout the stages of life regarding eye health. We’ve provided nutrition tips and preventive care at each stage! Welcome to part one.

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Teri Hines
What Are Ocular Migraines?

I regularly see patients who have experienced an ocular migraine.  The patient is often unsure about what happened to their vision and think that they may have had a retinal detachment.

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Teri Hines
Diabetes And The Eyes

Diabetes and its complications can affect not only your vision, but the delicate structures inside your eye. Diabetes can cause fluctuating blood sugar which in turn can cause fluctuating vision. However, the most serious eye problem associated with diabetes is diabetic retinopathy.

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Teri Hines
Glaucoma vs. Cataracts

First medical visits always include the same questions, how old are you, what is your phone number, what is your address, do you have your care card and last but not least, what is your family history? We do realize it’s a lot of questions to ask you and understand that it does get tiring after a while but asking about family history is an important part of a comprehensive exam since many eye diseases run in families. Here’s two examples: Glaucoma and cataracts. Chances are many of you have heard both terms used before but people get them confused for one another almost 100% of the time! In this blog I would like to explain the difference. 

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Teri Hines
The eyes can tell you a lot about your general health

I’m a “House” fan, hopefully some of you reading this are too, if you watch this show regularly you might’ve noticed that eye health signs and symptoms are a recurring theme.  This is because the eyes can tell us a lot about a person’s general health.  Many people are aware of this but most people aren’t sure what we are looking for.

Lets break this down from the front of the eye to the back…

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Teri Hines
Red or Irritated Eyes

Ever woken up to find your eye swollen and red? Chances are you probably made a beeline straight to your doctor’s office or even the hospital! Many people visit the emergency room or their general practitioner if they have an irritated or red eye.  What they don’t know is that most ER and GP offices are not fully equipped to determine what type of eye problem you are having and going to either location is probably only going to result in a sore derrière from waiting around just to get in. An eye specialist, such as your local optometrist, is the best initial person to diagnose and determine treatment for your eye condition.

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Teri Hines
Dry Eyes

Everyday we see at least one patient with dry eyes.  There are steps you can take to alleviate some of the symptoms.

Most people think that tears are just water, this is not true.  Tears are complex structures with three layers: a mucus layer to help keep the tears on the eye, a water layer, and an outer lipid layer to prevent tears from evaporating.  Treatment will depend on which layer you are deficient in.

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Teri Hines
"I see spots in my vision"

We really only like to see the spots on Dalmatian dogs or even cheetahs, however seeing spots in your vision is not something that we’d like to experience. A common patient concern that comes to my office regularly is “I see spots in my vision”.  Some important things for you to note are…

  1. Which eye do you see the spots in?
  2. How many spots are there?
  3. When did you first start noticing the spots?
  4. Are the spots getting worse or better?
  5. Do you or did you see flashes of light? –> more urgency if you answered yes
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Teri Hines
Why do eye exams range in cost? Aren't they all the same?

Not all eye exams are created equally.  At our office we provide the latest technology for all our patients and spend an ample amount of time explaining our findings to our patients.  If another office offers a lowered rate then someone else it may be because you have to pay extra to get a retinal photo done or they have 15 minute eye exams while others have 30 minutes. 

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Teri Hines
I can't see my cellphone anymore

Everyone hates to hear that they are now at an age where they can benefit from reading glasses or progressive lenses.  Have no fear, this is a natural process… all your friends will need glasses for near soon too!  The medical term for this is presbyopia.

As our eyes age the lens inside the eye continues to grow, eventually the lens starts to get too dense and loses the flexibility that it once had.  That flexibility is what allows us to focus at different distances.  The lens eventually gets stuck in the distance position and we need reading glasses to make up the power difference that is required to see things clearly that are closer than arms length.

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Teri Hines
Laser Eye Surgery

I was considering getting laser eye surgery for many years and in January 2016 I finally did it.  In this blog I will share some information about laser eye surgery and some tips based on my experience.

There are two types of procedures you will have to choose between when getting laser eye surgery; LASIK (Laser Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis) or PRK (Photorefractive Keratectomy).  I chose to do PRK.

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Teri Hines