Can you imagine a smartphone app that can use your eyes to check brain function? Researchers at UC San Diego are working on it! Also, most adults find themselves needing reading glasses as they approach middle age. The reason is presbyopia, and Dr. Rosemary Melrose explains how it affects your eyes, and some ways to deal with the condition that most people will face as they get older. Finally, get to know Tim Quinn, the new CEO of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce, as he explains the role of the Chamber in the community, how they're emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever, and what the plans are for the future.

A new study indicates that having cataract surgery may reduce the risk of dementia. Dr. Bob Melrose reviews this interesting research. Then, Dr. Bob and Dr. Yolanda Scheer dive into the world of glasses that are specifically designed for computer use. Even for people with a very mild prescription, long hours on the computer make your eyes work really hard. Computer or office glasses can take over a lot of that focusing work, reducing your eye strain and making you more comfortable. Finally, Dr. Bob and Mark Calonico explore one of Stockton's "hidden gems": the Stockton Chorale. Learn about the Chorale's history, how they weathered the pandemic, and the exciting new opportunities they've got coming up this year.

The material your lenses are made from can make a big difference! In this episode, we explain what you need to know about plastic lenses before you purchase your next set of eyeglasses.

Then, Dr. Bob shares the scoop on Facebook's new smart-glasses. Plus, we'll talk to Dr. John Fujii about his involvement in the Stockton community over the years, and what's he's done to help improve the city he calls home.

Eyeglasses are an investment, and it's important to take care of them properly. Dr. Vikram Girn explains how to handle, store, and clean your eyeglasses to minimize damage and maximize their life. Plus, Dr. Melrose discusses Stockton's Walk to End Alzheimer's with Teresa Mandella, the chairperson of the Stockton event. The Walk is a major fundraiser for Alzheimer's research at educational institutions, and this is a personal fight for both Dr. Bob and Teresa. If you'd like to donate or participate in the walk on October 16, you can find information here.

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Choosing a new pair of glasses involves a lot more than finding frames that you like. Lens coatings and special features provide a dizzying array of options that can quickly become confusing. In this episode of Eye Talk, Dr. Kurt Skinner explains different types of lens coatings and provides his recommendations.

Plus, Dr. Bob interviews Doug Wilhoit, CEO of the Greater Stockton Chamber of Commerce as they review Doug's career, how the Chamber helps the community, and some of the things that make Stockton such a great place to live.

Progressive lenses have become the standard lens prescribed for people in their 40’s and beyond who need help with their reading vision. Progressive lenses are lenses designed to give excellent distance, intermediate, and near vision without adding any extra lines to our faces. (Those of you that are in your twenties reading this will understand someday….)

So it’s been determined that a spectacle prescription will help you with your visual system. The type of prescription and amount of power combined with the size and shape of the eyeglass frames you choose will play a big part in how well your glasses perform for you as well as how good they look on you when you wear them.

Experiencing Eye Fatigue with Computer Use?

We all can relate to hours spent each day on our smart phone, tablet and computer. The average adult American spends close to 4 hours a day on an electronic device (excluding television). You start off each day seeing well, your eyes feeling good, but that all changes as the day wears on. By the end of the day, your eyes are now feeling tired, going in and out of focus, maybe feeling dry and needing to blink a lot to focus and even have some degree of a headache around or behind your eyes.

Today’s seniors are more active than ever and life expectancy is longer than ever. That is why annual eye exams are very important as you get older. Seniors are more susceptible to developing diabetes and high blood pressure - both of which can affect your vision. Cataracts and macular degeneration are two more eye diseases that can develop over the years. Early detection for any of these eye conditions is important in maintaining good visual outcomes.

The terms nearsighted and farsighted are often confused but the easiest way to remember which condition you have is that “you are what you can do best without glasses.” If you see better at near without glasses, then you are nearsighted (myopic). Conversely if you see better at a distance without glasses, then you are farsighted (hyperopic). With farsightedness, a person has difficulty and discomfort when reading or doing computer work.

Brookside Optometric Group is proud to partner with Discovery Challenge Academy to provide free eye exams and new glasses to local high school students. Based in Lathrop, Discovery Challenge Academy (DCA) opened in January 2017 as a partnership between the California National Guard and San Joaquin County Office of Education.

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.

The Third Week of August marks the 5th Annual observance of Contact Lens Health Week. Since Soft Contact Lenses were first invented in 1961, and introduced to the USA by Bausch and Lomb in 1971, the “uniqueness” of the experience has faded a bit and people have often become somewhat lax in their care of these medical devices we are inserting into our bodies. Summer is the perfect time to review some of the practical steps we can take to ensure a safe and comfortable relationship with your contact lenses.

Part I of this blog introduced vocabulary for the various types and severities of hereditary color deficiencies. Part II explains how, for the first time ever, we can help color deficient patients distinguish colors. Disclaimer: lots of doctor terminology ahead (but there’s no other way to explain it). If you only want to know how you can try out the extraordinary new color vision lens called EnChroma, available exclusively at Brookside Optometric Group, skip to the last 2 paragraphs below.

I am excited to try a newly released photochromatic lens. The SunSync Drive XT is a photochromatic lens that responds to ultraviolet light and also to visible light. The big advantage to responding to visible light is that it will get dark in the car while traditional photochromatic lenses will not. Thus to simplify, the brighter it is, the darker it will get.

Want to track your daily activity and give back to those in need simply by wearing your glasses? Now you can do both with Level smart glasses.

Designed in the U.S. and handcrafted in Italy, the smart glasses are a perfect mix of style and function. Built-in activity-tracking technology logs your daily activity, step count, calories burned, and more. View your activity throughout the day on your phone—the glasses sync wirelessly with the Level mobile app, and if you ever misplace your glasses, you can easily track them down using the app.

Refractive surgery to help rid people of the need for glasses is one of eye care’s most rapidly changing specialties. It has evolved from the early days of incision RK surgery to the advent of laser procedures and corneal implantation surgeries.

House cleaning, home improvements and yard work: for many Americans, these projects define this time of year. But, did you know home projects like these can be a major threat to eye safety? All too often, when we’re working around the house and doing chores that we've done a thousand times before without incident, we forget about the risks we take by not protecting our eyes but all it takes is one split-second accident that could damage your vision for a lifetime." According to the American Academy of Optometry, nearly half of all serious eye injuries occur at home, yet only 35 percent of Americans wear protective eyewear during projects that could pose a threat to their eyes.

“You’ve got cataracts”. These three words can still fill a patient’s mind with worry and fear when their doctor has to utter them. Memories still linger of parents and grandparents going to the hospital and needing a week of bed rest only to be chained to thick glasses for the rest of their lives once the surgery was complete. Luckily for all of us those days are a thing of the past. These days cataract surgery is a 20-minute procedure that should not be feared. With modern implant surgery bed rest is not necessary and the visual outcomes are often nothing short of miraculous. So what are cataracts and how do you fix them? Everyone’s eyes have two lenses they use to see with. The cornea is the lens on the front of the eye where contact lenses are placed. The cornea’s job is to help you see distance objects clearly....

Now that our kids are back to school it is important for parents to feel confident that their child is seeing clearly to optimize his or her learning experience. An estimated 80 percent of information processed in school is through vision. When most people think about seeing clearly, they think of visual acuity, or being able to see “20/20.”