Testimonials

We would like to share a testimony about a young patient we saw this summer in our office. The patient was a 12 year-old girl who was going into seventh grade and had no visual complaints. She did, however, have a history of headaches that she was treating with Tylenol and cold packs on her forehead. She had passed all school screenings and saw almost 20/20 on the chart during the exam. However, on examination, it was determined that she had an astigmatism in one eye so her first pair of glasses was prescribed. When we followed up with her just a couple of days later to see how she was doing, she said that the headaches were better as long as she had her glasses on, but seem to come back pretty quickly when she took them off. Obviously, the astigmatism was the culprit with the headaches!  We are so happy that we could give her some relief and that she does not have to be taking Tylenol every day! We are often asked what astigmatism is and the best way to describe it is that it causes visual details to be blurry or distorted at far distance and close-up as well. It is often caused by an irregular shape of the cornea but is easily corrected with glasses or contact lenses. It is so rewarding to get positive feedback when even a small amount is corrected and patients have less eye strain, headache, and blur. This could make a significant difference in not only quality of life, but also in learning. 

Another young patient we recently examined had a history of far sightedness and had been wearing glasses to correct that for several years. He was limited with playing sports and other activities due to the thickness of the lenses. We were able to fit him in his first pair of contact lenses and he was so happy to not have to wear the heavy, thick pair of glasses which freed him up to play sports! He was one happy athlete!  

One of our priorities at EyesFirst, is not just seeing well but feeling well. Often we see patients who have resigned themselves to living with dry, itchy, uncomfortable eyes. They don’t realize there are many new treatments available to treat dry eyes and ocular allergies.  Everything from cutting edge light therapy to innovative new eye drops and ointments is available at our clinic. Once we diagnose the cause of the discomfort, we can prescribe a treatment appropriate for the situation.  Dry irritated eyes shouldn’t be tolerated, as they can decrease not only quality of life, but also affect quality of vision! If your tear film is not healthy then your vision will not be clear.  

We have also seen a patient who had broken her glasses one evening and the next day when she called her previous eye doctor, she was told that they could see her in 3 weeks.  This patient could not drive or even read without her glasses so she called our office and we worked her in for an exam that day!  We consider patient’s visual quality of life a priority and know that if you can’t see you cannot function optimally. By the way, we now have the privilege of seeing this patient regularly as well as her entire family! 

This reminds me of a middle-aged man we recently examined who came in because he had to renew his commercial driver’s license and needed to be sure his vision was optimized.  After completing the visual exam for glasses, we examined his eye health including his retina and optic nerve.  At that time, it was determined that he was at high risk for glaucoma. The thing about glaucoma is unfortunately there are no symptoms until the vision loss is significant.  Early on in the disease there is loss of the optic nerve fibers, but it only affects the peripheral visual field and does so very gradually, so it is not noticeable to the patient.  However, we have 3-4 tests we can do on patients who are at risk for glaucoma which help us to diagnose this blinding disease in the very early stages when it is easily treated with pressure lowering drops.  It is our goal to keep our patients seeing for their ENTIRE lives. The patient mentioned before went on to be prescribed eye drops to lower his eye pressure to a level that will not cause damage to his eyes or cause vision loss. 

Another focus at EyesFirst is preventing the progression of nearsightedness in children.  Nearsightedness, or myopia, has recently become an epidemic in our country due in part to the excessive use of screens such as smart phones, iPads, and computers.  When nearsightedness advances, it becomes incredibly difficult to even get around without glasses. There are several ways to keep nearsightedness from progressing including special contacts designed to prevent myopia from increasing as children grow. The ideal age to wear these contact lenses is 6-14. We have one patient who has been wearing these lenses for the past 18 months and his nearsightedness has NOT progressed at all during an age where change usually happens every six months or so. 

Another epidemic in our country is diabetes. Did you know that diabetes is the leading cause of preventable blindness?  The way diabetes affects your eyes is that it causes the tiny blood vessels in the back of the eye(the retina) to get leaky and form hemorrhages in the retina which disrupt the normal vision. If not treated in time, this retinopathy will permanently damage the retina which cannot be replaced or restored. Therefore, the only way to prevent blindness with diabetes is to keep the blood sugar at a proper level and have your eyes examined at least on a yearly basis.  If caught early, diabetic retinopathy can not only be treated with laser therapy, but also can be an important indicator for your diabetic doctor in the management of your blood sugar.