Laser Treatment or Eye Drops for Glaucoma?

Chronic Open Angle Glaucoma, which is the most common type of glaucoma, has no cure. Glaucoma is lifelong eye disease that will require you to be treated throughout your life in some manner. This may require using one or more eye drops on a daily or even more frequent basis, having laser treatments or even surgery-or some combination of treatments, in order to maintain stability and prevent vision loss in some manner. A recent study that might be of interest to those stable glaucoma patients who in fact use one or more eye drops each day was published in the journal Acta Ophthalmologica demonstrated that a form of glaucoma laser treatment called Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty was able to completely replace the need for eyedrops in 77% of stable glaucoma patients and still maintain excellent control of intraocular pressure! In most other patients, the laser treatment was able to reduce the number of different eye drops used or the number of times a single eye drop needed to be used to maintain stable eye pressure. This is very helpful for most glaucoma patients as it reduces medication side effects and helps those who might have a tough time instilling eye drops or remembering to use them at the prescribed time each day.

If you or someone you know has glaucoma and uses eye drops each day and wishes to explore the possibility of glaucoma laser treatment or anyone concerned about their risk of glaucoma and might need to schedule an eye exam we welcome you to call Center for Sight – 508-720-2020 to schedule an appointment.

Center for Sight is located in the Narragansett Mill at 1565 North Main Street, Suite 406, Fall River, MA, and is conveniently located for patients throughout the South Coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Eye Health Tips for College Students

Eye Health Tips for College Students

Going to college and perhaps living in a dormitory can be an exciting and hectic time for students. Even so, it’s worth mentioning some common-sense tips to preserve eye health and avoid eye problems for college students. College students can be susceptible to a host of vision and eye problems such as injury, infection and increased nearsightedness that can be avoided with a little bit of “smarts” and awareness.

Don't Shower or Swim with Contact Lenses. Acanthamoeba is a parasite that lives in water and can cause a rare but serious eye infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis. According to the CDC, 85 percent of Acanthamoeba eye infections occur in contact lens wearers, one of the main risks being exposure of lenses to water. To avoid this dangerous infection, do not wear contact lenses in showers, hot tubs or when swimming in lakes or pools. Also, never use water to clean or store contact lenses; only use sterile contact lens disinfecting solution and a clean contact lens case.  

Get Out. We all want you to get good grades, but spending much of their time studying indoors, puts you at risk of becoming more nearsighted, or myopic. A recent study found that more than 50 percent of college graduates are nearsighted, with vision worsening for each year in school. Other research shows that spending more time outdoors can prevent vision from getting worse. Take a break-get outside when possible.

Wash Your Hands. Conjunctivitis, or “pink eye” spreads really fast in schools and dorms. We know of a report where an outbreak struck more than 1,000 Ivy League college students! Avoid rubbing the eyes and wash hands with soap to avoid catching and spreading pink eye, not to mention other infections.

Give Your Eyes a Break. Dry eye from intense long hours of computer or video display terminal use can be a real problem for college students. To help avoid dry eye symptoms of burning, gritty red eyes, follow the 20-20-20 rule. Look at something 20 feet away every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. Because dry eye can also cause painful corneal ulcers, which are open sores on the front part of the eye, blink regularly and fully to keep eyes moist.  

Don't Share Makeup. Harmless as it may seem, sharing makeup is a surefire way to spread infection such as herpes keratitis among friends. Infection-causing bacteria grow easily in creamy or liquid eye makeup. Stick to your own makeup and throw it away after three months. If you develop an eye infection, immediately toss all of your eye makeup.  

Stay in the Game. Did you know that nearly 1 in 18 college athletes will get an eye injury playing sports? Common injuries, like scratches on the eye surface and broken bones near the eye socket, happen most often in high-risk sports such as baseball, basketball and lacrosse. Athletes should consider wearing polycarbonate sports glasses to help keep stray balls and elbows from hitting their eyes.

In college, taking care of their eye health may be the last thing on your mind but we wanted to share some common-sense tips. If you or someone you experience an eye health or vision problem please call Center for Sight – 508-730-2020 in Fall River to schedule an appointment.

Center for Sight is located in the Narragansett Mill at 1565 North Main Street, Suite 406, Fall River, MA, and is conveniently located for patients throughout the South Coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Is LASIK Safe after 65?

LASIK is safe, effective and convenient type of laser vision correction for those wanting freedom from the hassle of glasses and contacts. But sometimes patients think they might just be too old for LASIK. While the best way to correct both distance vision and the near vision focusing problem-presbyopia, is with lens implants for vision correction, a recent study clearly supports that even at age 65, LASIK is still safe and effective. Reporting in the journal International Ophthalmology  eye surgeons found that even though elder patients may present greater LASIK restrictions due to lens cataract and other eye age-related changes, patients 65 years of age and older that were good candidates LASIK achieved safe, predictable and effective vision and eye health results.

If you or someone you know is thinking about the freedom seeing clearly without glasses or contact lenses and is concerned about whether their age might be a problem, please schedule an appointment so we can help find out if you might be a candidate for LASIK or lens implants for vision correction. Please call Center for Sight – 508-730-2020 to schedule an appointment.

Center for Sight is located in the Narragansett Mill at 1565 North Main Street, Suite 406, Fall River, MA, and is conveniently located for patients throughout the South Coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island.