Browse Our Recent Blog Posts About Vision Health

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What Are Retinal Drusen and Why Do They Matter?

As people age, most see an increase in fatty deposits all over their bodies. But did you know that some of these fatty deposits also end up in your eyes? Commonly known in the opthamology world as drusen, these fatty proteins (lipids) appear as yellow or white spots that accumulate under the retina. The retina is the part of the eye that triggers nerve impulses through the optic nerve to the brain, where a visual image is formed.

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How Often Should You Get Your Eyes Checked?

Regular eye exams are key to keeping good vision and healthy eyes. Many eye diseases, disorders and vision problems have no symptoms, so you might not even realize you have a problem until you start losing sight.

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The 10 Most Common Eye Diseases and Disorders

Most people have problems with their eyes at some point in their life. Some of these problems are minor, like seasonal allergies that make your eyes water, but other problems can be more serious.

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Could My Vision Be Better?

Your vision could possibly be improved. As a Doctor of Optometry who has been practicing since 1986, just the word “vision” can get me talking for hours, if not days. But let me summarize many of the aspects of vision and then I’ll address the next steps toward improving your vision.

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Five Things You Didn’t Know About Blue Light and Sleep

Blue light is catching a fair bit of notice. As just one example, a Google search will bring up all sorts of information among its 150 million results. Let me distill some of that with a particular focus on blue light and its impact on sleep.

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An Overview of the Effects of Screens on Your Vision

With the growing use of digital screens—including phones, tablets, computers, televisions, and gaming systems—it’s not surprising to learn that 65% of people spend between three to nine hours a day viewing a digital screen. Another 28% spend ten or more hours in front of a screen. Since you’re reading this on a screen, I’m pretty sure you qualify for one of those groups. 

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The Great Sit to Stand Desk Debate

With sitting being declared the new smoking—the emphasis being that you should stop—you need to look seriously at standing desks. 

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What You Need to Know About Ergonomics at Work

Some of the statistics about office injuries are pretty staggering. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that musculoskeletal disorders accounted for one-third of all injury or illness cases in 2011. This includes thousands of office worker injuries including carpal tunnel syndrome as well as neck, shoulder, and back injuries. 

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Office Food Subscription Ideas

Many of us are held hostage in the office by the snack food that’s brought in from someone’s home. Perhaps the worst is the leftover Halloween candy. Of course, it’s gone in a few hours, which was the purpose of bringing it into the office. But then you’re left with a sugar rush and the following crash. 

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Five Heathy Eating Tips for the Office

We all spend a significant amount of time at the office. That includes snacking and meals as well as a variety of drinks from coffee to soda. All that grazing can have a big impact on our health, for better or for worse. Here are our thoughts on how to make it for the better.

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Office Food Ideas That Aren’t Awful

There’s a growing movement among organizations to provide food in the workplace as a perk for their employees. That can go a long way toward satisfying employees, as long as the food is healthy and doesn’t result in long naps after gorging yourself on free food.

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How to Maintain High Energy Levels at Work

If your work day is like mine, it starts early in the morning and extends into the evening. The challenge is to maintain a high energy level throughout that full work day. 

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Wearables and Weight Gain

From the New York Times to Time Magazine, they’re all reporting that fitness trackers or “wearables” may actually cause weight gain. This news coverage is based on a report from the Journal of the American Medical Association. The bottom line finding: “Devices that monitor and provide feedback on physical activity may not offer an advantage over standard behavioral weight loss approaches.”

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Fitness Trackers and Sleep Tracking

With your fitness program you’re running, biking, swimming, climbing stairs, and maybe even getting up from your desk throughout the work day. It’s now time to give consideration to a fitness tracker to measure your effort and track your progress. 

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Fitbit Pros and Cons

Vision is an important part of your overall health and physical wellbeing. But, of course, it isn’t the only part. 

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How Often Should I Take My Child to Get an Eye Exam?

Checking up on your child’s vision is so much more challenging than making sure they’re dressed correctly or determining if they have a fever. After all, you can’t see through their eyes to recognize any vision problems. 

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BlueTech Lenses for Kids

I’ve written before about Blue Tech Technology, primarily addressing the impact of blue light on adults, typically due to high computer use. But kids also suffer from the effects. After all, kids’ arms are shorter and the light generated by laptops, tablets, and mobile phones is more intense at that shorter distance.

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Year-End Health Insurance Tips

It’s hard to believe that another year is coming to a close. If you’re like me, time rushes by and seems to pick up speed each year. But as we near the end of 2016, there are some important things to check regarding your health insurance. Here are a few year-end health insurance tips.

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Common Astigmatism Solutions

Astigmatism is quite common and begins early. So keeping on top of your child’s vision care with eye exams is critical to make sure they don’t encounter vision related problems at school.

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Esophoria Treatment Options for Kids

Esophoria is a type of crossed eyes that is characterized by an inward turning eye. The broad category is strabismus, which covers all aspects of crossed eyes including: exotropia, outward turning eye; hypertropia, upward turning eye; and hypotonia, downward turning eye.

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Myopia Treatment Options

Researchers estimate that one-third to a half of Americans are nearsighted and that percentage has been growing over the last few decades. They feel that a big part of that increase has been from genetics, inherited from one or both parents. But researchers are only beginning to gain a better understanding of possible environmental causes, such as the affects of computer screens.

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How to Improve Weak Eyesight in Children

There are a few ways to improve eyesight in children and adults. These chiefly have to do with nutrition and exercise. And, of course, getting the proper amount of rest and relaxation is just as important to maintaining overall vision health. 

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Computer Glasses for Kids

It used to be that we warned kids about lengthy television viewing. Now we need to be concerned about computer screens for school work, mobile screens, and screens for playing computer games.

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Child Eye Care Tips

Fall is the start of the school year, and it’s also an excellent time to check all aspects of your child’s health. Plus, since so much of their work and play in school will involve their vision, you need to take steps to ensure not only that your child’s eyes are in good shape but also that they stay that way amid all the bustle of the new school year.

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Kids and Computer Vision Syndrome

Computer vision syndrome, also known as digital eye strain, is the result of two or more hours in front of a digital screen, including tablets, computers, and phones. It consists of dry and irritated eyes, eye fatigue, blurred vision, and headaches as well as neck and back pain.

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Child Complaining About Sudden Double Vision

If your child is covering one eye, squinting to see, moving their eyes from one side to the other, tilting their head, or looking at things from the side, they may be experiencing double vision.

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Child Squinting and Blinking Eyes

Children do the darnedest things. Sometimes those things can be reasons for concern and other times they may just be passing stages. Let’s look at excessive blinking.

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Common Eye Problems in Children

Healthy vision is a critical part of every child’s development. This requires regular eye exams to ensure they have sound vision and that any problems are detected and treated early. 

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The Best Eyewear for Your Face Shape

Whether choosing eyeglasses or sunglasses, your face shape should be the biggest factor in choosing just the right look for you. Of course, you’ll also want to make sure that the eyeglasses themselves fit comfortably and that your prescription provides the perfect vision correction.

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All About Anti-Glare Lenses for Night Driving

If you’re starting to have challenges with your night driving due to glare and halos around light sources, such as on-coming headlights, it’s time to check in with your optometrist. 

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Choosing the Right Glasses for Your Face Shape

Whether choosing eyeglasses or sunglasses, your face shape should be the biggest factor in selecting your best look. Of course, you’ll also want to make sure that the eyeglasses fit comfortably and that your prescription provides the perfect vision correction.

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Transition Lenses Pros and Cons

While we all love our sunny weather in North Texas, we do need protection from the glare to aid our vision and protect our eyes from UV rays. That’s where sunglasses come into the picture.

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What Are Progressive Lenses

As we age, our eyes have trouble focusing on things up close. You can tell you’re struggling with this if you have trouble viewing your smartphone, unless it’s positioned at arm’s length or further. It happens with increased age, usually starting around 40, and is called presbyopia

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How Long Can You Wear Contact Lenses?

No, the title of “How Long Can You Wear Contact Lenses?” is not a challenge to see if you can break the record. In fact, wearing your contact lenses too long can be damaging to your eyes.

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Age-Related Macular Degeneration Symptoms

Blurred vision is the most common symptom of macular degeneration. It’s typically found in people over the age of 60 and more than 200,000 cases are diagnosed every year. It is the leading cause of vision loss among older people with a total of over 2 million diagnosed, a number expected to grow to over 5 million by 2050 as our population ages. 

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What Does a Dry Eye Feel Like?

Dry eye comes in many shapes and sizes. It’s different for each person. While I often refer to it as the “Sands of the Sahara,” as in itchy and scratchy eyes, it can also be too much tearing or excess mucous. 

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Allergies and Itchy Eyes in North Texas

As I noted in my previous blog post on common causes of dry, itchy eyes, a big factor can be your environment. In North Texas, we’re almost always exposed to pollen and dust, as well as wind. In addition, at certain times of the year mold can be a problem as well as an increase in pollen, such as mountain cedar.

How to Choose a Dry Eye Specialist

If you’ve been following the Dry Eye Series on my blog, you’re aware of the wide range of causes and treatments to alleviate dry eye symptoms and provide long term care. 

Five Dry Eye Treatments Unheard of by Most People

There are many, many options for treating dry eyes, most of which are either new or just haven’t been thought of in a long time. With this in mind, I’ve developed a list of five categories of treatment and tried to give you a broad insight into what’s available. 

Top 10 Dry Eye Symptoms

I’ve written extensively about dry eyes based on my decades of experience treating all types of dry eyes. In fact, I’ve founded a special dry eye treatment center here at Vision Source Plano.

Common Causes of Dry Eyes

Dry eyes can be a temporary or chronic condition. It happens when you don’t have sufficient tears to lubricate the eyes and the eyelid. It can also be due to poorly made tears. Without the cleansing and lubrication of tears, you may experience a feeling of grit or debris in your eyes, blurred vision, tired eyes, and sensitivity to light.

Sjögren’s Syndrome vs. Dry Eyes

I see quite a number of patients reporting dry eye syndrome. With over three million cases treated each year and 5% of Americans complaining of some form of dry eye, you can see why.