News this week from the American Optometric Association:
President Barack Obama signed into law a measure that provides nearly $600,000 in new federal resources to help expand the scope and impact of InfantSEE® – the signature public health program of the American Optometric Association (AOA) and administered by Optometry’s CharityTM – The AOA Foundation.
The first direct appropriation, sponsored by Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) totaled $500,000 and is aimed at supporting expansion and outreach of the program.
“Many parents of newborns do not know that the most dramatic development of a child’s visual system occurs within the first year of life,” said Sen. Byrd. “And it is through early detection and treatment of potential problems that parents can help ensure poor vision and eye health does not severely affect their child’s ability to learn and place them at a disadvantage in education and in life.”
The second direct appropriation totaling $90,000 was sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and will support program expansion through outreach in Iowa.
“InfantSEE® is doing much more than identifying and treating risk factors that may cause eye and vision problems later in the life,” said Sen. Harkin. “They are taking prevention to a new level to ensure healthier, thriving children and lower health care costs down the road.”
InfantSEE® assessments are complementary to the routine well-care exams a baby receives from a pediatrician or family physician. Optometrists have the training to identify areas of risk that are critical to vision development and the skills to identify conditions that might not be detected in a routine pediatric wellness exam. In some cases, conditions may need to be monitored, immediately treated or referred to a pediatric eye specialist.
At Advanced Eye Care, we believe in and support the InfantSee program. Check out this post to learn more about it. If you have a newborn or are expecting, remember that the InfantSEE® exam provides a no-cost vision assessment if your baby is between 6 and 12 months old.
Did you know that Dr. Holser played football as a defensive end at Albion College? If you have had your eyes examined in the “Albion” exam room at Advanced Eye Care, you probably do!
During his football career at Albion, Dr. Holser’s football teams posted a 40-3 record, including a 35-1 regular season record, went undefeated in league play claiming 4 MIAA league titles, and won the 1994 NCAA Division III National Championship. The 1991 and 1994 squads have already been inducted in the Albion College Athletic Hall of Fame for their accomplishments. On October 2, the 1993 squad will be recognized with the same honor. You can read about the 1993 team here.
Dr. Holser is not the only “Hall of Famer” in his family. His wife, Sara, was inducted as an individual by the Albion College Athletic Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in golf in 2008. Sara was the first woman golfer at Albion to achieve All-conference status in 1993 and she repeated in 1994.
InfantSEE® is a public health program designed to ensure that eye and vision care becomes an integral part of infant wellness care to improve a child’s quality of life. Under this program, American Optometric Association (AOA) member optometrists will provide a comprehensive infant eye assessment within the first year of life as a no cost public health service. Dr. Holser is a proud volunteer for the InfantSEE® program!
Here in West Michigan, the spring allergy season is in full bloom. I am not an allergy sufferer, but patients have let me know with their itchy, red, and watery eyes. For some, this has even caused enough discomfort for them to decrease or even stop their contact lens wear. Contact lenses tend to aggravate eye related allergy symptoms and contact lens wear becomes very uncomfortable.
Often, the medications patients are taking such as the popular antihistamines, Allegra D and Claritin D, do a great job of drying out the watery nose. But, they also decrease our tear production which is essential for contact lens comfort and rinsing the allergans (what is causing your allergic reaction) away from the eye and the mucous membranes of our eye lids. That makes the ocular symptoms of the allergies worse! The ocular symptoms are better managed with eyedrop medications that work at the source of the allergic reaction.
Fortunately, there are a lot of options to help manage the ocular allergy symptoms. We have medications, like Pataday, that are dosed once daily to provide all day relief of the red, itchy, watery eyes. Clinical studies have shown that the over the counter products, such as Visine-A, don’t provide long term relief that a prescription medication can. Because it is a prescription medication, however, Pataday must be prescribed by your optometrist.
If you are an allergy sufferer and would like some relief, call for an appointment today.
We have recently enhanced how we educate our patients about their eye conditions and treatments. In the past, I would discuss the eye and vision conditions each patient has and send each patient home with literature specific to their condition for future reference.
At Advanced Eye Care of Grand Rapids, we have added the Eyemaginations 3D-Eye patient education software. In the examination room, I can now use 3-D animations to teach patients about their visual condition, eye health, and treatment options. The animations can also be emailed to patients so that they can be referenced after the exam. I realize that not everything discussed sinks in immediately and it is great to hear the message a couple of times before we can fully understand the message. Some of the animations are also available directly on our practice website, http://advancedeyecaregr.com, so that anyone can review eye conditions at any time.
I felt that this software really enhances our patient education process at Advanced Eye Care of Grand Rapids. I will still discuss your vision and eye health conditions and treatment options one-on-one in the exam room and let you take home printed information. But now, you will have access to more details in the 3D-eye animations emailed right to you. You can also share this information with family, friends, and even your neighbors!
Come and check out the 3D-Eye animation about your eye or vision condition today!
Almost everyone in my family has blue eyes, including me. Did you know that blue eyes are new? The have only been around 6-10,000 years according to anthropologists. That’s relatively new, evolutionarily speaking, as the human species has been around for 200,000 years. The following article briefly discusses the evolution of blue eyes in humans.http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090209/LIFESTYLE03/902090368/1040
One of the most frequent questions I am asked by patients is if they can change their eye color using colored contact lenses. Yes, we can make your brown eyes blue (or green or gray or even purple!). Colored contact lenses are a great way to show a different side of your personality. Whether you want to change your eye color all the time or just for going out on the weekends, we have the eye color for you. Give us a call to set up a contact lens examination and try colored contact lenses today.
Early Detection Critical to Treating Glaucoma, Preventing Blindness
More than three million people in the United States have glaucoma, a group of eye diseases that damage the optic nerve and destroy eyesight. Unfortunately, nearly half of those with glaucoma are not even aware that they have it. Are you one of them? You owe it to yourself to find out by getting a comprehensive dilated eye exam that includes having drops put in your eye. With its painless and gradual loss of vision, glaucoma may have no early warning signs, but it can be detected during a comprehensive dilated eye exam.
A comprehensive eye exam at Advanced Eye Care of Grand Rapids includes four different screening tests for glaucoma: intraocular pressure measurement, visual field testing, optic nerve evaluation, and a photograph of the internal eye structures.I can detect subtle changes to the optic nerve before any symptoms appear.This allows me to determine if you have glaucoma or are at risk for it, to monitor your condition, to treat glaucoma as early as possible, and to look for other vision problems.If detection of glaucoma is made after symptoms appear, it may be too late to prevent vision loss and the progression of blindness.
If glaucoma is detected early, we can begin treatment with medication or refer you for surgery to slow or stop vision loss.Some think that high pressure inside the eye means that you have glaucoma.It may be associated with glaucoma, but high pressure by itself does not mean that you have glaucoma.Only a comprehensive dilated eye exam and evaluation of the optic nerve by an eye doctor can tell you that.
Anyone at any age can develop glaucoma, but those at higher risk for developing the disease include:
African Americans over age 40
Everyone over age 60, especially Mexican Americans
People with a family history of the disease
If you or someone you know is at higher risk for developing glaucoma or if you want to have the assurance that your eyes are healthy, schedule a comprehensive eye examination today. Call Dr. Holser at (616) 361-2020 or visit visionsource-drholser.com.
You can read more about National Glaucoma Awareness Month here: www.aoa.org/x8989.xml
