To all of the friends and patients of Bright Eyes Family Vision Care, Happy Thanksgiving! The office will be closed this weekend as we spend time with our families. And as 2009 winds down, I want to take a moment to thank you for being our patient and supporting independent Optometry. We have so much to be thankful for and I hope that this year has been as wonderful for you as it has for us! Let me share with you some noteworthy news for us at Bright Eyes:

Javier is here!
We are thrilled to celebrate the arrival of Javier Bonilla Warford on Oct. 8th, 2009.

Vision Therapy
This year we welcomed Edna Moore to Bright Eyes as our full-time vision therapist. As a mother, she had personal experience with vision therapy and she now has proved to be a marvelous asset to the team! Patients love her!

The December Eyewear Show
During the West Park Village Holiday Stroll on Saturday, Dec. 12th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m, we will showcase the entire Takumi Eyewear collection for Men, Women & Kids. All Takumi Eyewear includes matching magnetic polarized sunclips. Stop by the show for 25% OFF Takumi Eyewear including prescription lenses! (Limitations may apply)

Social Media
Bright Eyes is excited to be a leader among eye doctors in the use of social media to connect patients. Not only do people all over the world read our blog, Bright Eyes News, but we routinely communicate with patients on Facebook andTwitter. You can also check in on Foursquare.

Precise Corneal Reshaping Ortho-k
We have become certified in additional Orthokeratology methods to correct nearsightedness by using special contact lenses to reshape the eye’s front surface. No glasses or contacts are needed during the day. This is great for kids, because it can actually prevent eyesight from becoming worse! Very exciting indeed.

New Multifocal Contact Lens Options

I had this post ready to go a while back and then forgot to post it. It is a little late, but still relevant.

I was recently quoted in the St. Petersburg Times discussing the formation of the Westchase Area Business Association. You can see the full story here, but here is a good quote:

In 2006, Dr. Nathan Bonilla-Warford, an optometrist, opened Bright Eyes Family Vision Care in West Park Village. He struggled to connect with other business owners in the community.

Westchase is a wonderful place, but if you don’t come, you don’t know it’s here,” Bonilla-Warford said. “If we can give people a reason to come here, they’ll come back.”

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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I have been waiting for this day for some time. And I am so excited, I’m going to use a large heading:

FOURSQUARE HAS COME TO TAMPA!

Don’t know what foursquare is? It is an online system to track the places that you go and finding out where you friends are. Sound goofy? Check out this CNN article, and see why it might be a big deal.

I have already checked in to to several places in Westchase today. It is fun because there isn’t much action in Tampa, yet. You get to be first.

Bright Eyes is now a foursquare venue, so while you are here for an exam or getting glasses or contacts, why not check in? To encourage people to check in, we’ll even give a discount to whoever is the current mayor of Bright Eyes. Just let us know when you make your purchase.

Have fun out there, TPA!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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Unfortunately, due to the birth of Javier this October, I wasn’t able to make it to one of my favorite meetings: the annual meeting and educational conference of the Orthokeratology Academy of America (OAA). This year it was in Phoenix, AZ. I missed a lot of great topics  including: controlling nearsightedness, non surgical alternatives to vision correcting eye surgery, new lens designs for -improved corneal reshaping treatment, pediatric Ortho-K, post-surgical vision rehabilitation and new Ortho-K therapeutic treatments were unveiled.

Many of my friends and colleagues were there. Close to two hundred attendees came to Phoenix from the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, and places as far as Taiwan and  Singapore.

I am a member of the Orthokeratology Academy of America (OAA). Its mission is to establish policy and to develop and update protocols and education for doctors performing corneal reshaping (orthokeratology).

Myopia is a progressive condition affecting 1.6 billion children and adults worldwide, with expectations that the number will hit 2.5 billion by 2020. Exciting research now shows that orthokeratology can slow the elongation of the eye which contributes to progressive nearsightedness in children and young adults. 20/20 vision can be restored in as little as one day to one month depending on severity.

Orthokeratology involves the fitting of a specialized contact lens designed to reshape the cornea during sleep much like braces realigning the teeth. In addition, Ortho-K is a less expensive and safer alternative to surgical vision correction. For more information on this process, stop by Bright Eyes or go to www.brighteyesorthok.com and www.okglobal.org.

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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Good news! We will be doing another contest this winter. We will be giving away a pair of glasses/sunglasses. We had a ball giving away some Tiffany suns this summer and we are excited to do it again!

Help us decide what the Grand Prize should be! Would you like:

Coach

Bvlgari

Tiffany and Co.

Please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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I’ve been a big fan of Susan Barry ever since I first read about her in The New Yorker several years ago. I was an even bigger fan after her book “Fixing My Gaze” was published this year. As a neuroscientist and educator, she has written a very accessible book about her remarkable experience with vision therapy as an adult.

I’ve become so enamored with “Fixing My Gaze” that I have shared many copies with friends, held an online contest to give a the book as a prize, and even interviewed Dr. Barry. So I was delighted to see this morning that the book has been selected as the #4 top science book by Amazon.com for 2009. This is very fitting, due to the easy-reading style of a very complex and fascinating subject.

Congrats to Dr. Barry for the well-deserved praise for a fine piece of work!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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We spent part of yesterday upgrading the appearance the blog. Check out the Facebook, Twitter, and reader location widgets.

If there are any other features that you would like to see, please let use know! We’d be happy to look into it!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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With gratitude and appreciation to those who have served and continue  to serve our country, Happy Veterans Day.

To show our appreciation, Bright Eyes  does provide a military discount 365 days a year. It is our way of saying thank you.

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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More info to come!

Be Well!

Dr. Bonilla-Warford
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
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My daughter just had academic testing done. She is in 2^nd grade.  She is a great reader and has no problem writing.  Her struggle is with visual perception and long term retrieval.  She has difficulty with math; specifically with shapes, graphs and tables.  She does not seem to understand or can not see the relevance to the math problems presented.   Can you tell me if you have heard of this math issue having to do with a vision problem?

Well, without being too technical, math does involve complex visual perceptual skill. It is certainly possible that a challenge in specific visual processing can result in difficulty with math. The relationships that are involved in math are typically rooted in tangible concepts that are readily processed visually.  (Here is a simple example). This can even be the case even if your daughter is a good reader – it is also possible that her language verbal skills are so very high that they compensate for visual difficulty, or that the visual processes may not be the same used primarily in reading.

Has your daughter and a complete vision evaluation? I would start there, followed by an optometric visual information processing evaluation. After these are completed, it would be possible to tell you if  some form of intervention (glasses, contact lenses, vision therapy)  may benefit her.

And, of course, she should continue to receive the needed instruction and any tutoring/remediation/addition instruction that is appropriate.

I hope this information has been helpful. If you have further questions, you can call the office at 813-792-0637 or email me directly.

Be Well!

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD, FAAO
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Westchase, Tampa, FL
P 813-792-0637 F813-792-0657
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