lasik
The main factors we will examine are:
- Refractive Error
- Corneal Thickness
- Corneal Curvature
- Overall Ocular Health
- Your Goals and Expectation
Refractive Error
This corresponds to your glasses prescription. Each laser system has its own range of prescription that it is approved to treat. The LADARVision system can treat from +6.00 diopters of farsightedness to -12.00 diopters of nearsightedness. Also, up to -6.00 diopters of astigmatism can be treated. The limit of treatment in your case will be determined by the thickness and curvature of your cornea before treatment.
Corneal Thickness
We, and your LASIK surgeon will measure the thickness of the clear front surface of your eye (the cornea). This is important because your vision is corrected in LASIK by re-shaping your corneal surface with the laser. This is accomplished by a precise sculpting of the cornea by the laser. The greater your glasses prescription, the greater amount of corneal tissue is removed during the LASIK procedure. Your corneal thickness before LASIK will be measured, and the final thickness after LASIK will be calculated. The LASIK surgeon must be satisfied that the final corneal thickness will be sufficient to avoid complications.
Corneal Curvature
Your corneal curvature is part of what determines your glasses prescription. Farsighted people tend to have flatter corneal curvatures, and nearsighted people tend to have steeper corneas. Astigmatism is due partly to unequal vertical and horizontal curves of the corneal surface. Your corneal curvature will be measured, and your final curvature after LASIK will be calculated. Your curvature before and after LASIK must be within a safe range to proceed with LASIK.
Overall Ocular Health
We, and your LASIK surgeon will determine whether there are any underlying conditions that would interfere with obtaining a positive result in your LASIK procedure. Some conditions, such as macular degeneration and cataracts, would affect your level of vision despite a good LASIK outcome. Other conditions, such as central serous retinopathy and prescription fluctuations in diabetes must be resolved before you can proceed with LASIK. Women should wait about 2 months following childbirth to allow their prescription to stabilize after pregnancy.
What are Progressive Lenses?
- If you've reached your forties, and are beginning to have a hard time reading with your distance glasses, progressive lenses are a great solution. Progressive lenses provide clear vision at all distances by gradually increasing near power as you look lower through the lens. These lenses provide seamless vision from distance, through intermediate to reading areas
- There are a wide variety of progressive lens designs. We offer the highest quality progressive lenses for general vision needs, and specialty lenses (e.g., Office lens) for task specific lens needs. We will discuss all lens options with you to make sure you receive the type of lens that works best for you.
Shamir Office
The Ultimate Occupational Lens
The Ultimate Occupational Lens
The Shamir Office is specifically designed for small work environments. It is a sophisticated reading lens that guarantees crystal clear vision for the printed page, computer screen area and beyond.
The Shamir Office answers the needs of a wide range of professionals: doctors, chefs, musicians, artists, accountants, car mechanics and other workers requiring concentrated vision for up to 10 feet.
The Shamir Office is superior to progressive lenses for an office environment, because it devotes a larger area of the lens to the distances where most of your time is spent. The result is a wider area of clear vision for arm's length distance, and a more comfortable head position for near work.
If you need clear, comfortable vision over a range of 1 foot to 10 feet for your work or hobbies, the Shamir Office is a great option for you.
What Lens Options Do We Offer?
Lens Materials
Plastic is lighter than glass, but can scratch. Therefore, plastic requires a scratch-resistant coating.
Polycarbonate is impact resistant, thinner and lighter than plastic. It has 100% Ultra Violet (UV) protection. It is a must for children due to its impact resistance.
High Index is thinner and lighter than plastic and polycarbonate. It has excellent optical quality. It has improved aesthetics and is recommended for higher prescriptions.
Glass lenses are resistant to scratches, but it is 60% heavier than plastic.
Lens Designs
Single Vision lenses are either for distance vision, near vision or general wear.
Progressive lenses provide great distance vision that you can also read at computer distance and even your cell phone display. These lenses do not have a bifocal line.
Bifocals provide distance and reading vision, with a visible bifocal line.
Shamir Office and Zeiss Business lenses are more versatile designs of reading lenses. They are especially good for computer use. For more detail on the Shamir lens click here.
Sunglasses are a fashionable choice for comfort and protection in outdoor activities. They can be made with your progressive or single vision prescription.
Lens Treatment Recommendation
Scratch resistance coating is included in the price of the polycarbonate and high index lenses. It is a good choice for plastic lenses.
Anti-reflective coating reduces reflections on the lenses. This improves the appearance of the lenses, as well as improved visual clarity and night vision.
Ultra violet coating protects eyes against UV rays, the major cause of cataracts. It is recommended for all plastic lenses.
Transitions lenses automatically darken outdoors and lighten indoors.
Tints can be applied for special purposes, such as computer use, driving, golfing, tennis, fishing, boating, skiing, shooting or other outdoor hobbies.
Polarized lenses are an excellent choice for sunglasses. They improve clarity and reduce glare outdoors. They are especially good for water sports.
Clip-on sunglasses make your prescription glasses dual-use, indoors and outdoors.
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What is Vision Therapy?
The eyes have two muscle systems which must work together. One system aims at a target and the other focuses on the target. When these two systems are not coordinated they fatigue. The result can be eye strain, headaches, and blurred or double vision. Vision therapy eliminates these symptoms by bringing these muscle systems under voluntary control, and then re-educating the muscle systems to work more effectively.
"Here's an analogy: When a person learns to ride a bicycle, the learning process is mentally demanding and physically exhausting. It feels awkward trying to coordinate arms, legs, handlebars, and pedals while staying balanced!
However, over time with patience and success, riding a bike becomes more and more natural. What was difficult becomes nearly automatic and you don't tire as easily. Through practice, you've learned new physical and mental skills what was initially demanding is now easy and even fun! And once you've learned, you'll always know how to ride a bike. This is what vision therapy is about automating the reflexes. This is accomplished through specialized eye exercises. Eye exercises can improve how your eye muscles work and relieve your symptoms.
However, over time with patience and success, riding a bike becomes more and more natural. What was difficult becomes nearly automatic and you don't tire as easily. Through practice, you've learned new physical and mental skills what was initially demanding is now easy and even fun! And once you've learned, you'll always know how to ride a bike. This is what vision therapy is about automating the reflexes. This is accomplished through specialized eye exercises. Eye exercises can improve how your eye muscles work and relieve your symptoms.
The Home Vision Therapy System (HTS)
We now offer the latest technology in helping treat your focusing and reading problems. The HTS system is a computer-based series of eye exercises that you perform either at home or at work on any computer that has internet access.
Many students and adults have 20/20 vision, yet they may have a muscle problem. When the eye muscles are not used properly, they fatigue, which can lead to eye strain, headaches, blurred vision, skipping lines when reading, even double vision.
Our eyes were never intended for spending long periods of time on close work such as reading or at a computer. Eyestrain is caused by the visual demands of modern living. HTS re-educates your eye muscles to work more effectively.
Cataract surgery and Intra-Ocular Lens Replacement
In cataract surgery, your clouded lens is replaced with a new clear artificial lens.
There are three main types of lenses that can be used to replace your lens:
1. Single power (Monofocal) lens
- Corrects only for either distance or near vision
- Does not focus for different distances
2. Multifocal Lenses
- Has either 5 (Restor) or 12 (Rezoom) zones focused for either distance or near vision
- Does not adjust focus for different distances
- Produces some haloes and glare around lights at night
3. Accommodating Lens
- This lens (Crystalens) moves forward when your eyes' focusing muscles contract.
Intra-ocular lens choices
The Rezoom Lens
- The Rezoom lens has five concentric zones, like a bull's eye pattern.
- The central zone is for distance vision in daylight. Around this zone are alternating distance and near zones for bright and dim light.
- In total, there are three distance zones, and two near zones.
- Your brain learns to choose the zone with the clearest image at all times.
- The Rezoom lens provides a good range of vision, with very good distance and intermediate (computer distance) vision.
- This lens may not provide strong enough reading power to see fine detail up close. Reading glasses may be necessary for very small print.
- This lens may produce some glare and haloes
The Acrysof Restor Lens
- The Restor lens has twelve concentric zones. This lens uses an apodization process to diffract light as it passes through the lens.
- Light rays are redirected slightly differently as they pass through the 12 zones to provide the clearest vision under all lighting conditions and visual demands.
- This process provides good distance and near vision.
- The Restor lens is believed to provide the greatest power for near vision of all lenses currently on the market.
- There may be some glare and haloes with this lens.
The Crystalens
- The Crystalens is an "accommodating" lens. This means that it can adjust focus for different distances.
- The lens moves forward to focus up close as you contract your eyes' focusing muscles. This results in a very natural range of vision, from distance to near.
- This lens provides very good distance and intermediate (computer distance) vision. It may not provide strong enough near power to see fine detail up close. Reading glasses may be necessary for very small print.
- The Crystalens is free of the glare and haloes that can be seen with the multifocal lenses.
Low Vision Information
A person is considered to have low vision if their ability to perform basic daily tasks is affected by their ability to see. The term "Low Vision" usually means the best attainable visual acuity is somewhere around 20/50 or worse. Low vision can result in general cloudiness, central vision loss, peripheral vision loss, blurry areas, or blind spots causing a loss of some portion of the visual field.
A Low Vision Evaluation is an in-depth functional evaluation to determine if the current vision can be improved to do those things the person wants to do. The end result of the low vision evaluation will be to determine the lens power and device that is best suited to meet the patient's needs. The low vision evaluation should explore the optical and non-optical systems that are currently available.
The Low Vision Exam
The low vision examination is quite different from the regular comprehensive exam. The goals of the low vision exam include assessing your functional needs, and the capabilities and limitations of your visual system. We assess the impact of ocular and systemic diseases on your vision. We prescribe low vision systems to maximize the use of your vision, tailored to your visual needs. We may also recommend further evaluation and treatment by vision rehabilitation professionals or make appropriate referrals for medical and surgical intervention.
A Low Vision Evaluation is an in-depth functional evaluation to determine if the current vision can be improved to do those things the person wants to do. The end result of the low vision evaluation will be to determine the lens power and device that is best suited to meet the patient's needs. The low vision evaluation should explore the optical and non-optical systems that are currently available.
The Low Vision Exam
The low vision examination is quite different from the regular comprehensive exam. The goals of the low vision exam include assessing your functional needs, and the capabilities and limitations of your visual system. We assess the impact of ocular and systemic diseases on your vision. We prescribe low vision systems to maximize the use of your vision, tailored to your visual needs. We may also recommend further evaluation and treatment by vision rehabilitation professionals or make appropriate referrals for medical and surgical intervention.
Low Vision Exam Format
The Low Vision Examination begins with an extensive history. We want to know if you have problems with reading, functioning in the kitchen, glare problems, travel vision, the workplace, television viewing, and school requirements. We also include a careful review of your ocular and medical history.
We will make careful measurements of your visual acuity using low vision test charts, and then determine the best glasses or contact lens prescription for you. We may also test your depth perception, color vision, contrast sensitivity and curvature of the front of the eye.