Most of my patients live in Florida at least in part because the weather is sunny and pleasant. I talk to many people who grew up in the Midwest or New England and lots of them remark about the how the sun makes them feel good. And this can be true. Lack of exposure to sunlight can result in, among other things, mood changes from Seasonal Affective Disorder.

But according to a new survey by the New England Eye Institute and Transitions Optical, the vast majority of people do not know that sunlight can also harm the eyes. According to the survey, while 3 out of 4 people know that ultraviolet (UV) light can cause skin cancer, only 1 in 20 knew that it can do damage to the eyes.

Living in Florida, this is important and something that I talk about all day with my patients. All sunlight contains UV light, and we Floridians get more UV than other parts of the country. So we need to be especially educated on this topic.

Exposure to UV light can increase the risk of several eye diseases such as:

• Development of cataracts
• Development of macular degeneration
• pterygia (deposits between the whites of the eyes and the cornea)
• skin cancer of the eyelids
• photokeratitis

What you should do to protect yourself:

• Educate yourself. Learn about UV light and your level of risk. You can check the current UV index in Tampa here.
• Have regularly scheduled eye exams to check for signs of eye disease. Many of these conditions start off with no symptoms and can only be detected by a skilled doctor.
• Ensure that your sunglasses are UV rated for protection. Just because they are dark does not mean that they have proper protection. Look for glasses with “UV 400″ or “99% UV A, UV B” on the sticker, rather than just “block UV light.”
• Ensure that your sunglasses wrap around your face to provide the fullest protection possible.
• Order lenses for your non-sunglasses that block UV light. Even clear lenses for everyday wear should protect your eyes, and modern lens materials can provide this.
• If you wear contact lenses outside, consider lenses that offer UV protection. This does not replace sunglasses, which protect your eyelids as well as your eyes, but it is one additional level of protection.

For additional detailed information, see the American Optometric Association’s Statement on Ocular Ultraviolet Radiation Hazards in Sunlight.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

People ask me from time to time if it is possible to do eye transplants. Well, we are not even close, because the nerves that connect the eyes to the brain are very complicated. It is possible to do transplants of the cornea, the clear front part of the eye, but that is about it at this time.

But there is some exciting research going on at University of Florida, my alma mater, that  in some ways is almost as good. Doctors there are using specialized gene therapy to attempt to give vision to people who have previously been blind due to a rare childhood condition called Leber congenital amaurosis. This type of therapy has already worked in dogs and is now being attempted in people. If successful, it could potentially lead the way for even more breakthroughs in helping people gain or re-gain vision.

You can read the whole story here.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

No matter whether you love her, hate her, or are just plain oblivious to her, you’ve got to admit that when Abigail Van Buren writes about something, it gets noticed. And that is exactly what happened earlier this year when Dear Abby wrote a column about vision therapy and how it helped a patient with convergence insufficiency.

The story is an extremely common one to vision therapy doctors: a patient struggled in school despite being bright and hard-working. No amount of tutoring or other assistance helped. Then the convergence insufficiency was discovered and treated and things improved immeasurably. This is because convergence insufficiency is one of the most common binocular vision problems and, fortunately, it is one of the most straight-forward to treat. But it can only be treated with vision therapy, not simply glasses and/or contacts. The result is that there are many, many positive success stories out there that you can read here.

This one short article did more to educate people about the benefits of vision therapy than many books and papers that have been published. I saw many patients who had been struggling in school that came to the office for an evaluation specifically because they (or a loved) one saw the article. I know that other vision specialists around the country did as well.

Hopefully in the coming year, vision therapy will get even more publicity. In the meantime, you can check out Dear Abby’s column by clicking here.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

A patient recently asked me:
“I read something on the internet about Precise Corneal Reshaping lenses being uncomfortable. Is this true? How uncomfortable are they?”

Well, there isn’t any way to sugar-coat this. The reshaping lenses can initally be uncomfortable for some patients. One study showed that 31% of patients experienced initial discomfort. Understandably, some patients are concerned about this. But this alone need not be a reason to dismiss PCR. Here are some reasons why:

1. You may be able to feel the lenses, but they should not be painful. If they are painful, then there is something wrong. Possibly the lens has debris on it. Possibly you inadvertly scratched your eye. No matter what, if the lens is painful, then you should take the lens out, examine it and call the office.
2. These lenses are specifically selected and designed for your eyes. The reshaping lenses that you are given are carefully chosen to be the healthiest, be the most comfortable, and, of course, provide the best vision possible.
3. The procedure for utilizing the lenses is designed to minimize discomfort. In fact, a particular type of lubrication drop is recommended each night to both keep the eyes moist, but also keep the eyes comfortable.
4. Remember, the central goal of PCR is to reshape your cornea. The lens will fit better and be more comfortable after your cornea takes on the new shape. This does take a few days to occur. After two or three days, your lenses will feel much more comfortable.

Does all this mean that you do not feel the lenses when you wear them the first time? No. Lens awareness is very normal. This awareness may cause your eyes to water in the beginning. But after your eyes adapt to the lenses, they will return to their usual comfort level.

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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While talking with patients during the beginning of each comprehensive vision exam, patients are sometimes surprised at some of the questions I ask that don’t seem to have a lot to do with the eyes. These are questions such as how much time do you spend in front of the computer?, what type of surgery have you had?, how much do you smoke?, how much exercise do you and your family get?

Depending on the answers, I’ll explain why I ask. Some types of surgery, even if they are on seemingly unrelated body parts such as the neck or abdomen, can be for conditions that affect the eyes. Eliminating smoking is one of the best things you can do to preserve your vision as you get older. Exercise not only makes you feel better, but time spent exercising instead of doing activities that cause eye strain (such as computer work or text messaging) can help stop nearsightedness from increasing.

I ask these question because it is my goal to improve a patient’s overall health, not just their vision. With this in mind, Bright Eyes Family Vision Care supports worthwhile organizations with similar goals of health. One of these is the YMCA.

At West Park Village we are very lucky to have the West Park Village YMCA Express because it is so convenient. During lunch, I can go use the cardio machines, stretch, lift weights, and (of course) shower before my afternoon patients. I know that many others like to work out at the YMCA too, because almost every day I see patients walk by the office in their work out clothes.

But this isn’t new for me; I’ve always liked the Y. When I was a kid I learned to swim in what seemed like the enormous YMCA swimming pool in Helena, Montana. When I see children in the groups at the Y near my house, it reminds me of the summer groups that I used to go. Now that I have a daughter, we have a family membership and can all go!

With so many activities that Y offers, one can forget the mission that makes it all possible. The core values of the YMCA are Faith, Caring, Honesty, Respect, and Responsibility. I think more organizations could include these ideals within their mission statement and be very successful. If you want to find out more about the YMCA and its philosophy, check it out here.

To me, one of the great purposes of the YMCA is that it supports each of us to become productive citizens. This includes taking charge of our own health. In this day of everything from super-huge servings sizes, drive-through Pharmacies, and 50-hour a week desk jobs, I think we need this more than ever. It is so much easier to stay in shape than to get back into shape. I know it can be hard to make health a priority, but it only takes a small amount of time each day to make it happen.

So maybe I’ll see you at the YMCA tomorrow when I go to work out!

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

This is a great short video about infant vision and shows examples of how infant eye exams are performed. It is a must see for any parent!

If you have an infant, remember that the first vision evaluation is recommended at 6 months. The InfantSEE exam is no cost. If you’d like to read more about infant vision or if you’d like to  schedule an appointment for your little one, call us at (813) 792-0637 or go to www.brighteyestampa.com.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

I figure that if I learn only one thing every day, I’ll have learned a lot each year. Well, if I learned only one thing on Wednesday, November 14th it was this: teachers work hard.

During a given day at Bright Eyes, I stay pretty busy. Between seeing patients, making phone calls, and writing reports, there is not a lot of downtime during the day. But last Wednesday, I was more exhausted by 11:00 A.M., then I often am after a full day. Why? Because I spent the morning volunteer teaching at Westchase Elementary during the annual Great American Teach In.

If you have not heard about the Great American Teach In, it is an annual event where people from the community donate their time to teach students in the local schools. You can read local stories about it here and here. Many of the volunteers have children in the school, so for them it is a chance for to visit the classrooms that their kids spend so much time in, while talking about their careers or hobbies. And people come to talk about all kinds of things. While I was there, I spoke to an Electric Engineer, a Dentist, a Martial Arts Instructor, and a Financial Advisor.

After college, I taught field trips at Silver Springs Nature Park, so I have spoken to groups of kids before. Then it was easy to keep the attention of children, because I had alligators, huge lizards, birds, and snakes to show them. Talking about eyes can be a little less interesting (and a lot less hands-on.) When I speak to children, my goal is be as interactive as possible while getting a few points across. My main points on Wednesday were that our eyes do many important things such as see, blink and move, and that there are many ways an eye doctor checks the things that eyes do.

I was scheduled to guest-teach four 4th and 5th grade classrooms in a 2 hour period. I did see some many of mypatients who are students, parents, and employees of Westchase Elementary, but mostly it was about 100 young strangers that I spent my morning with. To help keep these children interested, I asked many questions, called for volunteers, and brought demonstrations to pass around. I kept the energy high and it seemed to be effective, and after 2 straight hours, I was exhausted but felt satisified.

I must say, the Great American Teach In was a great experience. If you’ve always wanted to be a teacher or have a career or hobby that you want to share, you should consider volunteering next year. Not only is this a chance to teach children about something that you love, but it is unbelievably rewarding as well.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

As any parent of a child with amblyopia knows, getting young, active children to wear an eye patch can be an exercise in frustration. Parents will usually try asking, pleading with, and bribing their kids to get them to wear the patch. In extreme cases, there are other amblyopia treatments that a doctor can recommend, but the tried-and-true eye patch remains the most common treatment.

Part of the reason kids don’t want to wear the patch is that they have to see out of the “lazy” eye that doesn’t see well, which can be frustrating. Also, kids feel very self-conscious with the patch on. Often, they are the only one they know with an eye patch. And, let’s face it, an eye patch really just isn’t that much fun. And no amount of logic and reason is likely to make it fun.

But I just found out about something that can make wearing an eye patch fun! It is an award-winning DVD called the “The Eye Patch Kids.” It stars a puppet named Princess and her friends, as she goes to the eye doctor and learns that she has amblyopia and needs to wear and eye patch. There is lots of silliness and singing and dancing – all the things that little kids love. And not only that, but it communicates some very important messages for children with amblyopia to hear.

I was so impressed by the video that I interviewed its creator, Kelly Harmsen, about the DVD and her experience with amblyopia:

Dr. B: Can you tell me about your family’s experience with amblyopia?
Kelly:Well, I will admit that before he was diagnosed I had no clue what it was. Now it’s a totally different thing to me because I know that they need to get help. That’s why I always tell parents that just because you don’t think your child has a vision problem doesn’t mean they don’t. If a child is born with loss of vision in one eye they don’t know better to tell you because they have been seeing like that since they were born. So they don’t know there is a problem either. That’s why it is VERY IMPORTANT for every child to get a vision screening.

Dr. B: How did the idea of producing the DVD come about?
Kelly:When Joshua was first diagnosed with Amblyopia and we got a prescription for glasses and bought the eye patch we were clueless on how to get him to wear it. When I asked the d she just said “I don’t know, but just get him to wear it.” After many days of struggling with him to wear the eye patch and him leaving it on for only 30 seconds I was very frustrated. Then one day a man came on a cartoon wearing an eye patch and my son who originally wanted nothing to do with the patch took it out of the drawer and handed it to me to put it on him. I didn’t realize at first why he wanted it on, but was very happy and put it on him immediately. Then he went back into the other room and started trying to dance and copy the man on tv with the patch on. I was jaw dropped when I saw this. Then I thought to myself, I wonder if I can take our camcorder and make a quick little movie on it to play on our TV with puppets with eye patches on for him to copy. Well it worked great and I didn’t have any problems anymore with him. Then after researching the internet I realized that there were so many other kids out there going through the same thing as my son, and that’s when I decided to make this available to all kids. So I sat down at my computer and typed up a rough draft of the script and my sister put in her two cents and then I made all the puppets, backgrounds, etc. and we hired a production company to film it.

Dr. B: Where did the name Bjort come from?
Kelly: Well actually my sister Tracy came up with it. I had made the Bjort puppets and didn’t know what to all them and when my sister saw them she just said “Bjort” and we both started laughing. Then I thought well if we laugh then I’m sure he kids will laugh. So we brought Joshua into the room and I put the puppet back on and kept saying “Bjort” and he would laugh every time so that’s when we thought we had a winner with the name.

Dr. B: What are some of the most distant/interesting places you have gotten feedback from patients/parents?
Kelly:I have been selling them all over the world. As far as Australia, Isreal, Africa, Japan, UK, etc. Unfortunately it is only filmed in English, but even in the countries where they don’t speak English they say that their child still gets the message from just watching it. I have had lots of positive feedback from parents and that makes me feel great to know that I am helping kids out just like my son. There is nothing else like it in the world.

Dr. B: What is your favorite part of the video?
Kelly:I would probably have to say “The Bjort Bop” song with me being the Bjort singing and my sister being the other Bjort in the background just acting crazy. lol. That was totally unrehearsed. I still laugh everytime I see that part knowing how it was made. My sister couldn’t move her wrist for almost a week after that.

If you are interested in purchasing the “The Eyepatch Kids” DVD or related merchandise, you can find out all about it at www.bjortandcompany.com

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
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People are often confused by the eye care field and do not know the difference between the three O’s: Opticians, Optometrists, and Ophthalmologists.

Well, to put it simply:

Opticians are experts in frames and lenses. The sell and repair glasses. In some states they can also fit contact lenses.

Optometrists are doctors that are vision specialists. They deal with the function and health of the eyes. They can prescribe glasses and contacts and can treat eye disease with medication.

Ophthalmologists are doctors that are concerned primarily with the eyes and diseases of the eyes, which they can treat with medicine and surgery. They can also prescribe glasses and contacts.

The American Optometric Association has long known about the confusion between the 3 O’s and has recently produced a wonderful video about our profession:

[vodpod id=ExternalVideo.440721&w=425&h=350&fv=]
from www.aoa.org

This video discusses how Optometrists provide a wide range of care, including:

* Detect and diagnose eye diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts, retinal disorders, lid disorders, and infections such as conjunctivitis.
* Prescribe medication to treat eye diseases.
* Evaluate and treat vision conditions such as nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia, amblyopia, binocular vision problems.
* Perform minor surgical procedures such as removing foreign objects from the eye.
* Provide pre- and post-operative care, especially for glaucoma, laser, refractive, and cataract patients.
* In some instances, perform laser, refractive or glaucoma surgeries.

The video also shows how Doctors of optometry are on the forefront of advanced research into the development of new treatments for eye diseases and disorders.

* The research dollars awarded by the government through the National Eye Institute to optometrists has quadrupled in less than 10 years.
* Optometric researchers are using these funds to advance solutions in areas such as glaucoma, vision therapy and preschoolers’ access to vision care.

Here is a recent health news story on PCR (a.k.a. Orthokeratology) by Tampa’s own Dr. Jo of Fox 13. The brief segment nicely shows the benefits of rehsaping lenses. It features two young patients, one of whom can now play volleyball without glasses or contacts. She also mentions the importance of taking care of your lenses to reduce the risk of infection. Remember, this applies to reshaping lenses as well as all other kinds!

Click here to watch the video.

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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