Blog Articles

Do you use makeup to accentuate your eyes? Whether your go-to style is a smoky eye or you prefer a more understated look, eye makeup mistakes could increase your risk of eye irritation, infection, or vision loss.

Will you be visiting the optometrist soon? During your next appointment with the eye doctor, you may want to ask a few of these questions.

Uveitis, a painful eye condition that affects the middle of the eye, can lead to vision loss if it's not treated in a timely manner. Fortunately, your optometrist can offer several treatments that will help reduce pain and preserve your vision.

Improving your eating habits offers benefits you may not have considered. In addition to reducing your risk of heart disease, lowering your cholesterol, and maintaining a healthy weight, good nutrition also helps you keep your eyes healthy.

Tears not only help you express emotions but also keep your eyes healthy. The constant moisture provided by tears is essential for eye comfort and clear vision.

Eyesight is a crucial, yet often overlooked, aspect of sports ability. Without good vision, scoring points, hitting balls, and fending off opponents becomes much more difficult.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), an eye condition common in older Americans, slowly damages your central and color vision. Signs and symptoms of the condition can be subtle at first and may not seem particularly alarming.

Germs look for the easiest way into your body, often entering through your eyes and other mucus membranes. Fortunately, taking a few simple steps to protect your eyes may reduce your chance of developing an illness or infection.

Have you been having trouble sleeping? Fatigue, concentration problems, and irritability aren't the only consequences of insomnia. Your eye health may also suffer if you can't fall asleep or stay asleep.

Smoking increases the likelihood of developing many types of health issues, including conditions and diseases that may affect your vision. If you are a smoker or live with someone who smokes, your eye health may be at risk.

Whether your child just started wearing glasses for the first time or recently got new glasses, getting used to a pair of glasses can take a little time. These four tips may help ease the adjustment process.

Using old makeup, forgetting to wear your sunglasses, or even rubbing your eyes could increase your risk of developing an eye injury, disease, or infection. Fortunately, it's easy to avoid many types of eye problems by making a few changes to your...

Have you noticed that your eyes become dry, itchy, or red when the temperature drops and cold winds blow? Winter weather can increase your risk of developing these four eye complaints.

No matter what your age, night driving can be a little challenging, whether you're driving around the corner or across the country. Low lighting, glare, and other factors may make it difficult to see clearly and react quickly to hazards.

Low vision affects close to 3 million Americans, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology. You may have low vision if you have vision loss that can't be improved with glasses, contact lenses, or surgery.

You may have inherited more than your hair color and height from your parents. The tendency to develop nearsightedness, glaucoma, lazy eye, and other conditions can also be passed from generation to generation.

Misinformation tends to be confused with fact the longer it circulates. Unfortunately, that often means that people don't have the information they need to make informed decisions about their general or visual health.

Do you know when you should call the eye doctor if you have eye pain? Waiting too long to seek treatment can prolong your pain and result in permanent vision loss in some cases.

Styes may not be very big, but they can certainly cause a significant amount of pain and discomfort. Fortunately, most styes go away in a few days with home treatment. If your stye lingers, your optometrist can offer treatments that will help.

Astigmatism causes blurred vision whether you're looking at an object that's close by or far away. Approximately 33 percent of the population is affected by astigmatism, according to the American Academy of Opthalmology.

Frame style isn't the only decision you'll need to make when selecting new eyeglasses. Once you've chosen a frame that complements your face, you'll need to consider which lens type best fits your lifestyle.

Colds and other viral infections don't just cause sneezing and coughing but they may also affect your eyes. If your eyes are red, uncomfortable, and won't stop watering, an eye cold may be to blame.

Do your eyes hurt when you spend too much time reading, playing digital games, or working on your computer? Headaches, blurry vision, and neck pain can be signs of eyestrain, as can light sensitivity, trouble concentrating, burning, sore, or itchy eyes.

Maintaining good vision can be as simple as visiting your optometrist for regular checkups and making a few important lifestyle changes. Healthy Vision Month, held every May, is the perfect time to prioritize your vision health.

Twitching eyelids are incredibly annoying, whether the problem only lasts an hour or continues for much longer. Determining the cause of your eyelid spasms can help you make a few changes that may prevent the twitching from happening again.

You may be ready for the summer, but are your eyes? Taking a few steps to protect your eyes can help you avoid painful injuries or conditions that may affect your vision. These four tips can improve your eye safety this summer.

Are you doing everything you can to protect your eyes? These five tips can help you improve your eye health. 1) Adopt a Hands-Off Policy. When your eyes are tired or itchy, rubbing them is a natural reaction.

Sore muscles aren't the only problem you may have if you spend hours looking at a computer screen, tablet or cellphone every day. Prolonged use of digital screens can also cause eye discomfort and may even affect your vision.

Do you know how to avoid common contact lens problems? Understanding how to properly use and care for your lenses will help you protect your eyes and ensure that your lenses remain clear and comfortable.

Did your parents or grandparents joke that they couldn't read the type in a book or on the back of a medicine bottle because their arms were suddenly too short? Once you pass age 40, you just may find yourself complaining about the same problem.

Vision changes drastically in the first months of your child's life. Although the world looks a little hazy to a newborn, a baby's eyesight begins to sharpen in just a few weeks. As your child grows, improvements in visual ability continue to occur.

Digital eye strain, also called computer vision syndrome, is a condition that often affects people who work or play on laptops, tablets, smartphones, e-readers, and other digital devices. Whether you use a laptop or tablet at work, or your screen time...

Work-related eye injuries affect more than 2,000 people every day and cause temporary or permanent vision loss in 10 to 20 percent of all cases, according to Prevent Blindness. Unfortunately, injuries aren't the only eye problems you may experience on...

Sneezing, congestion, post-nasal drip, and hives aren't the only symptoms of allergies. Your allergies can also affect your eyes, causing a range of uncomfortable symptoms.

Some New Year's resolutions are easier to fulfill than others. Even if you aren't able to add a checkmark to "soar over the Italian countryside in a hot air balloon" this year, but you can certainly improve your vision with a visit to the optometrist in...

Have you ever tried to decipher your eyeglass prescription? Although the numbers and abbreviations written on the script may be meaningless to you, your prescription provides valuable information for the type of corrective lenses you'll need.

Have you noticed shadowy shapes drifting in and out of your field of vision lately? You may have floaters. Although floaters are usually harmless, they can be a sign of a serious eye condition in some cases.

Many “silent” diseases, such as glaucoma and diabetes, can only be detected through regular eye exams. When these conditions are discovered earlier rather than later, they become easier to treat or manage, allowing for better long-term preservation of...

Ophthalmology addresses the physiology, anatomy and diseases of the eyes. Pediatric ophthalmology focuses on the eyes of children. Pediatric ophthalmologists examine children’s eyes to see if they need corrective lenses or other treatments to improve...

Caused by the same irritants as hay fever, runny nose, coughing, and sneezing, eye allergies commonly affect those who suffer from other allergy symptoms. Not only do eye allergies cause discomfort, but they can also interfere with daily activities.

Learning disabilities may include dyslexia, math disorder, writing disorder, auditory processing deficits, or visual processing deficits. Although each child with a learning disability is unique, many also have associated visual problems.

Optometry warnings about the damaging effects of ultraviolet radiation on our eyes have not yet reached the degree of public awareness of that of skin damage. Yet, the sun can be just as damaging upon our eyes with unprotected exposure.

Colorful contact lenses definitely add a little extra flair to your costume if you're planning to be a zombie, vampire or other fictional creature for Halloween. Unfortunately, wearing over-the-counter lenses for just one evening could harm your eyes.

Fuchs' dystrophy (pronounced fooks DIS-truh-fee) is an eye disease characterized by degenerative changes to the cornea’s innermost layer of cells. The cause for Fuchs' dystrophy is not fully understood.

One of the leading causes of vision loss in people who are age 50 or older is age-related macular degeneration (AMD). This common eye condition leads to damage of a small spot near the center of the retina called the macula.

Diabetes is a condition that involves high blood sugar (glucose) levels. This can affect many parts of the body, including the eyes. One of the most common diabetic eye diseases is diabetic retinopathy, which is also a leading cause of blindness in...

Somewhere around the age of 40, most people’s eyes lose the ability to focus on close-up objects. This condition is called presbyopia. You may start holding reading material farther away, because it is blurry up close.

The only way to correct the clouded vision caused by advanced cataracts is surgical intervention. If you find yourself pursuing cataract surgery to remove one or both cataract-disease lenses, you may be wondering what surgical approaches are available...

With cataract surgery, your ophthalmologist removes the cataract-diseased lens of your eye. The ophthalmologist then replaces your natural lens with an artificial one.

Normal sight includes central vision (the field of view straight ahead) and peripheral vision (the field of view outside the circle of central vision). The inability to see within a normal range of view often indicates peripheral vision loss.

As we age, our eyes—like the rest of our bodies—begin to lose flexibility and strength. When this happens to the lens of the eye and its surrounding muscles, your lens will become stiff.

Eye patches are used to strengthen muscle control in weak eyes. By placing a patch over the strong eye, the weaker eye is forced to do the heavy lifting.

Stepping into the bright sunshine or entering a dimly lit room can temporarily affect your vision, whether you have 20/20 vision or wear corrective lenses. Fortunately, following a few simple guidelines can help you avoid scrapes, bruises, or even broken..

The condition known as a macular hole refers to a tiny break in the macula that results in blurry or distorted vision. To fully understand the condition, one must understand eye anatomy.

Nystagmus is a vision condition characterized by repetitive, uncontrolled eye movements. These involuntary eye movements may be side-to-side, up and down, or in a circular pattern, which hinders the eyes’ ability to focus on a steady object.

Vision therapy, also referred to as vision training, neuro-vision therapy, or vision rehabilitation, is an optometry subspecialty. Vision therapy is prescribed to develop, improve and/or enhance visual function so an individual’s vision system functions...

The goal of vision therapy is to treat vision problems that cannot be fully addressed through eyeglasses, contact lenses or surgery. For example, studies show that vision therapy may be beneficial for addressing eyestrain and other issues that can...

Vision therapy, which is also known as vision training or visual training, is an individualized treatment program that can help identify and correct perceptual-cognitive deficiencies that are impacting visual learning, focus, and concentration.

Myopia, or nearsightedness, means that your eyes can see close objects clearly but struggle to see things in the distance. Nearly 30 percent of Americans are nearsighted.

A normal cornea — the clear front covering of your eye — has a round curve, like a basketball. However, many people have an irregularly shaped cornea while others have an irregularly curved lens.

People with hyperopia, also known as farsightedness, can usually see objects in the distance, but their close vision is blurry. Symptoms of untreated hyperopia include:...

There are several types of refractive surgery available to correct vision problems caused by refractive errors, including: LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis) Custom or bladeless LASIK Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) Laser epithelial...

Treatment for glaucoma often begins with medicated eye drops. The goal of these medications is to lower the pressure in the eye (intraocular pressure) and prevent damage to the optic nerve.

Glaucoma is a condition characterized by excessive pressure in the eye, or intraocular pressure. This irregularly high pressure is due to a buildup of fluid in the eye.

The iStent Trabecular Micro-Bypass is a surgical device that is available for use in treating patients with mild-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma. Glaucoma is characterized by an excessive accumulation of fluid inside the eye, which leads to an increase...

While keratoconus can happen at any stage of life, young people between the ages of 10 and 25 are most likely to develop this disorder. For individuals with keratoconus, their cornea, the clear layer in the front of your eye, gradually thins and begins...

If you ever had chickenpox, you’re at higher risk of developing shingles later in life. Shingles can affect many parts of the body. If it travels to your eyes, your cornea can become inflamed and even scarred.

This group of corneal disorders includes more than 20 variations. Each affects different parts of the cornea, causing it to get cloudy and compromising vision. Most of these dystrophies are inherited, affect both eyes equally and spread between...

Pterygium is characterized by a pink tissue growth on the sclera (the white part of the eye), which seems to be the result of chronic exposure to ultraviolet light. In fact, because many surfers suffer from pterygium, the condition is often called...

This skin disorder, also called erythema multiforme major, sometimes causes painful lesions on the eyelids. Stevens-Johnson syndrome can cause painful corneal blisters and even holes, leading to vision loss.

This syndrome most commonly affects women between 30 and 50 years old. Symptoms include changes to the iris, corneal swelling and the onset of glaucoma.

In order for your eyes to focus normally, six muscles around each eye must work together. When your two eyes see different images, your brain tends to favor the stronger eye. This means the weak eye gets weaker, resulting in amblyopia, or “lazy eye.”

If your vision is blurred due to cataracts and you are pursuing surgical intervention to correct the problem, you are likely considering which intraocular lens (IOL) to choose, to restore your vision after cataract surgery.

More than 300,000 sports-related concussions occur each year, according to research. Many more concussions result from motor vehicle accidents, falls, and other non-sports related incidents.

The cognitive differences of special needs children and adults are well-documented, but vision issues often receive less attention. People with special needs have the same range of vision issues as their neurotypical counterparts; however,...

The brain and the eyes work together to create a visual experience. On one hand, the eyes send signals to the brain, which allows it to translate that data into visuals; on the other, the brain sends signals to the muscles attached to each eye,...

Corrective lenses are used to correct deviations, adjust focal points or neutralize other anomalies that impact the eyes’ ability to focus an image on the retina. To do this, the lenses must be the correct type and of the right power.

Accurate vision involves much more than good eye health. The brain integrates signals from the eyes with information from the motor, balance, and auditory systems to create an accurate view of the world.

A Marsden ball might not look very impressive, but this little ball offers big benefits for athletes and children affected by strabismus, ambylopia and other conditions. Marsden ball exercises are just one of the techniques that vision therapists use...

Visual-motor-sensory integration training uses various devices to appeal to a person’s senses, including touch, sound and smell. This type of therapy is particularly useful in children with autism.

These exercises are mainly used at home and range from simple head and eye movements to performing more complex activities like throwing a ball or focusing on a stationary object while the head is moving.

Automated targets with timing mechanisms not only show the optometrist how the eyes move in the beginning of treatment – when eye problems have yet to be fully addressed – by strategically positioning the targets, but they give weak eyes a necessary...

Computer aided vision therapy consists of a software package designed to enhance eye tracking skills, visual thinking, processing skills and binocular vision skills. Eye teaming, focusing and tracking are not optical in nature, and problems in these...

Contact lenses, or therapeutic lenses, are thin lenses that are placed on the surface of the eye. While some wear them for cosmetic reasons, their primary function is to correct and improve vision problems related to refractive errors, act as a...

A prism has the same cross-section across the entire length of its shape. When used in eyeglasses, they often correct abnormalities associated with nearsightedness, farsightedness and double vision.

Optical filters carefully transfer light in a specific range of wavelengths or colors while obstructing what remains. These dyed plastic or glass devices are placed in the optical path.

Rotation trainers consist of a disk – with various designs – that is attached to a rod-like base. As the disk rotates, the patient is asked to perform tasks that are designed to test and enhance eye-hand coordination, space awareness, perceptual...

This entails a wall-mounted square board with a starburst design. Along the various striations of the starburst are lighted buttons. As the buttons light up, the patient works quickly to see how many of these lit buttons they can push before they go out.

This device integrates all of the senses used for learning. It is one of the basic instruments used for visual-motor training, and helps with direction, rhythm, eye-hand coordination, and work and shape recognition.

Here, a ball with letters, numbers, colors, pictures, or a combination is hung from the ceiling. In activities used to help focus visual attention, the individual may be asked to concentrate on a figure while bunting the ball with a rod, or hitting...

Known also as optometric phototherapy, syntonics deal with the application of selected visible-light frequencies and are used to treat lazy eye and problems with peripheral vision and depth perception.

Amblyopia, commonly called lazy eye, refers to the improper development or significant loss of vision in an eye. It occurs when the brain does not acknowledge the images seen by the amblyopic eye.

There are many potential causes for blurry eyes. The answer to why you have blurry vision is best answered by your eye care professional, who can offer diagnosis and prompt treatment so that your vision does not get worse.

Double vision, also known as “seeing double” or the medical term diplopia, is the perception of two images of a single object. This occurs when two nonmatching images are sent to the part of the brain that processes visual input.

In an ideal world, everyone would have perfectly-shaped eyes. The reality, however, is that practically every eye has some form of aberration somewhere in it.

An eye condition affecting roughly 50 percent of individuals who need glasses, hyperopia (commonly called farsightedness) is characterized by difficulty focusing on nearby objects while being able to see objects at a distance properly.

Myopia, commonly called nearsightedness, is a refractive error of the eye, meaning that the shape of the eye or its cornea improperly bends light as it enters the eye. This hinders your ability to focus.

The name conjures up pain, but ocular migraines are less about headaches and more about a vision problem. Ocular migraines are temporary visual disturbances that can last up to 30 minutes.

Simply put, accommodative dysfunction means that the eyes have difficulty focusing properly. Studies suggest that between 2 and 17% of children may suffer from accommodative dysfunction.

Parents are often aware of the need to screen children for nearsightedness or farsightedness, but fewer know about other pediatric vision problems. Ocular motor dysfunction is a condition that often manifests in childhood, although adults may also...