Our eye care center offers a full range of eye health services to clients of all ages, from children to older adults: routine eye exams and vision tests, eye disease diagnosis and management, immediate attention for eye emergencies, and complete eye health management. Our practice provide eyewear prescriptions and offer corrective laser eye surgery co-management as well. You can get in touch with our eye doctor’s office to set up an appointment at your convenience and learn more about some of our key services below.
Table of contents:
Comprehensive Eye Exams |
Contact Lens Exams |
Vision Therapy |
Eye Health |
Lasik
Routine eye exams are important, regardless of your age or physical health. During a complete eye exam, your eye doctor will not only determine your prescription for eyeglasses or contact lenses, but will also check your eyes for common eye diseases, assess how your eyes work together as a team and evaluate your eyes as an indicator of your overall health.
Whether or not you have vision problems, it is important to have your eyes checked regularly to ensure they are healthy and that there are no signs of a developing eye condition. A comprehensive eye exam will check the general health of your eyes as well as the quality of your vision. During this exam the eye doctor will determine your prescription for eyeglasses, however this prescription alone is not sufficient for contact lenses. The doctor may also check for any eye health issues that could interfere with the comfort and success of contact lens wear.
A comprehensive eye exam includes a number of tests and procedures to examine and evaluate the health of your eyes and the quality of your vision. These tests range from simple ones, like having you read an eye chart, to complex tests, such as using a high-powered lens to examine the health of the tissues inside of your eyes.
Eye care experts recommend you have a complete eye exam every year to assess your risk for potentially damaging eye conditions, as well as to keep on top of any changes in vision you may be experiencing.
You might be going to a regularly-scheduled eye exam. You may be following a recommendation to see an eye doctor after a vision screening at a local clinic or wellness center. Or your next eye doctor visit could be a response to vision problems or eye discomfort. The more you know going in, the easier the entire vision care process will be.
For regularly scheduled eye exams, expect to talk about any changes in your medical history since the last time you saw your eye doctor. And if this is your first time in a new practice, you’ll be asked to provide a more complete medical history, including a list of medications you’re currently taking, and any vision problems your parents may have experienced.
In addition, you’ll undergo a series of vision and eye tests that help determine the overall health and quality of your vision. These tests also help to check that your current prescription glasses or contacts (if you have one) is still meeting your vision needs. Your eye doctor will also check your eyes for signs of any potential vision problems or eye diseases. In many instances, your pupil may be dilated (opened) using special drops so that your eye doctor can better see the structures of the eye.
In general, a routine eye exam will last at lease an hour depending upon the number of tests you have, and may be partially or completely covered by many vision insurance plans. Visiting eye doctors as a result of a vision screening is also common, but remember: vision screenings offered by health clinics, pediatricians, public schools or local charitable organizations are not a substitute for comprehensive eye exams. Be sure to bring the findings from your screening to your eye doctor—it’s a great way to begin the discussion of your current eye health.
For eye doctor visits that result from eye pain, eye discomfort or vision problems you actually can see, expect to take many of the steps involved in a routine eye exam, but specific to the symptoms you’re having. There may be a number of additional tests required as well, so it’s important—especially when suffering pain or discomfort—to allow for as much time as possible for a complete, comprehensive eye exam.
Many vision problems and eye diseases often present minimal, if any, symptoms. That’s why it’s so important to make regular appointments to see your eye doctor. And since vision can change gradually over time, it’s important to know that you’re seeing your best, year after year.
Remember the following for your next eye doctor visit:
Most importantly, remember that eye doctors—and everyone within the eyecare practice—are there to help you see your best and feel your best.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY: $90.00 CANCELLATION/NO SHOW FEE.
Due to an increase in people not showing up for their appointments we are needing to implement a last minute cancellation/no show fee.
We require you to provide our office with 24 hours’ notice if you need to cancel your appointment. Any cancellations under 24 hours will be charged our $90.00 late/no show fee.
You, our patients are valuable to us. We understand that sometimes there are unforeseen circumstances which do not allow you to provide adequate notice. Every situation will be looked at on an individual basis.
The contact lens industry is always developing new innovations to make contacts more comfortable, convenient and accessible. Therefore, one of the initial steps in a contact lens consultation is to discuss with your eye doctor some lifestyle and health considerations that could impact the type of contacts that suit you best.
Some of the options to consider are whether you would prefer daily disposables or monthly disposable lenses, as well as soft versus rigid gas permeable (GP) lenses. If you have any particular eye conditions, such as astigmatism or dry eye syndrome, your eye doctor might have specific recommendations for the right type or brand for your optimal comfort and vision needs.
Now is the time to tell your eye doctor if you would like to consider colored contact lenses as well. If you are over 40 and experience problems seeing small print, for which you need bifocals to see close objects, your eye doctor may recommend multifocal lenses or a combination of multifocal and monovision lenses to correct your unique vision needs.
One size does not fit all when it comes to contact lenses. Your eye doctor will need to take some measurements to properly fit your contact lenses. Contact lenses that do not fit properly could cause discomfort, blurry vision or even damage the eye. Here are some of the measurements your eye doctor will take for a contact lens fitting:
In order to assure that the fitting curve of the lens properly fits the curve of your eye, your doctor will measure the curvature of the cornea or front surface of the eye. The curvature is measured with an instrument called a keratometer to determine the appropriate curve for your contact lenses. If you have astigmatism, the curvature of your cornea is not perfectly round and therefore a “toric” lens, which is designed specifically for an eye with astigmatism, would be fit to provide the best vision and lens fit. In certain cases your eye doctor may decide to measure your cornea in greater detail with a mapping of the corneal surface called corneal topography.
Your eye doctor may measure the size of your pupil or your iris (the colored area of your eye) with an instrument called a biomicroscope or slit lamp or manually with a ruler or card. This measurement is especially important if you are considering specialized lenses such as Gas Permeable (GP) contacts.
One of the most common problems affecting contact lens wear is dry eyes. If the lenses are not kept adequately hydrated and moist, they will become uncomfortable and your eyes will feel dry, irritated and itchy. Particularly if you have dry eye syndrome, your doctor will want to make sure that you have a sufficient tear film to keep the lenses moist and comfortable, otherwise, contact lenses may not be a suitable vision option.
A tear film evaluation is performed by the doctor by putting a drop of liquid dye on your eye and then viewing your tears with a slit lamp or by placing a special strip of paper under the lid to absorb the tears to see how much moisture is produced. If your tear film is weak, your eye doctor may recommend certain types of contact lenses that are more successful in maintaining moisture.
After deciding which pair of lenses could work best with your eyes, the eye doctor may have you try on a pair of lenses to confirm the fit and comfort before finalizing and ordering your lenses. The doctor or assistant would insert the lenses and keep them in for 15-20 minutes before the doctor exams the fit, movement and tearing in your eye. If after the fitting, the lenses appear to be a good fit, your eye doctor will order the lenses for you. Your eye doctor will also provide care and hygiene instructions including how to insert and remove your lenses, how long to wear them and how to store them if relevant.
Your eye doctor may request that you schedule a follow-up appointment to check that your contact lenses are fitting properly and that your eyes are adjusting properly. If you are experiencing discomfort or dryness in your eyes you should visit your eye doctor as soon as possible. Your eye doctor may decide to try a different lens, a different contact lens disinfecting solution or to try an adjustment in your wearing schedule.
Even if you’ve been told you can’t wear contact lenses, we may be able to help. Specialty contacts are available for patients with dry eyes, severe astigmatism and more.
Challenges such as astigmatism, presbyopia, keratoconus and dry eyes needn’t be a barrier to contact lens wear, but they do require more time and patience.
We love helping our patients enjoy the beauty of life by improving their vision. At our vision therapy centre we treat a variety of vision problems through retraining the eyes with special exercises and activities, these patients leave our program with dramatic vision improvement, heightened school performance, and positive self esteem.
While eyeglasses and contact lenses are effective treatments for refractive errors like nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and presbyopia, there are other vision conditions which corrective lenses cannot fix.
Vision therapy, often referred to as “physical therapy for the eyes and brain,” is a treatment program that consists of a series of “eye exercises” or activities that are prescribed and monitored by a trained optometrist, and are used to retrain the visual system to function more efficiently. The therapy program is customized towards the visual needs of each patient, and is adjusted throughout the process to encourage further visual improvements. The human brain is remarkable in its ability to adapt to new information with remarkable speed and success. This is known as neuroplasticity, and is the guiding concept behind vision therapy’s success.
These vision problems are treatable, and are often overlooked at visual screenings. At Elmira Family Eye Care, we help people overcome these challenges by addressing the underlying vision problem.
Healthy people with good visual acuity can still suffer from vision problems that affect their quality of life. Vision therapy has shown to be an effective method of treatment for patients of all ages and for many conditions that affect the visual system, including but not limited to:
A comprehensive eye examination is required to determine if vision therapy is an appropriate treatment option for you and your condition. Contact our office to book an appointment and learn more about vision therapy.
Effective therapy requires visual skills to be developed until they are integrated with other systems and become automatic, enabling patients to achieve their full potential. The length of treatment varies between patients depending on the complexity of their condition and the specific needs of the patient. This may take as little as 10 sessions, or it may take longer.
Vision therapy results can vary depending on each condition and circumstance. Successful vision therapy requires active engagement from the prescribing doctor, vision therapist, patient, and parents of any children enrolled in the program. With time, consistency, and hard work, patients can experience significant improvements in symptoms and efficiency in school or work-related tasks. Many school-aged patients often report increased reading speed, reading comprehension, and performance in school overall.
Eye problems can range from mild to severe; some are chronic, while others may resolve on their own, never to appear again. The articles below will give you a basic understanding of some of these problems and their implications. The cardinal rule is if your eyes don’t look good, feel good or see well, you should visit your doctor.
Utilizing cutting edge technology, we are diagnosing and managing, with greater precision, diseases like Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration Cataracts, and Diabetic Retinopathy. Earlier and more precise diagnosis means earlier treatment and better outcomes. We are taking an aggressive approach to diseases that previously had few treatment options. Great advances have been made in the treatment of these diseases.
Learning about your eye health can be complicated – and might even seem overwhelming at first. To simplify things for our patients, we present our Eye Health Library, a comprehensive library of vision-related information. We invite you to browse through our library to find information that will help you better understand how your vision works, common eye conditions, surgeries and how your vision changes as you age.
The following is a short list of eye disease management and some common eye conditions we treat:
Cataracts are a common cause of vision loss after age 55.
Cataracts is a disease of the eye that results in the clouding of the lens of the eyeball. Cataracts prevent clear images from appearing on the eye’s retina; causing mild, moderate, even severe blurred vision. Typically an eye disorder associated with aging (over half of the people in America over age 80 have either had a cataract or cataract surgery), cataracts generally occur later in life as the lens structure within the human eye changes and gets older. In addition to age, other risk factors that lead to cataracts include smoking, UV overexposure and diabetes. During the evaluation of your eye health we will carefully examine your lens for signs of cataract formation. If a cataract is noticed and the clouding is causing visual disruption, the optometrist will refer you to a trusted and respected surgeon for surgery, which is the only known cure for cataracts. Our Eye Care Practice will be there for you providing pre and post cataract surgery care.
Cataract surgery
Cataract surgery is the removal of the natural lens of the eye (also called “crystalline lens”) that has developed an opacification, which is referred to as a cataract. Metabolic changes of the crystalline lens fibers over the time lead to the development of the cataract and loss of transparency, causing impairment or loss of vision. During cataract surgery, a patient’s cloudy natural lens is removed and replaced with a synthetic lens to restore the transparency of the lens. Following surgical removal of the natural lens, an artificial intraocular lens implant is inserted (eye surgeons say that the lens is “implanted”). Cataract surgery is generally performed by an ophthalmologist (eye surgeon) in an ambulatory (rather than inpatient) setting, in a surgical center or hospital, using local anesthesia (either topical, peribulbar, or retrobulbar), usually causing little or no discomfort to the patient. Well over 90% of operations are successful in restoring useful vision, with a low complication rate. Outpatient care, high volume, minimally invasive, small incision phacoemulsification with quick post-op recovery has become the standard of care in cataract surgery all over the world.
Diabetes and vision go hand in hand.
If you have diabetes, you need to know that having this systemic disease puts you at greater risk for developing vision problems. Diabetes is associated with several eye health issues including cataracts and glaucoma, but the most well known diabetic eye disease is diabetic retinopathy.
Diabetic retinopathy is an eye disease that only affects diabetics. It occurs when the fragile vascular network that supplies the retina – the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye that helps us see – begins to swell or leak. During the beginning stages of the disease, there may be no noticeable symptoms, so it’s important to have your eyes checked at least once a year, if you have diabetes. Once symptoms of diabetic retinopathy do develop, they can include: dark or black spots in your visual field, or blurry vision, and it increases over time. This is a result of bleeding at the back of the eye, which prevents a clear image from being transmitted from the retina to the brain. Whether you have type 1, type 2, or even just gestational diabetes, you are at risk for developing diabetic retinopathy. The longer you have had the disease, the greater the risk. It is essential to keep your blood sugar levels under control to prevent vision loss, and this may require a trip back to your primary care physician.
Treating diabetic retinopathy can include vitrectomy, replacing the inner gel-like substance that supports the eyeball structure, and laser surgery.
Glaucoma is a condition that causes damage to your eye's optic nerve and gets worse over time, so nipping it in the bud will always be better for the person being tested. Glaucoma is a leading cause of preventable vision loss and blindness in adults in the United States and Canada and the second leading cause of blindness in the World, even more than macular degeneration.
What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is not a single disease. It is actually a group of eye diseases that cause damage to the optic nerve due to an increase in pressure inside the eye, which is called intraocular pressure (IOP). When detected in the early stages, glaucoma can often be controlled, preventing severe vision loss and blindness. However, symptoms of noticeable vision loss often only occur once the disease has progressed. This is why glaucoma is called “the sneak thief of sight”. Unfortunately, once vision is lost from the disease, it usually can’t be restored. Treatments include medication or surgery that can regulate the IOP and slow down the progression of the disease to prevent further vision loss. The type of treatment depends on the type and the cause of glaucoma.
Types of Glaucoma
Primary open-angle glaucoma (poag), normal-tension glaucoma or low-tension glaucoma, angle-closure glaucoma, congenital glaucoma, secondary glaucomas and pigmentary glaucoma.
Detecting Glaucoma
IOP measurement, visual field test and retina testing.
Treating Glaucoma
Medication, surgery and prevention.
The macula is the portion of the retina which provides sharp, central vision, and is involved in processing the fine details of the image. The breakdown of the macula is a disease called macular degeneration. Untreated macular degeneration is one of the leading causes of blindness in those over 65 years old.
While researchers have not yet discovered a cure for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), there are treatment options which prevent the disease from progressing to blindness, and in some cases, they can even improve vision. It’s important to have an open discussion with your eye doctor about the risks and limitations of AMD treatments.
Types of Macular Degeneration
Dry macular degeneration and wet macular degeneration.
Astigmatism is a very common eye condition.
Astigmatism is caused when your eye is not completely round. Because our bodies are not perfect, astigmatism occurs in nearly everybody to some degree but for some, not to the degree that it causes blurring. Your eye is naturally shaped like a sphere. Under normal circumstances, when light enters the eye, it bends evenly, creating a clear picture on the back of your eye. In a person with astigmatism, their eye is shaped more like a football and light entering the eye is bent more in one direction than the other. This causes only part of the picture to be in focus at any given time. Objects at any distance can appear blurry and wavy. For vision problems due to astigmatism, glasses or contact lenses, and sometimes even vision correction surgery are all possible treatments.
People with undetected astigmatism often have blurred vision which can be associated with fatigue and eyestrain. While these symptoms may not necessarily be the result of astigmatism, you should schedule an eye exam if you are experiencing one or more symptoms.
Our eye doctor can diagnose astigmatism with a thorough eye exam. Astigmatism may occur in combination with other vision problems such as nearsightedness and farsightedness, or even dry eyes. Because astigmatism gets worse over times, visit our eye doctor whenever you notice changes in your vision.
Dry eye syndrome (DES) is a chronic condition that develops when your eyes do not produce and maintain enough tears to keep the eye’s surface lubricated resulting in multiple symptoms that range from person to person. This can be due to a reduction in tear production or increased tear evaporation from a lack of lipid in the tears that stem from oil glands in the eyelids. The effects can range from minor dryness and discomfort to pain, blurred vision and frequent infections.
The main function of tears is to maintain the health of the cornea of your eye by washing away foreign matter and ensuring that the surface of your eye remains moist, smooth and clear. Tears also rinse away dust particles from your eyes and contain enzymes that protect your eyes from bacteria that can cause infections. Dry eyes is a condition that develops when the amount of tears produced is not sufficient to maintain the moisture balance in your eye. This can result in that scratchy sensation, a continuous feeling of dryness, stinging and a sensation of a foreign body in your eye. Ironically in an effort to fight off the condition, dry eyes can cause you to produce excessive tears, which is why some people experience watery eyes.
Dry eye disease won’t have a permanent effect on your vision, but there is no reason to endure dry, itchy and uncomfortable eyes, especially since there are so many treatment options to increase moisture and comfort. It’s also important to realize that this is a chronic disease that needs consistent treatment. Your doctor will work with you to create a long term strategy to keep your eyes as comfortable as possible.
Symptoms of Dry Eye Disease
Dry, itchy eyes, burning or stinging, irritation, watery eyes, blurred vision, pain and foreign body sensation.
As we reach middle age, particularly after age 40, it is common to start to experience difficulty with reading and performing other tasks that require near vision. This is because with age, the lens of our eye becomes increasingly inflexible, making it harder to focus on close objects. Unlike a true eye disease, this condition is so common, it eventually happens to almost everyone who reaches old age to some extent. It’s called presbyopia.
To avoid eyestrain, people with untreated presbyopia tend to hold books, magazines, newspapers, and menus at arm’s length in order to focus properly. Trying to performing tasks at close range can sometimes cause headaches, eye strain or fatigue in individuals who have developed this condition.
Symptoms and Signs of Presbyopia
Difficulty focusing on small print, blurred near vision, experiencing eyestrain, fatigue or headaches when doing close work or reading, needing to hold reading material or small objects at a distance to focus properly and requiring brighter lighting when focusing on near objects.
Treatment for Presbyopia
There are a number of options available for treating presbyopia including corrective eyewear, contact lenses or surgery.
We are always willing to help, should you ever experience an eye emergency. Our office provides emergency services for eye infections, eye injuries and other eye urgencies. State of the art equipment allows us to examine the front surface of the eye and also digitally scan inside the eye for infection or damage.
Studies have shown that an overwhelming number of emergency room visits could have been treated by an optometrist. These ranged from foreign bodies to severe eye allergies to eye infections as the most common reasons for emergency room visits. It is not always necessary to go to an emergency room for eye emergencies. Optometrists are equipped to treat the majority of eye emergencies. We understand the importance of eye care when you encounter symptoms such as those listed above. These are signs that an immediate evaluation or consultation is necessary – please call us to set one up if you are experiencing an eye emergency of any kind.
We accommodate many eye emergencies such as:
Eye infections, foreign materials stuck in the eyes, eye trauma, scratched eyes, sudden loss of vision in one or both eyes, lost or broken contact lenses or eyeglasses, flashes of light in the vision, “floaters” in the vision, red or painful eyes, dislodged contact lenses, uncomfortable, itchy, or irritated eyes.
Foreign Body Removal
A foreign body is something such as an eyelash, sawdust, sand, or dirt can that gets into the eyes. The main symptom is irritation or pain. Depending on what it is and how the injury happened, the foreign body may pierce the eye and cause serious injury or it may simply go away with no long-term problem. The foreign object may set off an inflammatory cascade, resulting in dilation of the surrounding vessels and subsequent edema of the lids, conjunctiva, and cornea. If not removed, a foreign body can cause infection.
If anything is stuck in your eye for more than a period of a couple of hours, you must immediately cease all attempts to remove it yourself. Keep in mind that the eyes are an extremely delicate organ and any attempts to try anything extraordinary with them can only have negative and adverse results. If the foreign body you are talking about is not bothering you too much, then you are advised to visit an eye doctor to take care of it. If not you may need to call to emergency service of your region.
When we’re talking about healthy sight, we’re really talking about the immediate, short and long-term care and protection of your vision—the sense that provides you with a unique and personal view of the world. So much of what we learn, what we experience, and what we enjoy comes to us through our eyes. Healthy Sight isn’t a slogan; it’s a way of life that enhances your everyday vision while preserving the well being of your eyes. It means getting regular checkups. Eye health means wearing the correct prescription if corrective lenses or contacts are needed. It means knowing how to protect your eyes from glare, from the sun’s harmful UV rays, from the hazards of extreme activities. Having healthy eyes understanding how lifestyle, diet and personal habits can affect the way you see—today and tomorrow.
Healthy sight means protecting your children’s vision as well.
The human eye is a marvel of built-in engineering, combining reflected light, lens imaging capability, multiple lighting adjustments and information processing—all in the space of your eyeball. When working properly, the human eye converts light into impulses that are conveyed to the brain and interpreted as images.
Light reflects off of objects and enters the eyeball through a transparent layer of tissue at the front of the eye called the cornea. The cornea accepts widely divergent light rays and bends them through the pupil—the dark opening in the center of the colored portion of the eye. The pupil appears to expand or contract automatically based on the intensity of the light entering the eye. In truth, this action is controlled by the iris—a ring of muscles within the colored portion of the eye that adjusts the pupil opening based on the intensity of light. (So when a pupil appears to expand or contract, it is actually the iris doing its job.) The adjusted light passes through the lens of the eye. Located behind the pupil, the lens automatically adjusts the path of the light and brings it into sharp focus onto the receiving area at back of the eye—the retina. An amazing membrane full of photoreceptors (a.k.a. the “rods and cones”), the retina converts the light rays into electrical impulses. These then travel through the optic nerve at the back of the eye to the brain, where an image is finally perceived.
If you work in a hazardous environment like a construction zone or workshop, or participate in ball sports or extreme sports—sturdy, shatter-and-impact-resistant eyewear is a must. This is particularly important when considering eye protection for both children and adults.
Polycarbonate is a lens material that is widely used for shatter-and-impact resistant lenses, and when combined with sturdy frame materials, makes for formidable eye protection. There are hazards of sunlight and bright light that are harder to understand; namely, ultraviolet rays (UV) and Glare (extreme brightness). Protecting your eyes from these distracting, even dangerous elements is equally important to eye protection.
Digital eye strain is an increasingly common condition as digital devices become more ingrained into our daily lives. Digital eye strain, eye fatigue and computer vision syndrome (CVS) are conditions that result from extended exposure to digital screens such as computers, smartphones, tablets and televisions from a combination of factors including the blue light radiation emitted from the devices and the pixelated content that is difficult for our eyes to focus on.
Symptoms of computer or digital eyestrain tend to be noticed after someone has used a digital device for as little as 2 hours a day. Studies show that 60% of people spend more than 6 hours a day in front of a digital device and 70% of adults report some symptoms of computer vision syndrome (CVS) which include:
Eyestrain ,headaches ,blurred or double vision ,physical and mental fatigue ,dry or watery eyes ,red or irritated eyes ,difficulty focusing ,sensitivity to light or neck and shoulder or back pain (caused by compromised posture to adjust to vision difficulty).
Tired of wearing glasses or contact lenses? Today, several surgical methods can correct your eyesight and, in most cases, give you the freedom of seeing well without corrective lenses.
Common eye surgeries:
Corrective Eye Surgery Basics, LASIK, PRK, surgery for presbyopia, corneal inlays and onlays and corneal transplants
If you are among the 85 million Baby Boomers in the United States and Canada (born between 1946 and 1964), you've probably noticed your eyes have changed. Most notably, presbyopia - the normal, age-related loss of near focusing ability - usually becomes a problem in our 40's, requiring new vision correction solutions. Learn about measures you can take to keep seeing clearly for years to come.
Just as our physical strength decreases with age, our eyes also exhibit an age-related decline in performance - particularly as we reach our 60's and beyond. Some age-related eye changes are perfectly normal, but others may signal a disease process. It's important to recognize signs and symptoms, and perhaps even more important to mitigate the effects of aging with some simple and common-sense strategies.
LASIK – Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis – is the most common refractive eye surgery today. As of 2011, over 11 million LASIK procedures have been performed in the United States and as of 2009 over 28 million have been performed worldwide.Often referred to as laser eye surgery or laser vision correction, is a type of refractive surgery for the correction of myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism. LASIK surgery is performed by an ophthalmologist who uses a laser or microkeratome to reshape the eye’s cornea in order to improve visual acuity. For most patients, LASIK provides a permanent alternative to eyeglasses or contact lenses.
LASIK is most similar to another surgical corrective procedure, photorefractive keratectomy (PRK), and both represent advances over radial keratotomy in the surgical treatment of refractive errors of vision. For patients with moderate to high myopia or thin corneas which cannot be treated with LASIK and PRK, the phakic intraocular lens is an alternative.
LASIK is the premier surgery for vision correction. It is quick, almost painless and there is little or no discomfort after the procedure. Vision recovery is rapid – patients report seeing 20/20 within 24 hours.It corrects nearsightedness, farsightedness and even astigmatism. With a technique called mono-vision, it can reduce the need for reading glasses among patients over age 40 who wear bifocals.
The best candidate for LASIK is age 18+, has healthy eyes with adequate corneal thickness. This is necessary because LASIK procedure removes tissue from the cornea to reshape the eye. Chronic dry eye, corneal disease or other abnormalities may disqualify a candidate from LASIK surgery. A comprehensive eye exam is required to be sure. For your convenience, we are happy to provide LASIK pre-operative exams and consultations at our office. Note that LASIK is an elective procedure and proper consideration must include the weight of personal needs, potential gain and willingness to accept the risks involved. There are no guarantees that LASIK will absolutely succeed to your expectations. The results are not always perfect vision. In some cases, your vision after LASIK may be permanently less clear than it was with glasses before LASIK. This outcome must be factored before deciding on LASIK surgery.
Certainly there is upside. In normal circumstances and conditions LASIK can reduce your dependence on glasses and almost always gives you the ability to function well without the need for glasses or contact lenses.
LASIK is an ambulatory, two-step procedure. You walk into the surgery center, have the procedure and walk out about an hour later. The surgery event is about 15 minutes for both eyes, but allowances should accommodate for about at the surgery location, perhaps even a bit more.
First, the surgeon creates a thin, hinged flap of tissue on your cornea with an instrument called a microkeratome, or laser. This flap is folded back so the laser reshaping of your eye can begin. After laser treatment, which lasts a minute or less, the flap is repositioned and the surgeon proceeds to your other eye.
Wavefront LASIK -wavefront-assisted, wavefront-guided or custom LASIK- uses laser treatment (ablation) mapped by computerized analysis. Wavefront-guided procedures are much more precise than ablations determined by using standard eyeglasses prescriptions. They can correct subtle optical imperfections of the eye called “higher-order aberrations” that regular ablations cannot treat. Studies prove wavefront-guided ablations provide sharper vision than conventional, non-wavefront LASIK and can improve night-vision, eliminating or reducing the risk of halos or glare.
Following the LASIK procedure, you will use medicated eye drops and clear protective shields to cover your eyes. You can open your eyes and see well enough to walk without glasses, but you must not drive yourself home.
You will use medicated eye drops several times a day for a week or more to prevent infection and help the healing. You may also use artificial tears to keep your eyes moist and comfortable. You should rest your eyes as much as possible the day of your surgery. You may find it more comfortable leaving the house lights on low dim.
The next day, you should see well enough to drive and resume your normal activities. Use care though not to rub your eyes until it is safe to do so. If you are currently using Latisse, discuss with your eye doctor how long after surgery to wait before re-starting the regimen.
You may be asked to return to visit your doctor the following day for an eye exam. They will want to check your vision and be sure your eyes appear to be healing as they should. You will be given any additional instructions necessary about eye drops and/or artificial tears, and you can ask the doctor any questions you may have. Postoperative care may be performed by an eye doctor other than your LASIK surgeon. This is referred to as co-management. We are happy to provide post-operative care for you at our office through a co-management agreement with your surgeon. Ask us for further details.
Though most patients see clearly within a day or so after LASIK, it can take several months before your eyes completely stabilize. Until then, improvements in your vision can still occur in fits and jumps. If several months pass and your vision is still blurred, be sure to communicate and visit with your LASIK surgeon. It may be appropriate to have a second LASIK surgery -an enhancement- to sharpen your eyesight further. If an enhancement is not required, eyeglasses or contact lenses may be used to help. We will be happy to examine your eyes and discuss the options available to you.
Even if your vision seems perfect after LASIK, you may still require or be more comfortable with eyewear. When outdoors, it’s optimal and sometimes urgent to protect your eyes from the sun’s strong and sometimes harmful rays. Use sunglasses that provide 100% UV protection. For sports-sunglasses, the lenses need to have poly-carbonate for extra strength and protection. Anytime you work with power tools or do any activity where eye injury is possible, be sure to use safety glasses with poly-carbonate lenses.
If you’re over 40 (or close), it’s likely you’ll need reading glasses after LASIK. Many LASIK patients benefit from prescription eyeglasses for night driving. Even a mild prescription will make your vision sharper for added safety and comfort at night.
Remember to continue to schedule routine eye exams post-LASIK. Even with perfect vision you still need to have your eyes examined for glaucoma and other potential problems on a regular basis. Routine exams will help insure that your vision remains stable after LASIK.
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Elmira Family Eye Care owns and operates a Website at elmirafamilyeyecare.ca (hereinafter referred to as the “site” or “Website”). Elmira Family Eye Care® trademark except as otherwise noted on the site, which is accessible to all users (hereinafter referred to as the “user” or “users”). Refrain from using this Website unless you agree to comply with the conditions.
Information on this Website is intended for informational purposes only and has no contractual value. Elmira Family Eye Care reserves the right to modify the content of this site. At any time, without prior notice. Elmira Family Eye Care assumes no liability for errors or omissions in the content of this Website or for information reliability or completeness of said information.
Information published on this Website is based on marketing, statistical or commercial services or other sources the Elmira Family Eye Care considers reliable and are the sole responsibility of their authors and not of Elmira Family Eye Care. We do not assume any liability for the accuracy or completeness of said information and in no circumstance should this information be regarded as such. Opinions and information as presented on this site reflect our position as of the date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
Elmira Family Eye Care, its employees and directors will not be liable for damages incurred as a result of the information published on this site, for the views and advice published, expressed or implied regardless of its nature.
Elmira Family Eye Care expressly refuses any and all responsibility for the manner in which the user of the site may use the information contained, in any decisions that may be made and in the actions that may or may not be taken based on said information.
Presentations made and contained on this site are the intellectual property of Elmira Family Eye Care. Reproduction in whole or in part of this site on any other medium in prohibited without the express permission of Elmira Family Eye Care.
User may solely use the information contained on this site for personal use. Reproduction in whole or in part of said information on paper may only be performed for personal use. Said information is not to be copied, distributed or transmitted to third parties nor may it be inserted in a document or other medium.
The links to external Websites and their content shall not be prejudged and Elmira Family Eye Care will in no way be held responsible for any direct or indirect prejudice that may result from gaining access to and usage of said sites.
Elmira Family Eye Care draws the attention of the user to the fact that all communication transmitted through this Website remains in the public domain and not the private domain. OSI cannot accept responsibility for the security of the transmission of information.
The confidentiality and integrity of the information circulating over the internet cannot be ensured. Elmira Family Eye Care cannot accept responsibility in the case that data contained on this site is intercepted.
Elmira Family Eye Care site uses cookies. These cookies are small text files saved on the hard disk of a user's computer. These files are completely harmless and cannot contain viruses. These cookies are used to analyze visits to the site. Elmira Family Eye Care calls upon Google Analytics to help track how users use the site. The number of visitors, path taken to access the site and length of each visit are measured. The cookies cannot, in any way, identify the user. All data is completely anonymous and compiled solely for the purpose of improving the site and tailoring the content to the needs of its visitors.
The person responsible for the protection of personal information is the owner of : Elmira Family Eye Care
Elmira Family Eye Care makes no representations that the content of this site is free of infections, viruses, worms, Trojan horses and/or other codes with contaminating or destructive properties. It is the user's responsibility to take protective measures.
Under no circumstances shall Elmira Family Eye Care be held responsible for transmission errors of any sort, such as loss of or damage to data, or changes of any type whatsoever, including direct or indirect damage resulting from the use of the services provided on this site.
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of Ontario.
Any dispute arising of this Agreement shall be brought before the court in the judicial district of
Elmira Family Eye Care's head office.
Address:
38 Church Street West
Elmira, ON
N3B 1M5;
Tel: 519 669-5471.
Elmira Family Eye Care
38 Church Street West
Elmira, ON
N3B 1M5
Tel: 519 669-5471
Thank you for visiting elmirafamilyeyecare.ca (the “Website”), provided to you by Elmira Family Eye Care (“We”). We respect the privacy of every individual who visits the Website and are sensitive to privacy issues on the Internet. We believe it is important that you know how we deal with information received about you.
This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect the personal information of our customers and Website users ("you"), describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide to us, and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. The Website is for general audiences and is not specifically targeted to or intended for use by children.
We will only use your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy unless otherwise required by applicable law. We take steps to ensure that the personal information that we collect about you is adequate, relevant, not excessive, and used for limited purposes. Privacy laws in Canada generally define "Personal Information" as any information about an identifiable individual, which includes information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person.
By accessing or using the Website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy, and you are consenting to our processing of your information as set out in this Privacy Policy. We may modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time; if we change this Privacy Policy in a manner that materially impacts your privacy rights, we will provide a notice to you. Your continued use of the Website or our services after any modification to this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such modification. However, when required by law, we will confirm your consent to the revised Privacy Policy terms. This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and considered a part of the Website Terms and Conditions of Use, located here
We collect and use several types of information from and about you, including:
The information we collect directly from you may include:
We use your information, including your Personal Information, to manage our business and to maintain and develop commercial relationships with you. We will collect, use, and disclose such information only to the extent that is necessary for those purposes.
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information:
We will not rent or sell your information to third parties without your consent. We only share your data as specifically provided in this Privacy Policy.
In addition to any disclosure you may have consented to or permitted under the terms of this Privacy Policy, we may transfer your data, including Personal Information to third parties in the following limited circumstances:
We are committed to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, availability and privacy of your Personal Information. We have put appropriate physical, technological and procedural security measures in place designed to help prevent your Personal Information from being lost, used, modified or accessed in an unauthorized way, or improperly disclosed. Examples of such measures include restricted access to offices, training of personnel, using passwords and well-defined internal policies and practices. We also use encryption technology and Secure Socket Layers ("SSL") in all areas of the Website where your personal account information is required.
In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will be required to process your Personal Information only on our instructions and they are subject to an obligation of confidentiality. Our service providers are required to maintain adequate security protections in place designed to help safeguard your Personal Information and are not permitted to use it for any purpose other than fulfilling services to us.
If you have any questions about securing your personal data, please contact us in accordance with the “How to Contact Us” section below.
We will retain your Personal Information for as long as it is needed:
We may retain non-personal information that has been sufficiently aggregated or anonymized for a longer period.
Once the retention period is over, we will dispose of your Personal Information as provided for in our internal data retention and disposal policy.
We use facilities operated by "Amazon Web Services" and located in Canada as our information storage and processing infrastructure. Our service providers can also, from time to time, store your Personal Information in accordance with purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at 519 669-5471.