Dry eye is a condition in which there are insufficient tears to lubricate and nourish the eye. Tears are necessary for maintaining the health of the front surface of the eye and for providing clear vision. People with dry eyes either do not produce enough tears or have a poor quality tears. Dry eye is a common and often chronic problem, particularly in older adults. Symptoms include irritated, gritty, scratchy, burning, foreign body sensation, excess watering, pain and blurred vision. The development of dry eyes may be due to multiple reasons such as age, gender, medications, medical conditions, environmental conditions, contact lens wear, and refractive surgery. Dry eye can be diagnosed through a comprehensive eye examination. Testing includes special emphasis on examination of the external eye, lids, lashes and cornea. Measurement of the quantity and quality of tears is performed with tests such as Schimer’s, Quick Zone, and instillation of dyes in the tears. There are several treatment options used by the Doctors of Nasa Vision Center that include conserving tears, increasing tear production and treating the inflammation of the eyelids or eye surface that contributes to the dry eye. Please call to schedule your dry eye evaluation. Flashes and floaters are caused by the contents of the eye (the vitreous humor) breaking apart and tugging on the retina. Over our life time the vitreous is liquefying. As the vitreous breaks apart it may cause the formation of “floaters” where black spots, smudges, or nets appear in the vision. The vitreous is lightly adhered to the retina and as the vitreous collapses it can pull on the retina causing “flashing lights”. The concern is the vitreous pulling away cleanly or is it tearing the retina causing holes and retinal detachments. Any time you have floaters or flashing lights you need to immediately come in for a retinal evaluation. At Nasa Vision Center we use the newest tools optomap, retinal B scan and the Zeiss Cirrus retinal scanner to detect any retinal problems. Every routine examination includes looking at the retina for changes related to your blood pressure. The eye is the only part of the body that you can directly look at the blood vessels which gives a lot of information about a persons general health. MD’s advise their patients with high blood pressure to get a regular eye examination. Using fundus photography the Doctors at Nasa Vision Center can document the health of your vascular system. If you are hypertensive be sure and have a regular eye examination. The doctors of Nasa Vision Center can treat ocular allergies. If you suffer from itching, burning, watering , red, swollen eyes there are several very effective prescription treatment options available. Because ocular allergies is a medical problem this is covered by your major medical insurance. Topical prescription drops typically are much more effective then the over the counter allergy drops. Using ocular treatments also tends to avoid the adverse effects of oral antihistamine agents which cause systemic symptoms of drowsiness and drying of the eyes. The clinic can address your problems promptly with little wait time for an appointment. Glaucoma is a group of eye disorders leading to progressive damage to the optic nerve, and is characterized by loss of nerve tissue resulting in loss of vision. Unfortunately with this disease you do not know it, see it or feel it until it is way too late. This is why the Doctors of Nasa Vision Center recommend a yearly comprehensive eye examination. Glaucoma cannot currently be prevented, but if diagnosed and treated early it can usually be controlled with medication. There are many types of glaucoma and many theories about the causes of glaucoma. The exact cause is unknown. The disease is often associated with increased fluid pressure inside the eye while other theories include lack of adequate blood supply to the optic nerve. Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the US. It most often occurs in people over age 40, although congenital or infantile forms of glaucoma exist. People with a family history of glaucoma, African Americans, and older adults are at higher risk for developing glaucoma. Every comprehensive eye examination includes an evaluation for glaucoma. If glaucoma is suspected we are equipped with the latest technology to do further testing. Please be sure to get your yearly eye examination. Anyone with diabetes is at risk for diabetic eye disease and should have a complete eye examination with dilation every year. Diabetes can cause severe vision loss and or even blindness if left untreated. Risk of complication from diabetes increases the longer one has the disease and with poorly controlled blood sugar levels. Diabetes is often times first diagnosed thru an eye examination, when a significant change in vision occurs or vision seems to be fluctuating. Elevated blood sugar can cause a noticeable change in vision. Other complications include diabetic retinopathy where the blood vessels of the retina swell and leak fluid. This can cause hemorrhaging of the retinal blood vessels and swelling of the central vision (macula), which can lead to vision loss. Another serious complication is neovascularization. As the disease progresses blood vessels in the retina become faulty, providing an inadequate oxygen and nutrients supply to the retinal tissue. As a result new more fragile vessels begin to grow, which can break and bleed leading to retinal detachments, macular edema, blood vessels growing in the iris which can cause glaucoma. Nearly half of all people with diabetes will develop some degree of diabetic retinopathy during their lifetime, which is why yearly eye examinations are so important. Monitoring vision and the health of the retina can help prevent more serious complications. Should diabetic retinopathy develop treatment with a laser can help reduce the risk of severe vision loss but will not restore vision completely. Adequate control of blood glucose levels slows the onset and progression of retinopathy and lessens the need for laser surgery. Finding diabetic retinopathy early is the best way to prevent vision loss. The Doctors at Nasa Vision are primary eyecare eye doctors, who can take care of pink eye and other eye infections. Our clinic has the proper equipment for dealing with these kinds of problems unlike your family doctor. Why go and wait for hours in the emergency room when we can help you quickly and easily. If you need help after hours please call 832 573 7290 or 281 332 0698 for Dr. Sommers. Infantsee – Your Childs First Eye Examination This may come as a surprise to many of you, but your child’s first real eye exam by a doctor ( the pediatrician doesn’t count) should be within the first year of life. Yes, we admit that optometry has been remiss about getting the work out. The dentists have done a much better job than optometry in educating their patients about the proper time for checkups. Considering the importance of vision in the learning process it behooves parents to ensure their child’s vision by having regular eye examinations beginning at age one. At this stage, we can catch excessive or unequal amounts of farsightedness, nearsightedness and astigmatism to help prevent amblyopia and crossed eyes. Vision development and eye health problems can be more easily corrected if treatment is begun early. Nasa Vision Center does eye exams for every member of the family. The Doctors at Nasa Vision Center can remove foreign bodies from the eye. Removal is advised as soon as possible. Trying to tough it out tends to make the removal more complicated with eye infection much more likely. The office is open 6 days a week or after hours by calling Dr. Sommers cell number 832-573-7290. Service is quick ( as opposed to long waits in the emergency room) and often much less expensive. Everyday I have patients tell me that their new 19” computer screen makes it easier to see the computer. Yes the quality of the monitor is improved but without the proper prescription the image in front of you has just gotten bigger and blurred. For most people their computer monitor sits at approximately eye level. If you are a bifocal wearer this means that when you look straight ahead you are in fact looking through your distance prescription. This can in fact be the cause of tired, blurred and irritated eyes after computer use. In order to see better one must tip the chin up, raising the intermediate or near prescription high enough to get the benefit of the prescription. As you can imagine this action creates other ergonomic problems in the neck, back and shoulders. Computer work is primarily a visual task. By correcting the vision properly many of these computer problems can be eliminated or minimized. Because the computer is a more visually demanding task than reading printed documents, correcting even small amounts of farsightedness or astigmatism is helpful. An analogy I like to use is one would not wear shorts and a T-shirt in a snow storm. You need to prepare for the weather just like you need to prepare for work. The Doctors at Nasa Vision Center can help prepare you for work by performing a computer vision analysis, call the office to schedule an appointment. Degradation of the ones central vision is called macular degeneration. As the disease progresses the ability to distinguish fine detail diminishes. There are two types of macular degeneration, wet and dry. Dry macular degeneration is the most common type affecting 90% of the people who have the condition. In the dry form the underlying cells that provide support and nutrition to the macula begin to break down. This disrupts normal macular function and leads to the characteristic reduction of central vision and color perception. Wet macular degeneration is typically more severe than dry degeneration. Although it afflicts only 10 percent of those who have the condition, 90 percent of blindness resulting from macular degeneration comes from this form of the disease. In this type the membrane underlying the retina thickens, and then breaks. This disrupts the oxygen supply to the macula leading to a hypoxic state. The body responds to this lack of oxygen by growing new blood vessels in an attempt to restore adequate flow. These blood vessels are very fragile and tend to break and bleed causing the macula to detach. Both types of macular degeneration cause no pain. The most common early signs are blurred or distorted vision. Another classic early symptom of both wet and dry macular degeneration is that straight lines appear crooked. As the disease progresses patients notice an enlarging blind spot in the middle of their field of vision. The greatest risk factor for macular degeneration is age. Studies have found that people in middle-age have about a 2 percent risk of getting macular degeneration but this risk increases to nearly 30 percent in those over age 75. Other risk factors include gender, with women being at higher risk then men: race with Caucasian more likely to suffer vision loss than African Americans: smoking with smokers more susceptible and family history in the immediate family putting one at higher risk. Treatment for dry macular degeneration is preventative use of antioxidant vitamins. Until recently treatment for wet macular degeneration was as detrimental as the disease using laser to photocoagulate the blood vessels leaving permanent scars. More promising therapies are now being tested with the use of anti-VEGF drugs that stop or slow the growth of the invading blood vessels The doctors at Nasa Vision Center have the latest technology, the Humphrey Cirrus, for monitoring your macula. This technology allows the doctors a three D view of the macula to detect any signs of macular degeneration. The doctors recommend yearly eye health evaluations. |