Trifocals are a new group of special reading glasses which have three divisions on the lenses for correcting vision. It is different from traditional bifocals which have only two such divisions. The lower sections of the lens of trifocals are demarcated by a thin line which is a semi circular arc. One area is for near and the other for intermediate vision correction. And the part for intermediate rectification lies above the nearsighted correction area which is near the bottom of the lens. For those who used to wear bifocals may think it is strange to reading with glasses having three lines etched on it. As trifocals are new to most of people, it actually did need time for patient who uses this type of glasses to adjust to them. However, once you used to wear them, you will find it pretty easy to use and it is more convenient than bifocals.

After eye exam by the eye doctor, those people with extreme presbyopia, which means their net optical power with a special unit of diopter is very high, will be recommended to use trifocals. Because, unlike bifocals, trifocals can correct all ranges of vision, from nearby, intermediary to far distance, when bifocals can correct only two of them, either near vision or distance vision. Since trifocals can offer three levels of correction, it can give you a better vision. So, if you are one of the extreme presbyopia, you will get the better and more clarified vision when you use trifocals.

Trifocals are not only for those who have extreme presbyopia, it can also correct intermediate distance which can’t be provided by bifocals. For example, if your have a vision of -4 diopters, usually you will be recommended to use a glasses with a correction of 3 units, which means you vision is -1 diopter when you wear your reading glasses. The intermediate correction for such situation may be end up with a power of -2.5, which may take patients a little time to get used to it.

So with a single pair of trifocals, you can solve all problems that are related to presbyopia.

Also named nearsightedness, myopia is so common today that it is estimated to affect one-third of the population in the world. In contrast to hyperopia which deprive people from close vision, people with myopia can see up-close objects but can not manage distance things such as highway signs.

Similar with hyperopia, myopia also involves irregular eyeball shape. People with myopia have longer eyeballs than normal people, so that light rays are focused in front of the retina. Normal vision requires a light focus right on the retina.

Without proper correction, myopic people always squint to see distance objects and may suffer from headache and eye strain. Those wearing glasses or contact lenses with improper prescription are also bothered by these symptoms. As people age, myopia will stop progressing and become stable, although sometimes it performs myopic creep.

Whether you need full-time eyeglasses or contact lenses wearing depends on your degree of myopia. People with myopia have prescriptions with negative numbers, and a higher number represents a heavier myopia.

Refractive surgeries are becoming popular since they can reshape the cornea of myopic patients and eliminate the need for glasses. PRK and LASIK are two of the available refractive surgeries, both of which use an excimer laser. While a PRK just removes a layer of corneal tissue and flattens the cornea, a LASIK involves a flap cut through the top of the cornea.

For night wear, special contact lenses applying orthokeratology (ortho-k) can reshape the cornea over time and provide clear vision during daytime without lenses or glasses. As implantable lenses, phakic IOLs can deal with special situations that are beyond LASIK and PRK. These IOLs are permanently placed in the eye during the surgery, eliminating any maintenance.

There is also pathologic myopia, which is extremely severe and can not be corrected by any of the above treatments. This type of myopia occurs in children with extremely elongated eyeball by age 12. The situation will worsen as children age and unfortunately develop abnormal growth of new blood vessels. There was no effective treatment during a long period until the approval of drug Visudyne along with non-thermal laser application in 2001. This treatment named photodynamic therapy has been proved to be effective.

Bausch & Lomb lens is Bausch & Lomb’s most leading business division, which contributes most in Bausch & Lomb’s business.  With the advanced technology and considerable concerns for people’s health and comforts, Bausch & Lomb contact lenses enjoy the favor of people not only in the US, but all over the world. Customers can always find a style of Bausch & Lomb lens to satisfy their different needs and problems of their eyes.

There are traditional, disposable, multifocal, and toric soft contact lenses as well as rigid gas permeable (RGP) contact lenses available in the family of Bausch & Lomb contact lenses. So we can see in Bausch & Lomb lens, you can have a wide various choice to choose for the most suitable one.

“Boston” range is a famous line of Bausch & Lomb contact lens. This Bausch & Lomb lens has a super higher oxygen permeability and leads to enjoyable comforts for people and especially good for people with sensitive or dry eyes. And you even can not imagine that you can wear this kind of Bausch & Lomb for 30 days without taking them out during night, which indeed save you a lot of efforts. Besides, it also has the outstanding traits just like other Bausch & Lomb contact lenses.

Purevision is one of Bausch & Lomb lens’ new brands, which can also offer people with 30-day continuous wearing by breakthrough technology. This kind of Bausch & Lomb contact lens combines silicone for high oxygen permeability and hydrogel for excellent fluid transport to provide people with super comforts. Once wear it, you will enjoy the feeling of wearing Bausch & Lomb lens and wearing contact lens can not be troublesome any more.

Millions of people across the world need assistance in order to see clearly, but there has never been a way to provide affordable eyeglasses to the poor – until now. A British scientist has developed inexpensive glasses that can be easily adjusted by the wearer to their own prescription.

Josh Silver, a professor of physics at Oxford University, came up with the novel idea to fill thick, durable plastic lenses with a pair of clear circular sacks filled with fluid. Each sac is connected to a small syringe located on either arm of the eyeglasses.

The wearer simply adjusts a dial on the syringe to add or reduce the amount of fluid in the membranes, which changes the power of the lens. Then, each lens is sealed by twisting a small screw and removing the syringes.

Silver’s team has already distributed 30,000 pairs of glasses in 15 countries, but within the next year they hope to launch a trial in India which will distribute up to 1 million additional pairs. The team’s ultimate goal is to give 100 pairs to needy people across the world every year.

The glasses are a bit clunky in design, but Silver hopes to fix that, and is also working to get the cost of each pair around $1 each.

Even with Silver taking no profits, the cost of the program will be immense considering his lofty goals – but he’s confident that once people see that it works, things will work out naturally. And for the people that can suddenly perform everyday tasks with ease thanks to Silver’s invention, the program is priceless.

“The reaction is universal,” says Kevin White, who organized the distribution of thousands of Silver’s glasses.

“People put them on, and smile. They all say, ‘Look, I can read those tiny little letters.’”

Article from:abordglassesblog.blogspot.com

Eye is one of the most important organs for every individual so that protecting your eyes from injuries is quite necessary. There are some ways to offer eye protection such as safety goggles or eyeglasses. However, eye injuries still happen quite often. This article is a guide to common eye injuries.

Poke in the eye and eye rubbing in the present of a foreign body may lead to corneal abrasions (scratched eye). You should see an eye doctor immediately once you realize an eye scratch and have severe light sensitivity. You should simply keep your scratched eye closed and never rub it on the way to your doctor’s. Some sources such as a baby’s fingernails and tree branches can bring infection to your scratched eyes, leading to serious harm within as few as 24 hours. Scratched eyes are always fragile and susceptible to infections.

Another type of dangers come from penetrating or foreign objects in the eye. Foreign bodies such as metal or a fish hook may penetrate your eye, which requires an immediate visit to an urgent care center. The object should be removed by an eye doctor to prevent potential rust ring and a significant scar.

Splashed or sprayed eye by substances can be scary, even though not all substances will cause serious injury. Acids in chemicals only cause eye burning and redness, which can be washed out easily. If you are splashed by alkali substances such as oven cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners and even chalk dust, the consequence can be more serious, even though no eye symptom appears immediately. If the condition is not so serious, you can wash your sprayed eye using warm tap water for about 15 minutes or get detail instruction from an eye doctor before rinsing. For a severe condition, you should go to your eye doctor or an emergency room after a quick rinsing. Consequences for chemical exposures vary from minor irritation to severe eye damage and even blindness.

People struck by a speedy object such as a baseball may result in eye swelling and a simple black eye. An ice pack is usually used as an immediate treatment.

Also named eye bleeding, a subconjunctival hemorrhage always looks very serious. This actually quite common eye injury starts at a small part of the eye and extends over the entire eye. This eye injury requires no treatment and causes no vision damage. Traumatic iris may be caused by a poke in the eye or a blunt blow to the eye by a hand or a ball, which needs medical treatment.

Based on the severity of an eye injury, there are different treatments such as simple eye flushing with water or saline solution and even a surgery. With any eye injury, you should ask your doctor for help or advice. In case of any emergency, you should keep your eye doctor’s emergency contact numbers.

U.S. researchers report the drug rituximab helped six patients with Graves’ eye disease.

The study, published in the journal Ophthalmology, said the drug was used only after the patients did not respond to usual treatment.

One of the study researchers, Dr. Raymond S. Douglas of the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor, said Graves’ eye disease — an autoimmune disease with inflammation and fatty deposits in the eye muscles and connective tissue around the eye — is more common in women than men. Symptoms include bulging eyes, retracted eyelids, dry eyes, and, in severe cases, loss of vision.

Douglas, who was at the University of California-Los Angeles when he treated the study participants, said while the results from such a small number must be viewed with some caution, the substantial benefits seen in these patients provide good reason to do a large-scale clinical trial.

“These patients had already received the maximum level of steroid treatment,” Douglas said in a statement. “Treatment with rituximab calmed inflammation, stopped progression of the disease, and saved the patients from having to undergo surgery.”

How much fat you eat and of what kind, may affect your risk of age-related vision loss.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is caused by abnormal blood vessel growth behind the retina or breakdown of certain cells within the retina itself. Cigarette smoking and heart disease both influence AMD risk, but the role of diet is less clear. Few studies investigating fat intake and AMD have looked at the earlier stages of the disease, or evaluated diet before AMD diagnosis.

To study the role of dietary fat in AMD, researchers looked at 1,787 women who were 50 to 79 years old when they entered the study, in 1994. All had reported their fat intake for 1994 through 1998, and all were tested for AMD between 2001 and 2004.

Overall, total fat intake had no influence on AMD risk. But when the researchers looked at women based on age, they found that for women younger than 75, those in the top fifth based on their fat intake were at 70 percent greater risk of intermediate AMD than those in the bottom fifth. The reverse was true in women 75 and older, with those who consumed the most fat at 50 percent lower AMD risk than those who consumed the least.

When the researchers looked at saturated fat, they found that higher intake boosted AMD risk in women younger than 75, but not in older women. Intake of omega-6 fatty acids, chiefly found in vegetable oils, was closely linked to omega-3 intake, with high consumption of both fatty acid types roughly doubling AMD risk. But higher monounsaturated fat intake was associated with lower AMD risk.

The above findings suggest that high fat intake can affect the risk of AMD, and high omega-6 intake may be particularly harmful, to the extent that it can “mask” any positive effects of omega-3 intake. Diets high in monounsaturated fatty acids may be protective.

Both pinguecula and pterygium occur on the surface of the sclera, so that many people are confused. In fact, these two eye problems are different in causes, symptoms and treatments.

Pingueculae are yellowish, slighted raised lesions on the sclera, while pterygia are wedge- or wing-shaped growths of benign fibrous tissue on it. Most pingueculae are found in the open space between eyelids, and pterygia may grow into cornea in extreme cases. Both of them are commonly related to overexposure to UV light, which is considered as a major contributor. Of course, these two eye problems can both affect people’s appearance.

In most cases, pingueculae and pterygia have no obvious symptoms. However, they have different signs in some cases. Irritation-caused pinguecula makes people feel something in the eye and some pingueculae may become swollen and inflamed, a condition named pingueculitis. Differently, some pterygia become red, large or thick. Large and advanced pterygia may cause corneal distortion and astigmatism.

Pinguecula and pterygium also have subtle differences in treatments, and they can both benefit from sunlight protection for eyes. Mild pingueculitis symptoms such as foreign body sensation can be eased by lubricating eye drops. Steroid eye drops or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs can be prescribed to relieve serious inflammation and swelling. And more severe conditions of pingueculae require surgical removal.

Treatments for pterygium depend on its size and symptom. For small or slightly inflamed pterygia, lubricants or a mild steroid eye drop is enough, while severe pterygium needs surgical removal. A pterygium procedure can be operated either in the doctor’s office or an operating room and involves various available techniques. An eyelid speculum help you open the eye during the removal process, which lasts less than an hour. Pterygia may reoccur even after a surgical removal at a chance between 3% and 40%. The surgeon may suture or glue a piece of surface eye tissue onto the affected area, in order to reduce the recurrence rate. Drugs such as mitomycin can also be prescribed to slow metabolic processes.

Danny Perez’s eyes opened wide in surprise as soon as his new glasses were perched on his nose.

“This looks blurry,” said the Townley Elementary fourth-grader as he removed and then replaced them. “But this really looks better.”

The new glasses, as well as eye exams, are part of the Kids Vision for Life program, which kicked off its Tarrant County initiative Tuesday in Everman. Organizers hope to screen 3,000 students in Everman before the end of the year.

The North Texas-based Alcon and Essilor Vision foundations are sponsoring the program, which screened 2,100 children in Dallas County last year and distributed hundreds of pairs of glasses. Local donor partners are being recruited among the business and education communities in the Fort Worth area.

Tuesday’s event was also the debut of the Mobile Vision Van, a combination exam room and lens lab that enables optometrists and lensmakers to screen students for vision problems, order lenses and fit frames, and send children home with new glasses during a single day.

“They are able to do a lot more than we can,” said Misty VanCampen, school nurse at Townley, the district’s newest campus, which opened in August. “At my school last year, we had over 800 students, and I had to personally screen half of them myself.”

VanCampen said the optometrists and other volunteers could check students for more serious degenerative eye diseases as well as common vision problems. Some 70 volunteers from among Alcon’s employees helped with the screenings, and optometrists donated their time.

Alcon Laboratories, a developer and maker of ophthalmic pharmaceuticals and equipment, has its national headquarters in Fort Worth. Essilor of America, an optical lens manufacturer, is based in Dallas.

Students are eligible for free glasses if they lack insurance coverage or have financial need, and the screenings will be conducted in all Everman elementary and intermediate schools three days a week through the end of the year. Organizers plan to extend the program to the Fort Worth school district and other Tarrant school systems.

“I didn’t know I needed glasses,” said Danny, who is 9 and was not shy about addressing the dignitaries earlier during the morning’s program. “Now I can get 100s almost every time.”

In recognition of professional excellence, the American Optometric Association’s Commission on Paraoptometric Certification recently announced that Jolie Christianson, Phoebe Lucey, Paula Morrow, BJ Hunter, and Denise Burtzlaff, of Advanced Eyecare in Hot Springs, have successfully completed the first level of AOA’s national paraoptometric certification program and have earned the title of Certified Paraoptometric (CPO).

The staff of Advanced Eyecare now joins the growing ranks of more than 6,000 certified paraoptometrics in the nation. They have proven the level of required knowledge of optometric practice in areas of practice management, anatomy of the eye, eye examinations, refractive status, ophthalmic prescription, ophthalmic lenses, ophthalmic dispensing, contact lenses, eye disorders and terminology.

All those that pass the CPO certification exam have also met the requirements of work and school experience and are required to attain continuing professional development to maintain their certification. AOA’s CPC program is the only professional certification for paraoptometrics that is recognized worldwide. The CPC exams are offered four times per year in February, April, August and December at 24 regional sites and at various state/regional meetings throughout the U.S. The American Optometric Association is the acknowledged leader and recognized authority for primary eye and vision care in the world. AOA’s mission is to advance the profession of optometry and serve optometrists in meeting the eye care needs of the public by centering on improving the quality and availability of eye and vision care. Optometrists and other professionals look to AOA for professional standards, research and education leadership, which serve to enhance and ensure competent, quality patient care.

Advanced Eyecare is owned by Dr. Dallas Wilkinson and is located at 103 N River Street in Hot Springs.