The Advantages Of Contact Lenses Over Glasses

Contact lenses are optical medical devices, just as spectacles are, and often provide cosmetic and optical advantages over them. The more than 35 million people in the United States who have opted for contact lenses over the use of glasses have done so because of their convenience, and cosmetic value. Many people initially feel discomfort when starting to use contact lenses, but the benefits of using them far outweigh these minor discomforts.

The Short History Of Spectacles

The invention of spectacles has greatly influenced progress in the arts and sciences, yet it is not very clear who invented this instrument. In 1270, Marco Polo saw elderly Chinese using this device, which they claim to have originated in Arabia in the 11th century.

The spectacles evolved in the western world from the late 1200s onwards, with riveted spectacles used by monks and scholars, who held the lenses in front of there eyes, or balanced them on their noses. The invention of the printing press in 1452 encouraged the mass production of spectacles, along with the growing popularity of books. For the lower and middle classes, there were spectacles mounted in wood, horn, bone, etc, whereas the upper classes used hand held spectacles in gold or silver frames.

The significant advancement in frame design occurred in the 1600s, with rigid bridges that allowed the spectacles to remain in place. In the present times, there has been a tremendous progress in frames and lens acuity, with the spectacles, whether plain or prescription, becoming a fashion statement.

The Short History Of Contact Lenses

If you are of the view that contact lenses are a new invention, you are way off the mark. Leonardo Da Vinci first described and sketched his ideas of contact lenses way back in 1508! However, it took more than 300 years to fabricate and wear them.

 

 

Swiss physician A.E. Fick and Paris optician Edouard Kalt are credited with fitting the first contact lenses, in the late 1800s, for myopia and hyperopia. These heavy glass lenses could be used for a few hours of wear only.

Plastic came into use in 1936, when William Feinbloom, an optometrist in New York, made contact lenses with the central portion of glass surrounded by plastic in the periphery that covered the sclera. 1948 saw a Californian optometrist, Kevin Tuohy produce contact lenses completely made of plastic.

The same year, George Butterfield, an optometrist from Oregon, improved upon Kevin Tuohy's design with lenses that matched the shape of the cornea, and would not easily pop off. These lenses have evolved to the present soft contact lenses, which are worn by more than 90% of the contact lens wearers in the United States.

Contact Lenses vs. Glasses

Contact lenses offer functional advantages over glasses in areas, such as sports, work – in humid environment, and in occupations where spectacles are inconvenient and not compatible with the equipment used, such as special headgears. Let us look at some of the advantages that contact lenses offer over glasses:

Natural Vision - As they are worn right on the cornea of the eye, contact lenses provide vision that is more natural. The objects appear in the correct size and position, without any distortion. The distance between the eye and the glasses can vary, causing the objects to appear larger or smaller than they actually are.
Stable Vision – Contact lenses are not affected by quick body movements, such as in sports and similar activities, and remain in place, providing clear and stable vision. Eyeglasses are unstable on your face when running, making your vision unstable, affecting your performance.
Peripheral Vision – Contacts give you a wider and better peripheral vision that glasses. Contact lenses move along with your eyes and you are always looking through the clearest part of the lens – the optic zone. On the other hand, the frames of the glasses block your peripheral vision, and when you move your eyes to the side, you are no longer looking through the optical center, causing blurred and distorted vision.
Unaffected By Weather – Contact lenses do not fog up when you come in from the cold, and neither do they get splattered by rain. In addition, they do not steam up from body heat or perspiration.
Comfortable – Contact lenses are quite comfortable to wear as they do not pinch your nose, or rub or press against your ears and temple, unlike glasses, which, in addition, slide down your nose when you perspire.

Contact lenses have been a boon for children in one particular sense. They do not get picked on at school by their friends. This relieves them from the psychological and physical traumas related to wearing glasses.

Glasses, at times do not work, and contact lenses are certainly superior to them:

Thick glasses are required in cases of severe short sightedness, making them very heavy, and your eyes look very small.
Glasses do not provide adequate correction when the difference between the visual acuity of your eyes is more than 2.5 diopters - a unit of measurement of the refractive power of lenses.
After cataract removal, your eyes need a special protection, which only contact lenses can provide adequately.

With improvements in technology, a wide variety of contact lenses are available, both for ophthalmic, as well as cosmetic uses. People who normally wear glasses can easily and safely shift to wearing contact lenses. People had many misgivings about using contact lenses, and opted for glasses, but these are no longer hold true.

There was a time when contact lenses used to pop out, and this was during the time when contact lenses were hard lenses. Today, there is no 'popping' out with the introduction of soft contact lenses. These soft contact lenses conform to the shape of the eye, and do not move or pop out.

Another myth of contact lenses being expensive is not correct. These are less expensive than many of the designer frames that are available today.

Follow the instructions of the manufacturers to take care of your contact lenses, to enable them to provide you with clear and healthy vision.

Michael Wright is a virtual authority on contact lenses. He also writes articles about color contact lenses and toric contact lenses.

Video Source: Youtube

Working Hard To Correct Lazy-Eye

(NC)-A baby is born. Soon after it opens its eyes, there is a critical period, during which time its visual experiences have a profound effect on the development of the visual areas of its brain. Ideally, both eyes have visual experiences of equal quality. But, if the baby is born with a cataract or with a serious vision problem in one eye, the child may develop a severe and permanent loss of vision, commonly known as lazy-eye. By understanding the changes in the brain that are associated with lazy-eye, Kathryn Murphy and a team of researchers at McMaster and Dalhousie Universities, aim to improve treatments for children at risk for developing this condition.

Dr. Murphy's research is being funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). CIHR is Canada's preeminent health research catalyst and is funded by the government of Canada. An exciting new concept, CIHR is modernizing and transforming the health research enterprise in Canada.

To learn more about CIHR please visit: www.cihr.ca, e-mail: info@cihr.ca or write to: CIHR, 410 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa ON K1A 0W9.

Vision Without Glasses Review - Restore Vision Without Glasses Ebook

Vision Without Glasses Review

Just Diagnosed With a Visually Impaired Child

Finding out that your child is blind, partially blind, or has low vision can be a scary experience. Some disorders will be discovered at birth, if the vision impairment has observable characteristics such as cataracts or congenital glaucoma, but many go undetected until the child doesn't meet certain visual milestones. Parents may start to notice that their child does not seem to make eye contact or track bright high contrast items. Children with profound vision loss will often have nystagmus. Nystagmus is an observable condition where the eyes tend to shift back and forth rapidly, giving the appearance of jiggling eyes. There are a few children that are born with normal vision and develop vision loss due to accidents, brain tumors, or severe illnesses. Generally if your child is not meeting typical vision milestones by around three or four months your pediatrician will refer your child to an ophthalmologist. Proper diagnosis cannot be made without a thorough exam from an ophthalmologist.

Visual Acuity

Visual Acuity may not be determined until your child is older. When doing an exam on an infant, ophthalmologists often use visual acuity cards. Basically these are large posters of black and white lines. Infants see high contrast, black and white items the best. The cards will start off with very thick black lines and each card will have gradually thinner black lines. The thicker the line, the easier it is for an infant to see. By observing how your infant tracks these cards, your ophthalmologist can determine more about your infant's visual acuity.

Dealing with the shock

There is no easy way to deal with finding out your child is blind or has a significant vision issue. Usually the diagnosis comes as a shock. Even if you are aware that there is a problem, actually hearing the words that your child may be blind or partially blind is emotionally crushing. Talking to others parents going through the same thing will help some. Educating yourself on the subject matter will also help. Not knowing what to expect is one of the most difficult aspects of having a vision impaired child. With most conditions your ophthalmologist can't give you a perfect idea of how well your child will be able to see in the future. Once your child starts being able to communicate well, you will have a better idea of the severity of your child's condition.

Coping with family members and friends

Not only do parents have to deal with their own emotions but also they have to handle the reaction of their family and friends. Sometimes family members can say things to make the situation worse, questioning your prenatal care, dismissing the problem as not as severe as you are telling them, or giving you unwanted advice. You may hear things like "well you can just get him glasses", or "you know they have surgeries for that". Even as you try to educate them on the subject, often times they have their own beliefs. Sometimes it is best to keep the discussions to a minimum if they are not supportive or helpful to you.

What to do next

Once you receive your diagnosis, you may be wondering what you can do. Talk to your pediatrician about getting services with a vision therapist. This is often available through Early Intervention programs. Ask your pediatrician whom to contact for more information on this. Read as much as you can on the subject. Knowledge about your child's vision condition will make you feel less helpless. Find a support group. If you can't find one locally, you can find one online. There are many support groups available for specific vision disorders.

Helpful links:

Albinism- NOAH
http://www.albinism.org
The National Organization for Albinism and Hypopigmentation

Nystagmus - American Nystagmus Network
http://www.nystagmus.org

Optic Nerve Hypoplasia/ Septo Optic Dysplasia - Focus Families
http://www.focusfamiles.org

Retinopathy of Prematurely
The Association for Retinopathy of
Prematurity and Related Diseases
http://www.ropard.org

Strabismus
http://www.strabismus.org

Blindness and low vision
http://www.blindness.org

National Association for Parents of Children with Visual Impairments
http://www.spedex.com/napvi/

Sunglasses: Form Versus Function

The incorporation of sunglasses into contemporary pop culture has brought the fashion aspect of glasses to full throttle. Individuals purchasing sunglasses today look first to style and only second to functionality. And while the ‘coolness’ of sunglasses is certainly vastly better today than the rigid frames of just a couple of decades ago, the emphasis on style threatens to undermine the most important characteristic of sunglasses: protecting your eyes.

Acute eye damage does not affect just those that spend hours outside day in and day out. In fact, just a single outing in the bright sun can cause severe sun damage. This is because of direct exposure to ultraviolet radiation. Ultraviolet radiation is a component of the light emitted from the sun which damages our eyes. While our eyes are usually able to cope with a few short term episodes of damage through intense UV exposure, exposure to repeated intense cycles has been linked to long term vision damage. That means that individuals that go snow skiing just a few times without sunglasses can get permanent damage. While less common, those that simply spend one day a month outside, particularly between the hours of 10 and 2, can develop permanent vision problems.

As a result, it is extremely important that shoppers not just look for the most popular sunglasses on the market, but rather are also cognizant of some important characteristics that all good sunglasses should have. If the functional purpose of sunglasses is to protect against UV exposure, then the most important characteristic glasses should have is a UV coating. While the plastic or glass from which the actual sunglass is made will block some of the UV rays, buyers should look for those glasses which block 400nm rays, as this effectively means that they block all rays. Another important consideration is how much coverage the glasses offer. Even if the glasses that you purchase protect up to 400nm, if they are not large enough to effectively block out unfiltered light from reaching your eyes, they are not effective.

While the fashion aspects of sunglasses are certainly important, these concerns should be viewed as secondary to the primary purpose of sunglasses, which is to protect your eyes. In shopping for your pair of sunglasses, be aware that you are purchasing something which will not merely make you ‘look good’, but also help you ‘see good’, for years to come.

Vision Without Glasses Review

Vision Without Glasses Review

Writing Your Personal Vision/Mission Statement

I recently spent some time revising my personal vision/mission statement for my coaching practice. While doing this, it occurred to me that the vision I have for my work is closely related to my personal vision. Having a job that reflects my personal vision is powerful because it has allowed me to create a business life for myself that truly reflects who I am.

Companies know all about vision and mission statements and getting their employees on board. Vision and mission statements propel the company in the direction that they want, and ultimately towards success. Many of us have spent countless hours working on these statements for our employers, and doing our part to contribute to their vision as a part of the team. Much like a business, we, as human beings have a purpose or mission in life.

What if we spent as much time getting to know who we are and what we want for ourselves? A personal vision/mission statement is the framework for creating a powerful life. Unlike a goal, a vision or mission rarely changes. It is a reason for our existence. It guides us in the decisions we make and the directions we take.

Your Personal Vision

Close your eyes and picture yourself in the future. It may be a few months or years from today. See the person you are; what you are doing, who you are with, what you have accomplished, what is important to you, and how people relate to you. How does it feel to be you? Feel the person you are, your true self. Now, open your eyes and see your life and yourself in the present, through those eyes. You will begin to notice the changes you need to make to honour this vision and lead a powerful life. A Personal Vision is a picture of your True Self in the future. An effective personal vision includes all the important elements of your life and career; it is who you want to be, what you want to do, how you want to feel, what you want to own, and who you want to associate with. Although your personal vision helps you to see into the future, it must be grounded in the present. It is a statement of who you are, and who you are becoming. It is the framework for the process of creating your life. Your vision is where you are headed, how you get there is your mission statement.

Your Personal Mission Statement

A Personal Mission Statement is how you will manifest your Personal Vision in your daily life. It may be a few words or several pages, but it is not a "to do" list. It reflects your uniqueness and must speak to you powerfully about the person you are and the person you are becoming. Remember, it's okay to be where you are, while heading somewhere else. In fact, the only place you can start, is where you are right now. Having a personal vision does not mean your life changes overnight. But it will change. Your personal mission statement provides the steps to get you there.

Your Personal Mission Statement should answer three questions:

1. What is my life about (Purpose)?
2. What do I stand for (Values)?
3. What actions do I take to manifest my Purpose and my Values?

Stephen Covey writes that an empowering Mission Statement: Represents the deepest and best within you. It comes out of a solid connection with your deep inner life. Is the fulfillment of your own unique gifts. It's the expression of your unique capacity to contribute. Addresses and integrates the four fundamental human needs and capacities in the physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual dimensions. Deals with all the significant roles in your life. It represents a lifetime balance of personal, family, work, community-whatever roles you feel are yours to fill. Is written to inspire you-not to impress anyone else. It communicates to you and inspires you on the most essential level.

"Creating a Personal Mission Statement will be, without question, one of the most powerful and significant things you will ever do to take leadership of you life. In it you will identify the most important roles, relationships, and things in your life - who you want to be, what you want to do, to whom and what you want of give your life, the principles you want to anchor your life to, the legacy you want to leave. All the goals and decisions you will make in the future will be based upon it. It's like deciding first which wall you want to lean your ladder of life against, and then beginning to climb. It will be a compass - a strong source of guidance amid the stormy seas and pressing, pulling currents of you life." Stephen Covey, author of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

A Personal Vision/Mission can help propel you into a new job, or make your present job work better for you. The more connected your Personal Vision/Mission is to yourself, the better it can guide your career and your life.

The Benefits of Axle and Transmission Lubrication

Nearly all car owners are generally informed nowadays that proper engine servicing is normally vital to the dependability and lifetime of a car or truck. A nonfunctional motor creates a stranded driver. But the truth is, most people have a tendency to overlook their vehicle's transmission as well as differential gears. Routine servicing of these gearboxes is every bit as important as engine servicing. Not surprisingly, in the event that the transmission or differential stops operating, the driver is just as as stranded.

Some time ago, the typical automatic transmission was a three speed. Presently four, five and six speed transmissions are typical, and one producer provides an eight speed transmission! Contemporary transmissions and differentials usually are subjected to increased horsepower, greater towing limits in addition to hotter heat extremes, and they involve a lot more clutches and are usually subjected to increased shifting for the same driving speeds. Wear protection along with oxidation resistance, for this reason, become more essential than in the past. A good synthetic automatic transmission fluid (ATF) will provide fantastic wear protection as confirmed in the Vickers Vane Pump Test needed for the GM DEXRON® IIIH and VI technical specs, and it resists oxidation twice as long than required for regular automatic transmission fluids.

Transmissions operate at high temperatures, very often leading to deterioration of the transmission fluid, producing clutch glazing and deterioration in shift quality. Clutch glazing can be experienced as an elongated, slipping or even sloth-like shifting feel, and it's almost always a sign of transmission breakdown. Synthetic transmission fluids offer you maximum defense against oxidation and also clutch glazing.

Whilst rear end styles have remained somewhat the same over the previous 30 years, their working environments have changed drastically. Current differentials usually are put through approximately 93 percent more power, towing limits as much as eighteen thousand, high working temps plus diminished lubricant quantity. Numerous suppliers recommend switching the original gear lube during the initial 500 to three thousand miles based mostly on Society of Automotive Engineers tests. We advise the original differential gear lube always be changed no later than the first 5,000 miles, regardless if car or truck producers do not designate to change the factory-fill gear lubricant to take away wear particles. If you use synthetic gear lubes, we suggest drain intervals of 50,000 miles in extreme service or one hundred thousand miles in normal service, or longer if suggested by the manufacturer. Synthetic gear lubricants not only give top-notch insurance and overall performance in cars, including diesel passenger trucks, they usually are substantially much less than original synthetic gear lubes.

Vision Without Glasses Testimonial 2012

Vision Without Glasses Testimonial 2012

The Psychology of Color in Web Design

Persons engaged in website design, here’s a scoop for you! Would you just like to know that by understanding the basics of cognitive psychology around color and patterns, we could further improve our Web design!

Designing a Web site does not only concentrate on making web pages of a certain site interesting and impressive. This skill and talent must also be used to ensure the user-friendliness of a certain site and must strive to reach the widest range of users possible.

So what’s this about psychology? It simply implies that by understanding the capabilities of the human eye, we can produce Website designs that are more user-friendly. Being user-friendly means that our website design will not only cater for normal sighted Internet users but also to those partially sighted, blind or estimated 8-10% of men with red-green colour blindness.

If you don’t know anything about vision and colorblindness and their reaction to various designs, then you must start learning now! 'Normal' vision is subject to huge variances. Even the size of elements will affect an individual user's perception of colour. The colours and the intensity of shades you choose to use in your Website design will be discerned differently by every individual who visits your Website.

Inconsistencies in color patterns are affected by changes in the ambient lighting levels. It’s like changes in your hair color depending on the amount of lighting it was exposed. Some people even see blue colors in some objects like clothing wherein others do not perceive. These persons just happen to have more blue sensitive cones (photosensitive cells which convert light energy into nerve impulses) in their retina. They seem to view the world with 'blue-tinted spectacles'. As a web desinger, you have to be aware that these conditions are the reasons why your perception of your Web design may be different to other people and certainly are not the same with everyone else's.

The key aspect to contemplate to achieve accessibility, aside from impaired vision, is by being aware that your design might be manipulated by assistive technology. Screen readers or magnifiers are examples of this. They are software the physically disabled employ to enhance their experience of user interfaces. Some Web users can only read a certain combination such as yellow text on a black background, which allows no room for greyscale.

In order to have good legibility for users with certain visual difficulties and impairments, strong contrast can be a main ingredient in your design. Test the effectivity of this by manipulating screenshots of your design in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Try converting the image to greyscale then make the screenshot monochrome to see how it might be viewed using the most extreme visual manipulation -- do this by increasing the contrast level to +100. This is a particularly useful approximation of difficulties colour blind users may experience in discerning one colour or shade from another.

You can start adjusting your color application now and keep in mind that your designs will not be considered impressive if few people could discern them. -30-

VSP Vision Care Vision Care for Life

At some point in everybody's life there is going to be a necessity for corrective lens of some kind, whether they be eyeglasses or contact lenses. VSP (Vision Service Plan) is dedicated to offering affordable, high-quality eyecare plans that put people first, support visual wellness and improve one's quality of life. As the nation's largest provider of exceptional eyecare coverage, more than 1 in 10 Americans rely solely on VSP for the health of their eyes. For close to half a century, VSP has been a trusted advisor in eyecare wellness and health benefits.

The VSP network or family of companies offers world-class products and services to clients, doctors and members. "VSP companies' capabilities range from comprehensive eyecare, to cutting-edge e-commerce and practice management technologies, to services that connect private practice with the industry's most respected and high-fashion frame brands and lab finishing capabilities." Of course, if VSP is provided for by the company you happening to be working for, all the better. Vision Service Plan insurance will generally cover all the necessities of eye care leaving the cost of cosmetic enhancements up to the patient, usually to pay out of their own pocket. VSP, at a minimum, provides for an eye exam per year as well as lenses and frames for glasses or a set of contacts. Some plans can be set up with more comprehensive coverage and a series of co-payments tapping into a litany of quality, VSP managed, care services.

Coverage of obtaining glasses usually encompasses the following steps: Eye Examination, Prescribing, Frame selection, Accuracy of lenses, Fittings and Adjustments. Getting contacts usually entails an eye examination, prescription and then trying on and testing out a new pair of contact lenses. Normally, the optometrist suggests testing a new set of contacts out for a week or so before ordering a new set. Vision Service Plans cover the aspects of contacts that are visually necessary but as mentioned previously leave the cost for cosmetic embellishments-such as colors-up to the patient.

The VSP network works together to ensure that private practice remains the number one choice of patients in today's extremely competitive eyecare industry. VSP Vision Care based in California provides vision care to more than 55 million members nationwide and the exclusive network of private-practice doctors is more than 25,000 strong and growing. As a full-service benefit provider, VSP members can get a WellVision Exam, a wide selection of eyewear brands and personalized, monitored care from any of their network doctors.

At Vision Service Plan's website, www.vsp.com, a large amount of invaluable, up-to-date resources are available to all members, as well as non-members, promoting trusted eyecare wellness to the larger public. Optometric and doctor resource articles are continually being added revealing the lastest practices and developments in the eyecare industry. Members can easily "Find a VSP Network Doctor" that is right for them, access personal benefit information, choose a plan through their employer and obtain eyewear advice specifically suited to that member. This are only a few of the services available online through VSP. Most of your eye health questions can also be answered. Questions relating to Computer Vision, Contacts, Driving, Eye Conditions & Diseases, Eye Exams, Eye Safety, Eyewear Genetics, How the Eye Works, Laser Surgery, Nutrition for Your Eyes and School Vision Screenings can all be addressed.

There is also a Diabetes Discovery Center at https://www.vsp.com/discovery/html/ada.jsp which addresses living with diabetes and information related to eyecare and diabetes. Topics covered include: Diabetes and Your Eyes, Diabetes Risk Test, All About Diabetes, Diabetes Prevention, Nutrition & Recipes, Weight Loss & Exercise and For Parents & Kids. You can also subscribe to Eye on Health, their quarterly eyecare education e-newsletter, providing timely information on eye health topics to help you keep your vision healthy. You can subscribe to their newsletter by clicking the following link: https://www.vsp.com/eyeonhealth/

Dr. Beckwith of Austin County Eye Associates is a VSP doctor instilling the same commitment and dedication to eyecare wellness for nearly three decades. His commitment to the quality of life of his patients and eyecare on the whole meets with the standards of excellence and practice set out by Vision Service Plan.
Click here to read the rest of VSP Vision Care. If you enjoyed this article, you also might like our other stories about Austin County Eye Care.

Vision Without Glasses

Vision Without Glasses