Common Myths About What Makes Eyesight Worse/Options That May Help

There are all sorts of myths about eye care - things like using concoctions to get rid of pink eye to how to strengthen your eyes to how to cure or lessen myopia.

myopia

noun
Ophthalmology. a condition of the eye in which parallel rays are focused in front of the retina, objects being seen distinctly only when near to the eye; nearsightedness. 

What doesn’t work:

• Intentionally prescribing less than the full amount of a prescription.   This has been shown to have the opposite effect and makes myopia worse. Myopic parents often request their child’s eye doctor not prescribe the full amount of their measured nearsighted correction. Numerous studies show this is not helpful. Increasing nearsightedness is not caused by “getting used to stronger glasses.”

• Eye exercises being promoted on the Internet. Certain types of eye exercises, prescribed by specially trained doctors, have been shown to be helpful for certain eye conditions. Myopia is not one of them.

• Pinhole eyeglasses. These glasses may provide sharper vision, but offer no myopia control benefits.

What works:
• Have your child spend more time outdoors. Research supports that a minimum of 2-3 hours of outdoor time per day has some protective effect against myopia. Kids receiving myopia treatments, like those offered at Treehouse Eyes, do better when they are younger and have less myopia. Like many conditions, early treatment matters.

What may work:

• Limit screen time. Children spending more time on digital device screens (smart phones, tablets and games) may have a higher rate of myopia. Attempting to limit screen time is probably helpful.

• Vitamin D. Vitamin D is produced by exposure to the sun. Lack of Vitamin D may play a role in the progression of myopia.

• Reading posture. If your child reads in bed, laying on their back might be the best position to help minimize increasing myopia. To date, we are unsure why this helps, but it may.

Come into our office for an eye exam if you're worried about possible worsening myopia.   

Better Eye Healthcare with the Optos Daytona

One of the many complaints and/or questions we get when patients come into our Melrose office is, "Will I need to get my eyes dilated?"

Our new answer for most patients - thanks to our new Optos Daytona Retinal Camera - is "no."

A traditional retinal exam uses eyedrops to dilate the pupil, or black portion of the eye. This helps make the back of the eye more visible  through an ophthalmoscope, that familiar hand-held instrument the doctor holds up to your eye.

The new technology, called the Optos Daytona retinal scanner, uses two lasers of different wavelengths and a mirror to take a scan of the back of the eye, or retina, through the undilated iris. The optometrists can see nearly the whole retina at once, compared with just a small piece of it at a time using traditional methods.

A retinal exam isn't necessary at every visit to the eye doctor, but is recommended as part of a routine eye exam schedule. While dilation helps eye doctors see the retina, it also makes it difficult for patients to see at a close distance for several hours after an exam, and may cause sensitivity to light. Far-sighted patients are affected even further away when an eye doctor dilates their eyes.  Some patients are even allergic to the eye drops.

A COLOR OPTOS DAYTONA IMAGE OF A DETACHED RETINA

This new technology allows us to not only see your retinas clearly without the need for eyedrops, we can even save the color images for later study and as part of your eye health records.

This is just another way we can better serve our West Hollywood community from our Melrose office.

Please visit our website and book an appointment to get your eyes examined. 

Scientific Studies Offer Opportunity for Simple Eye Tests to Detect Alzheimer's Disease

Pretty soon,  your local Optometrist could offer you health services that go far beyond the eye itself and give us the means to detect early warning symptoms for such diseases as dementia and Alzheimers.  Scientists have already discovered the many ways the eye can indicate diseases such as high blood pressure,  cancer, diabetes, and high cholesterol, but recently two teams in the UK and Canada have found two indicators in the eye that speak to early detection for brain diseases like dementia and Alzheimers.



A team from Moorfield's Eye Hospital in London and Oxford University used eye scans to measure the thickness of a layer of neurons on the retina at the back of the eye.
Scientists measured this layer among 33,000 patients aged 40 to 69 – while carrying out a series of tests on memory, reaction time and reasoning.

Those with a thinner layer of neurons were more likely to perform poorly on cognitive tests – which could indicate the early stages of dementia. The machinery - which uses light waves to draw a detailed picture of the back of the eye - is already used by many ophthalmologists, so could be introduced into standard eye exams.

Canadian scientists, found deposits of a protein called amyloid – which is commonly found in the brain of those with the disease - on patients’ retinas. Researchers said the findings could help pave the way for comfortable and widely available tests.

 You can read more here. 




At Positive Eye Ons, we already screen patients for a variety of eye-related diseases as well as high blood pressure,  cancer, diabetes, and high cholesterol as indicated above.  In addition we are Orthokeratology certified and can prescribe the contact lenses you wear at night to reshape your cornea for better vision during the day.  We are excited about these developments in health, and hope that these new procedures and detection methods can be integrated into your regular eye exam every year.

Please visit us at our Melrose Avenue office in West Hollywood and let us use our cutting edge equipment and expertise to help you see better, and feel better. 

Where is Positive Eye Ons? (West Hollywood, Of Course!)

Positive Eye Ons is located in the heart of West Hollywood on Melrose Avenue between Fairfax and La Brea.  We are the only Eye Doctor on Melrose. 
Our specific address is: 

7629 Melrose Ave. (Corner of Melrose and Stanley)
Los Angeles, CA 90046

Tel: 323.651.5646
Fax: 323.651.1426

Email: info@positiveeyeons.com

Our Hours:
Mon-Fri 11am-7pm
Sat 10am-7pm
Closed Sunday

You may schedule an appointment online by simply visiting us here.

Evening and Weekend appointments available
Lab on Premises
Emergency Repair
Free Adjustments
Most Insurance plans accepted