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Around the year 1625, scientists noticed that the eyeballs of some people who were blind or severely vision impaired felt harder or more solid than normal eyeballs. This was likely the first step towards the discovery of glaucoma, one of the common eye diseases we check for at Mountain View Optometry. Glaucoma is particularly worrisome because there are usually no symptoms at all during the early and middle stages of the disease. It’s only until the later stages that people start to notice something’s wrong with their vision, and by then it’s usually too late.
Risk factors for glaucoma include age (although it can occur at any age), high internal eye pressure readings, family history, a history of trauma or injury to the eye, and other physical findings in the eye that are found during regular eye examinations. We used to look only at the eye pressure, usually measured with an air puff test at the beginning of the eye exam, when determining if someone had glaucoma, now we know it’s much more complex than that. Even people with “normal” pressures have been found to have glaucoma. Our advanced equipment allows us to find glaucoma at the earliest possible stages, and the good news is that if we do find it, it can be treated quite effectively in most cases. Treatment for the most common type of glaucoma usually involves prescribing special eye drops designed to lower the pressure within the eyes.
The biggest concern to us is the fact that there are still many people who do not come in regularly to have their eyes checked, assuming nothing must be wrong as they are not having any problems such as pain, discomfort or vision problems. With conditions like glaucoma, this is a dangerous assumption. We have the technology and expertise to prevent vision loss from many common eye diseases. Spread the word about preventive eye exams – ensure you and your family are getting the professional care they need.
-Dr. W
Are you one of the approximately 6 million Canadians who use computer monitors every day? Have you noticed any blurred or double vision? How about eyestrain, headache or dry, burning eyes? You may be suffering from computer vision syndrome.
Stressed out about your eye exam? Relax, there are no wrong answers
Which is better – 1 or 2? 3 or 4? A or B? Was the last choice better than the first one or no different? As eye doctors we often forget just how stressful an eye examination can be for our patients. A combination of performance anxiety, fear of answering wrong or simply the rapid-fire Q and A situation can nudge up the blood pressure of even the most stoic personalities. Not to mention the equipment – the phoropter (that “thing with all the dials that goes in front of your eyes”) hasn’t really changed much in about 80 years.
The truth is, we will never be able to totally eliminate the “question period” part of the eye exam, no matter how advanced the technology becomes. This is because when we do this part of the test, we are really testing your brain, not your eyes. That’s right – your brain (the part that processes vision) is really doing the “seeing” part of vision. Your eyes are really nothing more than information gatherers, or receptors, of light. A little bit of magic happens once the light is received by your eyes, is converted to an electrical signal and travels down your optic nerves to the CPU called your brain. Studies show that the quality of this signal, in terms of the image that it generates, is actually very poor and carries with it a lot of “noise” that your brain must “clean up” before providing you with what you would call clear vision.
OK, not really magic, it’s actually scientific fact. However, the point is that we can measure your eyeballs up, down, and sideways and still not be 100% sure what your eyeglass or contact lens prescription should be. We have to ask your brain. So after we test your eyes with computerized equipment, and shine light in there with our retinoscope we have a pretty good idea. But not until we go through the question period are we confident enough to write that prescription.
Fortunately, you can relax, because we are more interested in seeing how you respond to different levels of blur during the subjective part of the exam, rather than the exact answer to the question “was it number 1 or number 2 that was better?”
In the near future you can expect to see some changes in the way we test your vision. We’ll still do the Q and A but it will likely become shorter in duration and more concise as technology improves. In the meantime, just take a deep breath, forget the cheat sheet and remember, there are no wrong answers!
- Dr. Tom Wilk