Archive for March, 2010

Here at Bright Eyes, we are very supportive of Foursquare. We think it is -  not literally  – the cat’s pajamas. So after a lot of thought and consideration, we have decided to offer our biggest and best discount ever on Foursquare Day:

That is right. All you have to do is show your Foursquare check-in and you will save 50% on glasses, including all frames, lenses, and lens treatments! There is no limit to how many you can buy, but the the offer is not valid with vision plan discounts.

So support Foursquare Day! Support us! Support your wife who is enamored with Tiffany & Co. or the husband who needs a new pair of prescription sunglasses. If you need to learn how to use foursquare to get the deal, then click here. If you are already know, then make your plans now!

Question via a email: I’ve had strabismus all of my life. However, I am now soon-to-be 55 years of age, and the strabismus is becoming an issue. Other than when very tired, I’ve never had to consciously bring the double vision together. Now it has become a conscious effort. Any advice you can provide is greatly appreciated.

As I am sure you can understand, I can’t give you any specific medical advice without examining you. However, I can give you some general opinions on cases similar to yours. First, if you have not read Susan Barry’s Fixing My Gaze, I recommend that you do so. It is excellent and will provide you with a great deal of information about a case similar to your own that has been successfully treated with vision therapy. That is not to say that you could have the same result, but you would have a better understanding of your condition and options.  If you’d like to come by the office, I will give you a copy.

It is very common for individuals with vision problems to experience a worsening of comfort and control in their 40s and 50s that occurs along with the natural change of reduced ability to see up close. Sometimes this reveals longstanding problems or sometimes it creates new problems. An evaluation is needed to determine the extent.

Generally, in these cases there are many treatment options. One could do nothing, which is what you have been doing previously. One could wear specific glasses or glasses with prism in them to help improve the ability to keep the eyes aligned. One could undertake vision therapy, not to strengthen the eye muscles, but to help coordinate and control them. Finally, in extreme cases, eye muscle surgery is an option.

Elaine, I hope this is helpful. If you have more questions or would like to schedule an exam, feel free to call the office at 813-792-0637.

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.

UPDATE!

After some good work by @redheadjessica: #4sqday is official!

Official Foursquare Day Tweet

Foursquare has gotten some good press recently, thanks in part to SXSW. I want to help, by turning April 16 into Foursquare Day!

Background: I’ve been a fan of foursquare since before I could even use it. While it was incubating in New York, I was reading about foursquare on Mashable, but since Tampa wasn’t yet an open city, I couldn’t do much. Immediately after Tampa was unlocked I blogged and tried to get the word out to friends and fellow business owners. Although I used the mobile site, it wasn’t until I could download the Blackberry app, that I really began to see it as a game that also challenges me to try new venues in my neighborhood!

More background: I’ve always been a fan of geeky holidays. My birthday, October 23rd, falls on Mole Day (10^23). And of course March 14, (3.14) is Pi day. And May the 4th (May the force… with a lisp) is a great day for a Star Wars Day party!  So why not Foursquare Day? Let’s get out there and frequent some local venues on Friday, April 16.  Why then? Because it is the 4th month, and the 4-squared day!

To participate, all you have to do is check in somewhere on April 16, and use the #4sqday hashtag! Then party down! It is that easy!

But if you want to help us get the word out here are some other ideas:

For Users:

Share this blog post with everyone!

Tweet about it. Use the one-click tweet if you want to!

Vote the idea up on the official Foursquare Get Satisfaction page.

Join the Foursquare Day facebook page!

Tell your friends and use the #4sqday hashtag when making your plans!

For businesses:

Make sure your venue is up to date with correct info, tags, categories, etc. For example, here is Bright Eyes venue page.

Offer a special or discount on Foursquare Day! Tell everyone, put it on your webpage, blog about it, tweet about it. Stay tuned for our #4sqday discount!

I don’t think it is an improper use of tips to add a tip for your venue that you are celebrating Foursquare Day with a special of some sort, but others may disagree on that point.

It has been suggested that anyone who gets 4 check-ins on Foursquare Day get a Foursquare Day badge. I am all for this! If anyone knows how to bring this badge closer to reality, let me know!

So what am I missing? What else should we do to get the word out? What are you planning on doing to celebrate Foursquare Day? And don’t forget to friend me!

If you’d like to be a part of the #4sqday planning group let me know!

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.

Macular degeneration is a leading cause blindness.  It is a disease that is usually diagnosed in those over 55, affects both eyes and is slowly progressive. Macular degeneration is also known as ARMD (Age Related Macular Degeneration).

Macular degeneration can cause significant loss of central vision, but will not cause complete blindness as it does not affect the side, or peripheral, vision.

Thus, ARMD affects only central vision and may cause blurriness, distortion and non-moving black/grey spots in our vision.  Legal blindness is possible.

The macula is a small area of the retina.  It measures about 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm and gives us our central vision, including reading, our best color vision and is the only place sensitive enough to give us “20/20″ vision.  When we stare at something small, we are moving our eyes so that the image of interest falls on our macula.

The two forms are differentiated by the presence of abnormal blood vessels underneath the retina.  The abnormal blood vessels are called neovascularization.

The dry form does not have neovascularization and is usually more slowly progressive than its counterpart.  Most patients have the dry form, but it is possible for the “dry” to become “wet.”

Both forms involve degeneration of the different layers of the macula.

There are lots and lots of vitamins claiming to be good for macular degeneration, but only one formulation has ever been proven to have an effect.  An NIH based study concluded that the so-called AREDS formula of vitamin reduced the risk of severe vision due to wet ARMD by 25% in those patients.  Only those patients that were of medium to high risk derived any benefit.

Patients with dry macular degeneration or patients with low risk ARMD do not have any reason for taking the vitamins.

Supplements such as lutein, omega 3 fatty acids, Beta-carotene, etc. have never been truly proven to be effective and are presently under study by NIH.  This study, the AREDS 2 Study, will be concluding in a few years.

Symptoms of ARMD include blurry vision, distortion and dark/grey spots in your central vision.  The dark/grey spots correspond to areas of the macula that have significant degeneration and are called “scotomas.”  Scotomas are basically small blind spots.

For those of you already diagnosed, self-monitoring of your vision may be helpful by use of an Amsler grid.  This is an inexpensive, yet sensitive method, for tracking any changes.

Treatments are available for the wet form of the disease and include laser treatment, Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) and intravitreal injections of anti-VEGF medications.  The earlier a problem is diagnosed, the better the outcome.  Currently, anti-VEGF medications are a common way to treat wet ARMD.

There are presently no treatments for dry ARMD.

In general, if you experience any sudden, persistent, changes in your vision, including distortion, please inform your eye doctor.

Any changes in your vision should be reported to your doctor.  If a retina problem is suspected, a thorough, dilated exam of your pupils will allow the best view of the retina.

Further testing may be warranted to confirm the diagnosis.

It isn’t necessary to see a retina specialist, but more important that you be examined.  If needed, your eye doctor may refer you to a specialist.

Randall V. Wong, M.D. is a retina specialist practicing in Virginia.  Get the latest health info on diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration.

If you have signed up for our special text messaging offers, stay tuned today for a text telling you how you can receive up to $50 Bright Eyes  gift card by supporting our YMCA spin-a-thon! Just show us the text on your phone to qualify.

If you haven’t signed up yet, you can join by texting “Brighteyes” to 74700 and take advantage of exclusive text-only offers and savings!

See Well!

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.

Yesterday, the New York Times Magazine published a lengthy article online about vision therapy (VT). It presents some very compelling cases of patients who have received vision therapy and observed the changes it can produce when needed. Many of the comments are also from parents who have children who have lives changed from VT.

It also delves into the controversy. As a provider of VT, I feel that this article fairly characterizes how the multiple sides involved view this issue. It is accurate to say that most pediatricians and ophthalmologists are opposed to vision therapy and the parents who have experienced it often become very supportive. There is often very little middle ground.

I believe very much that patients can have vision problems that interfere with various aspects of their life and VT is the appropriate treatment. However, when I am making recommendations to patients, it can be difficult to find the line between over-promising potential results from vision therapy  and failing to provide a valuable and needed service for a diagnosable  problem. Often, even with the best available data, we may not know just how well a patient will respond. After all, there are no guarantees with any medical intervention; we can only do our best with the information we have.

I encourage all who are interested in vision and vision therapy to visit the website of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development to learn more about what is known about vision and vision therapy. Of course, you can always call our office or Ask  Dr. Nate.

See Well!

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.
Connect:

At Bright Eyes, we believe in strong relationships with the community. In addition to providing eye care for those in need, we have been longstanding supporters of  the YMCA.

I routinely work out at the Y and since this year has been quite cold, I’ve especially enjoyed the spin classes, also called studio cycling.  So I was excited to see that there was going to be a spin fundraiser: The Spinathon on Saturday, March 20th at the New Tampa YMCA!

The idea is simple: A person or team of people will do four consecutive hours of spin class. They take donations to raise money for the YMCA Building Strong Kids Campaign. The Building Strong Kids Campaign is a nation-wide campaign to raise money for after-school care, swim lesson, camps, leadership training, and other programs for kids not just in Hillsborough County, but around the country.

Why donations? (Get it? “Y Donations!”, lol ) From the YMCA webpage: “Simply put, your gift changes lives. Every dollar given to the YMCA goes directly to help children and families participate in YMCA memberships and programs, regardless of their financial circumstances. Through YMCA involvement, families become closer, children grow and blossom, seniors discover new energy, and those with disabilities find new abilities and new hope.”

Check out this wonderful video about  Building  Strong Kids, click here.

And if you like to read some wonderful testimonials, click here.

The entire staff of Bright Eyes will be taking turns spinning away for four hours straight. We are planning on getting team shirts and everything. You won’t miss us. It will be a blast!

There are three ways to support us in the Spinathon:

1) Drop a donation in the Spinathon box at Bright Eyes: check or cash is fine.

2) Use this handy Chipin widget via Paypal. (It is SO easy!)

3) You can donate directly to YMCA: Just click here and then tell us how much you donated for our team!

Look forward to photos and results! Let us know if you’d rather your gift be anonymous. Or consider forming a team of you own!!

UPDATE:  To ensure that we reach our goal, we will be donating 5% of all sales on glasses to the Spin-a-thon between now and March 20th. If you’d like to match our donation, then let us know!

GO TEAM BRIGHT EYES!

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.
Connect:

Thank you so much to all those who entered our FREE Coach contest! It was very fun. We had so many great entries via text, tweet, blog, and Facebook.

I know there is much anticipation to find out the winners. And I will reveal them….. soon. But while I’ve got your attention: You can still text “Brighteyes” to 74700 to be put on our texting list for specials and events. And don’t forget to check in on Foursquare and add reviews about us on LocalShops1.com!

Now, on to the winners:

Our category one (blog comment) winner: Joysunshine.

She really out did herself with creative and honestly desperate pleading for Coach sunglasses. Here is one sample:

(In the tune of “If I Only Had a Brain”)

I will savor every hour
While lookin at the flowers
And not have any strain
And my face would be so dreamy
While the sun’s so hot and steamy
If I only had COACH Frames

I’d be cute, not just a little
As any individ’le
I hope I’m not too vain

(Dorothy–a.k.a. Dr. Bonilla-Warford)
In the sun you’d be winkin’
While your shades would hide your blinkin’
If you only had COACH frames.

(Scarecrow–aka ME)
Oh, I would watch the sky
As the sunset on the shore
I could look at things I never saw before
And then I’d sit and look some more

I would not be missin’ nuffin’
I’d sing till I was huffin’
I’d play out in the rain
I would dance and be merry
Life would be a ding-a-derry
If I only had COACH frames!!!!

Winner from Category Two (Twitter/Facebook): @KrystalS

Krystal not only had numerous funny Facebook and Twitter pleas for the glasses, she was the only one who actual wrote a blog post about our contest.  Kudos to her for going the extra mile.

Winner from Category Three (Text): Melanie Alvarez

Like most people who entered by text, Melanie also entered via the other ways.  But she was the luckiest texter.

Congrats to all three winners! All you have to do is stop by Bright Eyes and pick out some shades or frames. We’ll take care of the rest.

Thanks to all who entered. I hope everyone had a good time. But, hang on, there is more.  We had so many great entries that we decided to give out some honorable mention prizes!!!!

First, we have @IslandGirlCakes! She makes specialty cakes and said that she’d make a special Bright Eyes cake if she won. So we will take her up on her offer and will trade one pair of Coach sunglasses/frames for said cake. It better be amazing!

Second,we have @EllenatVistra who did submit some creative poems and haikus! She wins a $100 gift certificate!

And finally, Amanda, Amy, Michele,  Danielle and Shelley all win $50 gift certificates for sheer determination!

This contest was very fun. Maybe we’ll do it again. We’ve already done Tiffany and Coach. Maybe Kate Spade next time?

Thanks everyone!

Nathan Bonilla-Warford, OD
Bright Eyes Family Vision Care
Located in the Westchase area of Tampa.