While people are now learning about Corneal Reshaping, or Orthokeratology, here in the United States, it has been very popular in Asia for quite some time. This is due to the fact that there is a very high prevalence of myopia in many Asian countries and corneal reshaping has been shown to not only temporarily eliminate nearsightedness, but can also reduce its progression.

This 7 minute video was not made in Tampa, but in Asia where ortho-k is very popular, so there is little English, but it does demonstrate how well two young girls do with the reshaping lenses. One girl is quite young and gets help from her parents. Another girl is perhaps 8 or 9 years old and demonstrates how well she handles the lenses by herself.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URkDyNDMnsQ&hl=en]

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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Thins morning I got a a very moving email from a colleague. With his permission, I have posted it here.

I have not been in practice as long as Dr. Palmer has, but I do see amazing improvement in patients who particiapte in vision therapy. It is wonderful to see that these stories last a lifetime….

Enjoy!

-Dr. B

Friends,

You never know how something you do today will affect someone in the future, so here’s what happened to me today.

I joined my uncle’s established Optometry practice 28 years ago. I was fresh out of the New England College of Optometry in Boston and embraced much of the Vision Therapy and functional vision foundation for vision taught by Mitch Scheiman, O.D. As the newbie in the office, I had a lot more free time than my uncle, so I took on some VT patients.

I remember one patient particularly well. She was a 9th grader who had been placed in special ed classes because of her poor school performance. Both of her patients came in with her explaining that they knew she was a bright girl, but had some problems. They had been to physicians, psychologists, and ophthalmologists to identify and solve her academic performance issues. No one was able to help her with her problems. I was their last hope.

She was not a good student and had been placed in a secretarial program. Her typing (remember typewriters?) was particularly bad. She told me that she couldn’t keep her eyes on the material without losing her place. What was interesting was that she had terrific visual acuity and was not nearsighted or farsighted, and so every other examiner told her parents that she was fine. I went looking for the needle in the haystack and found that while no particular set of measurements was significantly out of expected ranges, everything was borderline. She was a Vision Therapy candidate… I thought… perhaps. It was worth a try.

I don’t recall exactly what we did 28 years ago, but her parents did the exercises with her every night. She began to show improvement and was moved out of special ed. By graduation time, she was an honor student. I followed her for a few years after that. She said when ever she felt the strain coming back, she would go back to “our” exercises and the problem would disappear.

She stopped in today after about 15 years away. She’s 41, has graduated from college, works with computers, and is married with a family. As we were reminiscing, she mentioned that during college, she had to write about someone who had the most impact on her life. She wrote about me! I was speechless (and I am the endless talker). It just took my breath away.

Nowadays she does wear reading glasses, but she is nothing like the special ed ninth grader whose parents worried so much about her future.

If you ever wonder what you are doing here on Earth, I got an answer today.

Jeff Palmer, OD
Middletown, CT

According to a report from the American Academy of Ophthalmology, every year in the United States, about 40,000 people suffer sports-related eye injuries. Many of these injuries could be prevented with the proper eye-protection. Some people don’t think they need protection because they won’t get hurt or think of the old-style sports goggles that interfere with vision. But in truth many people do get hurt and sports eyewear is better than ever.

“It’s absolutely necessary for athletes to use protective eyewear because eye injuries can be devastating,” says Ophthalmologist Ruth Williams. “Wearing properly fitted protective eyewear will not harm your performance in a game, and it may save your sight.”

If you play sports, especially sports such as basketball, football or soccer, you should not be wearing your glasses, because they are not designed for sports. Consider getting prescription sport eyewear. They will improve your performance and reduce the chances of injuries.

In a similar topic, check out more info on sports vision and the exercise-myopia connection.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

This is an absolutely must-see video for parents who have questions about why an comprehensive evaluation is important early in life. It also explains the differences between a comprehensive eye exam and vision screening.

If you want more great information about this, check out the Vision First Foundation.

Recently, Johnson & Johnson held an innovative event called Camp Baby. They invited “mommy bloggers” (women who blog about their experiences raising children) for a series of lectures and events. The bloggers were under no obligation to write about their experience, but many did.

One of the featured speakers was Optometrist Scott Jens chairman of the InfantSee program that provides eye exams to infants at no charge. The recommended time for a first comprehensive eye exam for infants with no eye problems is between 6 and 12 months. If you care interested, you can read about my daughter’s InfantSee exam, that I performed when she was 7 months old.

Dr. Jens, who practices in Madison, WI, is a great speaker and many found his talk to be informative. Here is one review of Dr. Jens from Parentopia.net:

My personal favorite was learning about InfantSee with Dr. Scott Jens. This is a program supported by J&J which provides a free eye exam for all infants. Since my brother struggled horribly in school until they realized he was near sighted in one eye and far sighted in the other and simply couldn’t see what was going on in the world, I think this opportunity is something all parents should take advantage of! As a matter of fact, I have already made arrangements with Dr. Jens to get information about InfantSee into my community

Here are some other mommy blogs on the InfantSee program:

Cool Moms Rule!

Because I Said So

Midwestern Mommy

The MotherLoad

Socal Mom

If you have a baby between the ages of 6 and 12 months, the InfantSEE program will provide one evaluation at no change. Call the office or visit InfantSEE.org for more information.

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

Time for a blast from the past. This home movie was taken of an open house at an Optometry office in1959. Some of the equipment is similar to what we use today. (But we don’t have ashtrays on the desk anymore….)

Enjoy!

Optometrists have long been concerned with the fact that amount of eyestrain caused by reading can cause increased nearsightedness (myopia). This is now more true than ever with the increased use of computers and handheld video games. There is increasing research that shows that if the the near work is broken up by other activity, such as out door exercise, it can minimize the progression of myopia.

A new study supports this idea:

An association between physical activity and myopia was observed, suggesting a protective effect of physical activity on the development and progression of myopia in university students. The results confirm that intensive studying is a risk factor of myopia and that myopic progression or development is more likely in medical students in their early 20s than in their late 20s.

The summary of the the study is here. But instead of reading it, maybe you should go out and get some exercise!

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care

This is just cool. In New Zealand they are studying a huge squid. They think it is the world’s largest specimen. It has very large eyes. According to a scientists, “This is the largest eye ever recorded in history and studied… It has a huge lens the size of an orange and captures an awful lot of light in the dark depths in which it hunts.”

CNN has coverage here. There is also a somewhat graphic video of the squid specimen.

So next time you see someone who looks like they have big eyes, think about this squid that eyes eyes bigger than a person’s head!

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care