SPRINGTIME ALLERGIES!

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Happy face kid smile.Close up portrait joy child outdoors. Little boy playful smiling holding dandelions on eyes as eyeglasses. Joyful childhood, summer day. Background green grass

Allergies occur when your body becomes overly sensitive to something in the environment that typically causes no problems for most people. An allergic reaction may occur when that “something” that you are allergic to comes into contact with your eyes. In many cases, the “something” you are allergic to is airborne, such as pollen.

There are many different medications that have proven to be effective in fighting allergies, whether its spring, summer or fall allergies. If you cannot find a medication that helps you in combating the symptoms, it may be time to consult your eye doctor, as some eye diseases carry similar symptoms as allergies and will not improve with allergy treatment.

Seasonal allergic conjunctivitis, or SAC, is one of the most common types of eye allergy. Depending on the type of pollen that is in the air, people who suffer from SAC experience symptoms in spring, summer or fall.

Some of the most common symptoms are:

  • Itching
  • Redness
  • Burning
  • Clear watery discharge

People who have SAC may also notice dark circles under the eyes. These symptoms are often accompanied with a runny nose, sneezing, or nasal congestion.

As we stated earlier, there are several different types of medication that you can use to combat the symptoms of SAC.

There are also methods to combat your allergies that do not require medication.

  • Stay indoors at times when pollen counts are high.
  • Keep windows closed and use air-conditioning as much as possible.
  • Avoid using fans in windows as this tends to pull pollen into the house.
  • Wear glasses or sunglasses when outdoors to reduce the chances of getting pollen in your eyes.
  • Avoid rubbing your eyes when they feel itchy or watery.

Be sure to consult your eye doctor if you are using over the counter medications such as eye drops. Prolonged use of some eye drops may actually cause your condition to worsen and cause damage to your eyes. The proper treatment and avoiding pollen when it is at its highest will help to reduce your symptoms this allergy season.

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

EXTREME SPORTS REQUIRE CLARITY

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For many Americans, spring cleaning is not only a time to clean, but time to pull the fun toys out of storage. Toys such as the pair of jet skis neatly tucked away in the back of the garage or the four-wheeler that is out in the shed. While most thrill seekers take safety precautions when riding these vehicles, eye protection is often forgotten.

With all the excitement these high intensity motorsports deliver, most can’t wait to hop on and go, whether on water or through the woods. While many people remember the big ticket safety items such as the helmet or life vests, they often forgo eye protection, as part of their standard safety equipment.

The thrill of blazing down the trails on your four-wheeler, or skimming up one of our 3 rivers sitting atop a high-power jet ski, is what makes summer so appealing. You get ready for the season by taking care of your toys and doing such things as changing the oil or putting a new set of tires. But are you making sure you are ready to get out and get going with proper safety equipment?

Walking down the ramp to the dock, you throw on a life vest, jump on the Jet Ski and you take off full throttle down the river. What could go wrong? With your life vest on you are fully confident that you will float back to the surface if you are thrown off. But what if you aren’t thrown off? Can’t get hurt, right? There you are, cruising down the river and bam, catch a bug or piece of debris from the river in the face, even worse, a direct shot into the eye. While having a bug fly into your eye is bad enough, compound that with you traveling at 40+ mph.

This scenario is played out every year, and many times it ends with the rider taking a trip to the emergency room or to see their eye doctor. The impact of the bug to your eye can cause damage that can permanently affect your vision. A simple pair of sunglasses or goggles will not only help to prevent a bug from entering your eye, but will also help to reduce dry eye from the wind you experience at high speed. Sunglasses will also protect your eyes from the UV rays of the sun as they reflect off the water.

Off to camp you go as you back your four-wheeler off of the trailer and throw on your helmet, riding pants, boots, and t-shirt. Down the trail into the woods, hitting familiar trails throughout Western PA. Your goggles fog up so you take them off. It is all too easy to not think twice about taking them off as you can now see clearly again. That’s when it hits you, the branch you didn’t see hanging down over the trail.

Unfortunately this time you don’t have goggles on and it hits your face giving you an orbital fracture, or a fracture of the bone surrounding your eye. Some riders may experience a scratched cornea. Without safety goggles there is nothing to absorb the impact of the branch and you take the brunt of the impact. This fun weekend just took a turn down a wrong path as you now are faced with having to go to the emergency room.

Having the right eye protection when you are enjoying the outdoors, whether it is over the river or through the woods, can help to keep you safe as you enjoy your summer. Proper eye protection when using high octane personal vehicles can reduce the chances of injury from a foreign object impact, wind causing dry eye and UV rays from the sun. Be sure you sport up with the right eye protection. If you are unsure, give our office a call. At Bissell Eye Care, we carry a variety of sports eye wear. Summer is right around the corner. Make it a safe one.

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

TECHNOLOGY ADDICTION

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Group of young hipster friends playing with smartphone with mutual disinterest towards each other – Modern situation of technology interaction in alienated lifestyle – Internet wifi connection

Are you a compulsive phone checker? Did you know the average person checks their phone 27 times a day? Couple that with time spent at work or school on the computer and you could be headed for overload. Let’s not forget to add time spent on a variety of social media channels such as Facebook and Pinterest. Did you know, according to Business Insider, Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg states, “the average Facebook user spends about 40 minutes a day?” It’s no wonder we have headaches and our eyes hurt.

Have you ever felt discomfort in your eyes after using you smart phone computer or tablet? This is a growing trend that is being seen as the popularity of these devices rise. While there is no link to long term effect on the eyes with the use of these devices, overuse can lead to short term eye discomfort, tension headaches, dry eye and eye strain.

While these devices have helped to make everyday life easier, they can also cause discomfort and eye pain through their usage. Staring at a small bright screen for long periods of time can have negative short term effects on your eyes. It is especially important to try and limit technology use in young children.

Tension headaches are one of the leading complaints that patients experience when they spend large amounts of time looking at screens close up with high contrast differences. In other words reading dark print on a bright background can cause the muscles in your eyes to spasm. These muscles are located near your temples (the soft spot in between your eye and ear). Many devices developed for reading such as the Kindle or Noble Nook display black text on a gray background. These colors are shown to have less of a strain on the eye causing less irritation to the reader. When using your smart devices, turning down the brightness can help to reduce the strain as well, as your eyes are not forced to focus on bright light with vast differences in colors.

When you look at objects in the distance, your eyes automatically blink more keeping them moist. As you start to focus on objects that are close to you, the eyes blink less and become dry. Your eyes blink less because they are working harder to pick up all of the detail of what you are focusing on.

As you focus on objects closer to you, your eyes not only blink less but have to work harder. The pupils become smaller, and the muscles in the eyes adjust which forces them to work harder. When you spend hours on a hand held device, your eye muscles are forced to work harder which causes stain on your eye muscles. One way to overcome this is by looking away from the screen every so often and allowing your eyes to focus on an object far away. This will cause the eye muscles to relax and reduce the strain that constant focus on objects close up can cause.

Enjoy your technology, but be smart about overuse and long-term effects of eye strain. Monitor young children and be attune if they complain of dry eyes or headaches. Be sure to give your eyes a break every now and lower your brightness on mobile devices. Happy web surfing!

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

DIABETES AWARENESS MONTH!

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Diabetes monitor, Cholesterol diet and healthy food eating nutritional concept with clean fruits in nutritionist’s heart dish and patient’s blood sugar control record with diabetic measuring tool kit

Do you or someone that you love suffer from diabetes? With November being National Diabetes Awareness Month, we want to take the time to not only bring awareness to the effects diabetes can have on your eyes, but also on the effects the disease can have on your overall health.

While Type I Diabetes is usually discovered at a young age, and requires insulin injections to maintain the body’s proper blood sugar levels, Type 2 Diabetes (which is usually controlled with diet, exercise and oral medication) can eventually lead to insulin injection dependency. The key to help avoid diabetes is proper exercise, diet and weight management.

Diabetes can have negative effects on all parts of the body. It can cause problems with the circulatory system, central nervous system, cardio vascular system and vision.

How diabetes effects the eye, is caused by swollen blood vessels which can damage your vision and over time can lead to blindness. Some of the symptoms of eye damage conditions include, floaters or spots in your field of vision. People with diabetes are also more likely to develop cataracts at a much earlier age and are also more likely to develop glaucoma. Many of the symptoms may be very mild at first, which is why we stress the importance of regular eye exams for diabetics in particular, to provide early detection of treatable eye problems

There are several ways to help reduce the probability of developing diabetes. Nearly 80% of people who are diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes are considered over weight. It is easy to say that weight loss is the first way to help reduce your chances of developing this disease. While many people may be overwhelmed at losing 40 to 50 pounds, take small steps. Simply losing 10 pounds can have a positive effect on your body.

By losing the extra weight, it allows your body to function more normally and reduces the stresses that the extra weight puts on your body. Exercise also helps the body to function normally by helping the body to burn off excess sugar. This reduces the strain on your body and the amount of insulin needed to help convert the sugar into energy.

By watching your diet, monitoring your weight and exercising regularly, you can help to reduce your chance of developing diabetes. Small changes in your life from what you eat to whether you take the stairs or the elevator are simple changes that you can make today to help you to live healthier and happier!

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

A Little Boy With His Hands Over His Eyes Sitting In Front Of His Computer

WARNING SIGNS OF VISION PROBLEMS IN YOUNG CHILDREN

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A Little Boy With His Hands Over His Eyes Sitting In Front Of His Computer

With most schools being back in session, it is safe to say another summer has come and gone. September brings about the onslaught of a busy school schedule – homework, extracurricular activities and fall sports.

Studies have shown that seeing clearly has been directly linked to successful learning of children, especially at a young age. Visual learning is critical in early childhood education, where the foundation of educational building blocks occur. Having a yearly eye exam by an optometrist offers parents the peace of mind, knowing they have equipped their child with the best tools to be successful in school!

Older children and adults are able to notice when vision may change. Letters and words go from crystal clear, to slightly blurry, to not able to clearly see the chalk board (or white board) anymore. As your kids grow and move from elementary school, to middle and high school, it becomes easier for them to notice a difference their vision.

If your children are in preschool, kindergarten or elementary school, it may be more difficult for them to notice changes in vision, and communicate that to you. For this reason it is especially important for you to watch for the signs that they are struggling to see.

Some things to look for in young children are:

  • Saying their eyes are tired.
  • Seem to see better during the day than at night.
  • Clumsy, knocking things over of tripping often (while this may just also be the awkward growing stage it may be linked to their inability to see clearly).
  • Holding objects close to their face in order to see.
  • Excess rubbing of their eyes.
  • Tilting or turning their head.
  • Covering one eye when looking at things close up.
  • Misaligned eyes or squinting.
  • • Complaining of headaches.

As parents, we try to do everything we can to help our children be as successful as possible. By looking for signs such as these, you can be proactive in providing them the best opportunity to experience the love of learning.

Yearly eye exams starting as early as preschool could help to make a difference and provide a clear future for your children, and also help in the detection of early stages of eye diseases. Early detection is key in being able to treat and manage eye diseases!

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

FALL SPORTS AND EYE INJURIES

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Whether it is a sanctioned school sport, or simply a pickup game at the local park, it is important to keep you and your kids safe. Sporting eye injuries account for nearly 40,000 injuries every year, and 90% of those are preventable. When you strap on the sports gear, make sure protective eye wear is part of your uniform.

Various sports fall into one of three different categories: low risk, high risk, and very high risk. Depending on the risk level of your sport, it will dictate which protective eye wear you need.

Low risk sports include sports which do not use a ball, pick, stick, racquet, or bat and do not involve body contact. Some examples of low impact sports are track and field, cycling, gymnastics, swimming.

Medium risk sports are sports that use a ball, pick, bat, stick, or racquet and or involve some body contact. Some sports that are considered high risk include baseball, basketball, hockey, racquet sports, fencing, water polo, lacrosse, and football.

High risk sports involve body contact. Some sports included in this category are boxing, wrestling, and contact martial arts.

Blunt force trauma, penetrating injuries and radiation injury are among the most common types of injuries that are sustained during sporting activity.

Blunt force trauma occurs when something hits a person in the eye, or around the eye. This is one of the most common types of injuries for sports. Some of the most common types of blunt force trauma injuries include an orbital blowout (a fracture of the bone surrounding the eye its self) a ruptured globe (broken eyeball), detached retina (damage to the retina which is responsible for helping you to see) or bruising of the eye or eyelid (a black eye).

Penetrating injuries are when something cuts into your eye. These injuries are much less common. The most common type of penetrating injuries occur when the glasses that you are wearing break and a piece of the glass enters your eye. Other injuries can occur when someone inadvertently pokes you in the eye with their finger, or something such as a fishing hook gets caught in your eye. These cuts can range in the severity and depth depending on how invasive the foreign object is.

Radiation injuries are when the eye is exposed to ultraviolet light for long periods of time. This injury is often seen in sports where the sunlight reflects off of a surface such as snow skiing, water skiing or other water and snow sports.

While not every injury is preventable, taking the proper precaution and wearing the proper eye wear will minimize the risk. Have questions about which protective eye wear is best for you? Give our office at call at 742-443-6767 or 724-226-0444.

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

children's eye exam

THE AB – ‘SEES’ OF BACK TO SCHOOL

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children's eye exam
Children’s eye exams before the start of school can make a difference all year long!

It’s been a great summer, but kids and parents are gearing up for a new school year.  Whether it’s the first time attending preschool or kindergarten, it’s important to make Eye Exams a Back-to-School Tradition.

According to the American Optometric Association, 49% of parents have not had an eye exam on their children who are under six years of age, by an optometrist.  A comprehensive eye exam is different that the eye screenings done by your pediatrician and/or school nurse.

Although a child may have 20/20 vision, they may experience a vision problem that could impact their ability to learn.  Even if there are no complaints over the summer about blurry vision or headaches, children still need to have frequent eye exams. Just like their bodies are rapidly growing, children’s eyes are changing, as well.

Having clear vision is an essential part of the school experience, because so much of learning is visual. An undiagnosed eye problem could result in an academic setback in just a few short months. Some behavior problems could be linked to vision issues.  These students may seem uninterested or unfocused in school when in actuality they simply cannot see clearly.

Eye issues such as strabismus (misaligned eyes), astigmatism or amblyopia (lazy eye) are also detectable through an eye exam. For some eye conditions, vision can be permanently affected if the problem is not corrected. Regular exams mean earlier diagnosis and earlier treatment.

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a common condition in children, which often develops around the age of 6 or 7. This condition results when the cornea is curved too much or when the eye is longer than normal. When light comes into the eye, it is focused in front of the retina instead of directly on the retina and the child’s vision is blurred.

Nearsightedness can worsen rapidly, especially between the ages of 11 and 13, which means that an eye prescription can change dramatically over a short period of time. Changing eyesight is not a reason for worry, and vision tends to stabilize in the later teenage years and early twenties. During the growing years, it is important to make regular eye appointments with your child’s eye doctor. Making comprehensive eye exams a part of your back-to-school tradition guarantees that your children’s eyes are examined at least once every year.

Even a small change in vision can cause eye strain, headaches or blurred vision, which can be very distracting while in school. Staying consistent with eye exams will help your children to have clear vision and be able to concentrate and perform to the best of their ability.  Start your child on the right track to learning with clear vision.  From the doctors and staff at Bissell Eye Care, we wish you the best in the upcoming school year!

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.

BIONIC EYE BRINGS SIGHT

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Prostheses come in many forms; limbs, cochlear implants, dental implants and now the bionic eye is making its mark and a difference.

A visual prosthesis, often referred to as a bionic eye, is an experimental visual device intended to restore functional vision in those suffering from partial or total blindness. In 1983, Joao Lobo Antunes, a Portuguese doctor, implanted a bionic eye in a person born blind. Many devices have been developed, usually modeled on the cochlear implant or bionic ear devices, a type of neural prosthesis in use since the mid-1980s. The idea of using electrical current (e.g., electrically stimulating the retina or the visual cortex).

The entire system runs on a battery pack that is housed with the video processing unit. When the camera captures an image — of, say, a tree — the image is in the form of light and dark pixels. It sends this image to the video processor, which converts the tree-shaped pattern of pixels into a series of electrical pulses that represent “light” and “dark.” The processor sends these pulses to a radio transmitter on the glasses, which then transmits the pulses in radio form to a receiver implanted underneath the subject’s skin. The receiver is directly connected via a wire to the electrode array implanted at the back of the eye, and it sends the pulses down the wire.

The electrical signals generated by the stimulated electrodes then travel as neural signals to the visual center of the brain by way of the normal pathways used by healthy eyes — the optic nerves. In macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, the optical neural pathways are not damaged. The brain, in turn, interprets these signals as a tree and tells the subject, “You’re seeing a tree.”

Just as muscles need retraining following an accident or surgery; it takes some training for patients to actually see a tree. At first, they see mostly light and dark spots. But, they learn to interpret what the brain is showing them, and they eventually perceive that pattern of light and dark as a tree.

There have been two versions of the system created, each version containing substantially more electrodes to enable patients to perceive shapes and detect movement.  Researchers are already planning a third version that has a thousand electrodes on the retinal implant, which they believe could allow for facial-recognition capabilities.   Until then, we believe patients prefer seeing outlines and shapes, right now than nothing at all.

Click here to view a video on how a bionic eye helped a man with impaired vision.  The article is provided by Gillian Mohney with ABC NEWS: “Bionic Eye Helps Man See After Decade of Impaired Vision” 

About the author: John D. Bissell, owner of Bissell Eye Care and Tri-State Low Vision Services, offers comprehensive eye examinations for the entire family, ocular disease detection and treatment, eye glasses, sun glasses, active wear, contact lenses, and low vision examinations for those with significant vision loss. He has undergone specialized training for treatment of low vision by the International Academy of Low Vision Specialists utilizing customized telescopic eyeglasses, prisms and telescopic implants for patients who qualify. The practice accepts most types of vision and health insurance plans.