Annual Eye Examinations proven to save businesses money.

Annual Eye Examinations proven to save businesses money.
According to several vision care giants “annual eye exams may save businesses nearly $3 billion annually by detecting chronic disease and referring patients for early “intervention”. Vision Service Plan (VSP) states that businesses that offer eye care benefits realize these savings through lower health plan benefit disability, and employee termination costs due to early detection of diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol.

Video Games Increase Real-World Vision

According to research in Nature Neuroscience, Daphne Bavelier (professor of brain and cognitive sciences at University of Rochester), has discovered that very practiced action gamers become 58% better at perceiving fine differences in contrast. Their findings were that action video games train the brain to process the existing visual information more efficiently, and the improvements last for months after game play stopped.

Ultraviolet Eye Safety

We protect our skin with sunscreen, but what about our eyes?? UV radiation, whether from the sunlight or artificial UV rays, can damage the eye’s surface tissues as well as the cornea and lens. Short term effects of UV radiation include photokeratitis (inflammation of the cornea) which can be painful and create symptoms such as red eyes, foreign body sensation or gritty feeling in the eyes, extreme sensitivity to light and excessive tearing. The long term effects of UV rad iation include cataracts, retinal effects (macular degeneration??), pterygium ( a growth “invading” the cornea from conjunctiva) and pinguecula (yellowish, slightly raised lesion that forms on the conjunctiva). To provide protection for your eyes, your sunglasses should:
1) block out 99 to 100% of both UV-A and UV-B radiation
2) screen out 75 to 90 percent of visible light
3) be perfectly matched in color and free of distortion and imperfection
4) have lenses that are gray for proper color recognition

Glaucoma Caused by Genetic Teamwork

Researchers have found that glaucoma seems to be caused by two, or more, mutated genes working together. There has been a long suspected link between glaucoma and gene WDR36. Work at the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Alberta suggests that there must be several different genes that need to change in order for WDR36 to cause the disease. WDR36 plays a role in ribosome RNA creation normally. Glaucoma happens when WDR36 isn’t producing ribosomes properly. Researchers hope that by further understanding genetic causes of glaucoma, they might be able to prevent it.

Eye related diseases are related to blood vessel changes

The vision-robbing diseases of the eyes that come with age (glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, etc.) are all, in a way, related to the depletion of the nutrients the blood carries to the blood vessels of the eye, as well as the deterioration of the vessels themselves. The overall effect can be damage to the retina and optic nerve. When it comes to protecting from this damage a healthy lifestyle and yearly eye exams is the best offense to what can be devastating circumstances.

Presbyopia and Contact Lenses

Presbyopia (loss of focusing happening over 40 years of age) is guaranteed to happen so what’s new in contact lens treatment?? Go to www.goodbyereaders.com for information about presbyopia and multifocal contact lenses.

Study links Flomax to cataract

Study links Flomax to cataract surgery complications
According to a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association older men using Flomax (tamsulosin hydrochloride) are more than twice as likely to suffer serious complications following cataract surgery. These complications include floppy iris syndrome which induces dislocation of the implant.

Study of near stereo acuity

Study of near stereo acuity in youth baseball/softball players and non-ball players
Although many aspects of vision have been investigated in professional baseball players, few studies have been performed in developing athletes. The purpose of this study was to determine if youth baseball/softball players have better stereo acuity than non-ball players. The study was of 17 male baseball players (19-24 years old) and 25 male graduate students (23-29 years old) and they found that youth baseball players had statistically significant better stereo acuity than non-ball players.

Eye related diseases

Eye related diseases are related to blood vessel changes
The vision-robbing diseases of the eyes that come with age (glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, etc.) are all, in a way, related to the depletion of the nutrients the blood carries to the blood vessels of the eye, as well as the deterioration of the vessels themselves. The overall effect can be damage to the retina and optic nerve. When it comes to protecting from this damage a healthy lifestyle and yearly eye exams is the best offense to what can be devastating circumstances.

Glaucoma

Most people believe that glaucoma is a disease of eye pressure. There is basically a triad of findings that “point to” a diagnosis of glaucoma. The three variables include eye pressure (intraocular pressure), visual fields and the appearance of the optic nerve (the nerve that “carries” visual impulses to the brain). If a patient has one of three of these variables it is not necessarily a diagnosis of glaucoma.