Cataracts, a common vision problem especially prevalent among older adults, are characterized by a clouding of the eye's natural lens. This can lead to a variety of vision complications, such as blurred vision, difficulties with glare, and trouble seeing at night. While the development of cataracts is often seen as a natural part of aging, there are certain preventive measures that can slow their progression and keep your eyes in the best possible health.

A balanced diet not only contributes to overall health but also plays a crucial role in maintaining good vision. The right nutrients can help prevent or delay the onset of various eye diseases, and incorporating eye-healthy foods into your daily diet can significantly benefit your eye health. In this article, we'll discuss the essential nutrients for eye health, the foods that promote good vision, and how regular eye exams can help detect any vision complications in their early stages.

Glaucoma is a disease where a person slowly loses their peripheral due to an increased pressure within the eye that damages the optic nerve. In the early days of glaucoma detection doctwere mainly concerned about the level of intra-ocular pressure (pressure within the eye). If it was high you had glaucoma-simple as that. We also looked at the appearance of the nerve and tested the level of their peripheral vision by having them stare at a large blank area of black cloth and brought in a white marker on a stick to see when they first noticed it. Those days are all but forgotten now. Today’s diagnoses of glaucoma require sophisticated equipment since our understanding of the disease has evolved. We now know that glaucoma is a caused when the delicate balance between a person’s intraocular pressure and their unique tolerance for these changes are not in harmony. In fact, roughly 5%...

"What are cataracts?” and "Do I have cataracts?” are two of the most common questions asked during an eye examination. What are cataracts? A cataract is formed when the lens of the eye becomes cloudy. The lens is the part of the eye that helps focus light or an image on the retina, the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, similar to film in cameras. When the lens is cloudy, it will interfere with the light entering the eye and imaging on the retina. Hence, vision will be blurred or hazy. Colors will be less vivid or intense and more difficult to distinguish. There may be increased sensitivity to glare from lights, especially when driving at night and difficulty seeing at night. Reading and other routine activities become more difficult to perform. The two pictures below illustrate the difference in vision between an eye with a normal lens...

Almost everyone has heard or used the term “color-blind,” but what causes color-blindness and what does a color-blind person actually see?

Kendra emailed us last week with a question: would we be willing to help a young man who had lost everything in the Paradise fire? Doug, the boyfriend of Kendra’s daughter, was downhearted, like all the fire victims in Paradise. Despite his personal losses, as a heavy equipment operator he will be helping to clean up the devastation his friends and neighbors have experienced as well. Doug has had poor color vision his whole life, and Kendra wanted to do something spectacular to raise his spirits.

November is National Diabetes Awareness Month and a perfect time to discuss why a diabetic’s lucky number is always #7.

Last month I posted a blog explaining how important the number 7 is to a diabetic when it comes to their A1C measurement. The A1C measurement reflects the average blood sugar levels in a diabetic for the last 90 days. Keeping that level low is indicative of good control but it does not tell the whole story.

Do you stare at the computer more than 4 hours a day? Do your eyes feel tired and strained by the middle or end of the work day? Do you regularly experience headaches by the end of your day or sooner? Does your neck and back ache as you tilt your chin and adjust your head to see the computer screen through your progressive glasses all day?  These concerns and more are all related to a condition known as computer vision syndrome, also known as digital eye strain. If this sounds like you or a loved one, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Digital eye strain affects more than 70 percent of the approximately 143 million Americans who work on a computer on a daily basis, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA).

Sometimes the eye doctor is the only doctor people see with any regularity — especially some of us guys. Therefore it is comforting to know that there is a lot your eye doctor can tell you about your general health by examining your eyes. When you think about it, the back of your eye is the only place on your body that you can actually look at the blood vessels themselves. And the optic nerve is really a kind of cable extension from your brain. Hypertension and high cholesterol levels cause observable changes to your blood vessels.

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month. Glaucoma is a disease where the pressure in the eye rises and slowly kills off the optic nerve and leads to blindness. Here are just a few facts about Glaucoma:

• It is estimated that over 2.2 million Americans have glaucoma but only half of those know they have it.
• In the U.S., more than 120,000 are blind from glaucoma, accounting for 9% to 12% of all cases of blindness.
• Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, according to the World Health Organization.
• After cataracts, glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness among African Americans.
• Blindness from glaucoma is 6 to 8 times more common in African Americans than Caucasians.
• African Americans are 15 times more likely to be visually impaired from glaucoma than Caucasians.
• The most common form, open-angle glaucoma, accounts for 19% of all blindness among African Americans compared to 6% in Caucasians.
• Other high-risk groups include: people over 60, family members of those already diagnosed, diabetics, and people who are severely nearsighted.
• Estimates put the total number of suspected cases of glaucoma at over 60 million worldwide.

Many patients come to our office at Brookside Optometric Group not only because they have blurry vision, but also because their eyes are often irritated, and even red. Sometimes the irritation and redness have been going on for so long that the patients think it is "normal", especially if they wear contact lenses. In actual fact, they may be suffering from dry eyes or Dry Eye Syndrome (DES).

DES is a disease of the tear film covering the surface of the eye. This condition results in ocular discomfort, blurry vison, and tear film instability that can damage the surface of the eye. This then leads to inflammation of the eye, producing red eyes, swelling, and sometimes even watery eyes. Eventually the corneal surface will be damaged, causing further pain, discomfort, and even blurred vision.

I hope we find all of you in good health and good spirits. November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. Looking back at the late 80’s, students were trained to interpret a case history to determine what disease entities we should look for based on a patient’s race and age. For example, it you were middle aged and of Hispanic or American Indian descent, we would be concerned with diabetes, if you were of African American descent, we would be concerned with hypertension and glaucoma and so on. While this is not funny, consider it a medical form of racial profiling but it was clinically significant. Case histories are still important but the thinking has changed.

As we’ve kicked off this New Year feeling refreshed and looking forward to carrying out our many New Year’s resolutions (some being more realistic than others of course...), let’s add one more thing to that list: Seeing the best that you can in 2017.

January is National Glaucoma Awareness Month meaning there’s no better time to start the conversation about this often talked about condition. In this article, I will try to explain what exactly Glaucoma is while clearing up some common misconceptions along the way!

People say that the eyes are the windows to the soul yet they are actually a window to your health. Many people are unaware how many health issues can be detected or diagnosed in an eye exam.

The eye has two unique properties. The first is that the tissue on the back of the eye, the retina, is the only place in the body where blood vessels can be seen without any obstruction of other tissue. By examining the appearance of these blood vessels, your optometrist can see damage from systemic disease happening to the eye and if it is happening to the eye then it is also happening to the blood vessels throughout the body.

One out of 10 adults over the age of 20 has been diagnosed with diabetes. Many adults can suffer from the effects of sugar fluctuations on their eye health. Diabetic eye disease is the leading cause of blindness in adults over 20 years old in the United States.

The three most common effects of diabetes on the eye are diabetic retinopathy, cataracts and glaucoma. Diabetic retinopathy occurs when the blood vessels in the back of the eye swell and leak fluid. This excess fluid causes vision loss. Cataracts (a clouding of the lens) can have an earlier onset in patients with diabetes. Glaucoma (an increase in the fluid pressure of the eye) can lead to optic nerve damage and consequently permanent vision loss. Diabetics are twice as likely to develop glaucoma as non-diabetics.

Brookside Optometric Group recently acquired a new scanning device to increase the effectiveness of our care for our patients. The Oculus Pentacam is an amazing device that can measure the parameters of every anatomical structure in the eye up to the retina. Combining this device with our Optical Coherence Tomagrapher (OCT)—which analyzes the individual cellular levels of the retina—we now have the ability to determine the root cause of all visual problems that are anatomically linked within the eye.

According to the CDC, 1 in 3 adults have high blood pressure in the United States.¹ With this systemic disease, there are huge consequences for our bodies, including the eyes.

Blood pressure is the force of blood against your artery walls as it circulates through your body as defined by the CDC.¹ Although our body’s blood pressure naturally rises and falls throughout the day, long term elevated blood pressure can cause damage to the artery walls. This long term damage to arteries can lead to stroke, heart attack or other vasculopathic disorders. Listed below are the guidelines for blood pressure by the American Heart Association.

October is no longer just an orange and black month in the spirit of Halloween. October is also a pink month—October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. October is the month when major campaigns to promote early detection of breast cancer with screening mammograms and monthly self-breast exams and fundraising campaigns to fund breast cancer research occur.

If you are a parent like me and have ever wondered “when should I first take my child to see the optometrist”, you are probably not alone. Many parents decide to take their children to the eye doctor for their first eye exam when they fail a vision school screening or the vision screening at the pediatrician’s office. However, there are great benefits to bringing your child in for a comprehensive optometric examination long before the presentation of a suspected or apparent vision issue.