The phrase "allergic reaction" might conjure up images of hives or the sudden sensation of restricted airways, but did you know that an allergy can develop slowly? In fact, you could gradually become allergic to things you use every day, like your soap, favorite beverage,...
Mostly for historical reasons during the parallel development of the two fields. Optometry developed out of the optical business when opticians would make and grind lenses. Certain opticians developed further training programs so as to be able to "refract," (measure eyes for the glasses prescription). As...
It may not be dangerous, but it is definitely not normal. Called "monocular diplopia," its appearance after LASIK without its fading away indicates there is a problem. It could be due to a wrinkle in the LASIK flap (called "striae") or could indicate there is...
Following an official eye exam with an optometrist, you are usually handed a copy of your eyeglass prescription, which contains information that a lab requires to make a pair of glasses to correct your unique vision problems. This prescription often appears rather cryptic, however, so...
Any of several transparent synthetic materials that have been tried out over several decades of continued improvement. The very first intraocular lens implants (IOLs) were made of a rigid plastic called PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate), the same material used in fighter plane windshields. Realizing that a smaller...
People often get confused about measuring vision when they try to compare their glasses prescription with some distance visual acuity measurement on a Snellen type eye chart. It would be nice if there were a corresponding Snellen letter acuity for each diopter of nearsighted correction...
That was true at one time but not much now. In most branches of the American military LASIK and PRK are both routinely performed on active personnel. There are few LASIK disqualifications of military applicants including for aviation. Furthermore, even most of these are reversed upon application...
Floaters are the little specks, flecks of "lint," or semi-transparent veils that float across one's line of vision. They typically "slosh" around when moving your gaze from side to side or up and down, but always return to the same approximate position within your field of vision a...
There has been a gradually increasing number of patients in my practice that comment on or complain of vitreous "floaters" after cataract/IOL surgery. The surgery, of course, did not cause the floaters. The reason is that as intraocular lens surgery (whether for purely cataract or for...
Cataract surgery has changed tremendously over the past 20 years or. And it is almost unrecognizable now when compared to how the operation was performed when I started my training over 40 years ago! Cataract surgery was originally an operation to remove the cloudy opacity visible...