Glasses That Improve Vision - Lens Treatment

Glasses That Improve Vision

Photochromic. Photochromic lenses are chemically treated so that they automatically adjust to brightness. They get sunglass-dark in direct sunlight and clear in a dimly lit room. They can screen out up to 85 percent of light at their darkest and 10 percent to 15 percent at their lightest.

Glasses That Improve Vision

Some cautions about photochromic lenses: These lenses require UV light to change color, so they won't get dark while you're driving unless the sun is shining on your face through an open window. You may need to keep a pair of sunglasses in the car. Plastic don't change color as quickly or get as dark as treated glass lenses. And neither type of lens changes color as quickly or gets as dark in high temperatures.

Can Glasses Correct Vision

Can Glasses Correct Vision

About 6 out of 10 Americans wear some kind of corrective lenses. And the runaway favorite is eyeglasses. About 8 out of 10 Americans with a prescription for vision correction choose eyeglasses.
 

Can Glasses Correct Vision

The variety of eyeglasses to choose from can seem staggering. Thousands of frame styles and hundreds of lens designs are on the market. And you can buy them from your eye doctor, small optical shops, department stores, discount centers, nationwide optical chains or on the Internet. Eyeglass lenses are made of glass or plastic. Nearly 9 out of 10 eyeglass wearers choose plastic. Once you select the material, you'll be asked to make other eyeglass choices, many of them related to your lifestyle. Your eye doctor can make recommendations if you take a few minutes to discuss the kinds of things you need to be able to do with your glasses. Here are some common lens choices you may need to consider.

Lasik Vision Correction Surgery

Lasik Vision Correction Surgery

If you need to sharpen your vision, you have many options to choose from among eyeglasses, contact lenses or the increasingly popular refractive surgery (sometimes referred to as laser vision surgery). A wide variety of lens treatments and eyeglass frames are available - from lightweights for comfort and style to sturdy goggles for playing contact sports. Contact lenses come in rigid and soft styles, which allows you to select a pair that suits your lifestyle and the sensitivity of your eyes. If you prefer not having to deal with corrective lenses at all, you may choose to have your vision corrected surgically. Two surgical options that are especially popular are LASIK and PRK. These acronyms will be explained, along with details of each procedure, in future posts.
 

Lasik Vision Correction Surgery

You and your eye doctor can decide which of these options is best for you. You'll certainly want to take your individual needs into consideration. If your lifestyle or health keeps you from being especially active, glasses may be your best choice. If you're on the go a lot or don't like the look and feel of glasses, you may prefer contacts or the more permanent solution of surgery. Your choices may narrow once you understand a bit about how corrective lenses function and the key differences among the various options.

Improve Your Eyesight Without Glasses

Improve Your Eyesight Without Glasses

Slit-lamp examination
 
A slit lamp allows the doctor to see the structures at the front of your eye under magnification. The microscope is called a slit lamp because it uses an intense line of light - a slit - to provide oblique illumination of the cornea, iris and lens and of the anterior chamber. The slits allow the doctor to view these structures in cross section and detect any small abnormalities.
 

Improve Your Eyesight Without Glasses

When examining corneal problems, your doctor may use fluorescein dye. This dye spreads across your eyes and appears bright yellow when hit with a blue light (screened through a blue filter). This causes tiny cuts, scrapes, tears, foreign material or infections on your cornea to stand out.

Questions During Eye Exam

Questions During Eye Exam

If you're seeing a new eye doctor or you have never had an eye exam before, expect someone on the medical staff to ask about your eyes and your medical history. Here is a sampling of the questions:

Questions During Eye Exam

• Are you having any eye problems now?
• Have you had any eye problems in years past?

How Often To Have Eye Exam

How Often To Have Eye Exam

How frequently you need an eye exam depends on several factors, including your age, health and risk of developing eye problems. The American Academy of Ophthalmology makes the following recommendations.
 
Children and adolescents

How Often To Have Eye Exam

 
Children should have their vision tested and be screened for eye disease by a pediatrician, an ophthalmologist or other trained screener. The exams should be done at the following intervals: 

Getting An Eye Exam

Getting An Eye Exam

A periodic eye exam is one of the best ways to protect your vision. That's because it's so important to detect eye problems at the earliest stage possible. Several serious eye disorders are capable of doing irreparable damage before they cause any symptoms. If you wait for vision problems to show up seeing an eye doctor, you may be waiting too long.

Getting An Eye Exam

A regular exam with an eye specialist helps you:

• Detect eye disease when it's most treatable and before irreparable damage has occurred
• Correct or adapt to vision changes brought on by natural aging
• Reduce eyestrain, fatigue and stress in your daily activities 
• Rest assured that you're seeing as well as you can 

What Can You Do To Improve Your Eyesight

What Can You Do To Improve Your Eyesight

Presbyopia
 
Although the term presbyopia (pres-be-O-pe-uh) may be unfamiliar to you, the condition probably isn't. It's a Greek word meaning "old sight." About the time you're 40 or older, you may notice that it's harder to read at the distance you are accustomed to. The print seems smaller, and you have to hold papers farther away, sometimes at arm's length, to get them in focus.

What Can You Do To Improve Your Eyesight

 
If you're already farsighted, you may encounter the problem earlier in life. If you're nearsighted you'll eventually experience presbyopia, although later in life than a normal-sighted person. It's a natural part of aging. When you're young the lens in your eye is very elastic, giving you a wide range of focus. The lens becomes thicker when you're reading, sewing or doing other close-up work.

Eye Exercises For Farsightedness

Eye Exercises For Farsightedness

When you're farsighted a condition called hyperopia (hi-pur-O-pe-uh) - you may see objects that are far away clearly but have difficulty focusing on objects close to you.

Eye Exercises For Farsightedness

In most cases people are farsighted because their eyeball is shorter than normal from front to back. The rays of light coming into the eye aren't sharply focused at the time they reach the retina. Instead the point of focus fails behind the retina. This problem can also be caused by either a cornea or a lens that doesn't have a steep enough curvature.

Nearsighted Vision Correction - Common Vision Problems

Nearsighted Vision Correction

The intricate process of vision, which has so many complex parts and interactions, can sometimes go wrong. The four most common vision problems - nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia - are usually caused by focusing problems of the cornea or the lens or by an abnormal shape of the eye. Most problems with focusing can be corrected with eyeglasses, contact lenses or surgery that adjusts the curvature of your cornea.

Nearsighted Vision Correction

You see an object clearly when it is properly focused. That means your cornea and lens have adjusted the point of focus so that an image falls sharply defined onto your retina. If the focusing powers of your cornea and lens aren't coordinated with the length or the shape of your eye, however, the image you see is blurred.

Is It Possible To Improve Your Eyesight Naturally

Is It Possible To Improve Your Eyesight Naturally

Retina
 
On the inside back wall of the eyeball is a thin layer of tissue called the retina. This term comes from a Latin word meaning "net." It's an apt name because your retina consists of millions of light-sensitive cells and nerve cells that capture the images focused onto them by your cornea and lens.

Is It Possible To Improve Your Eyesight Naturally

 
The light-sensitive cells (sometimes called photoreceptors) are either rods or cones. There are about 20 rod cells for every cone cell. Rod cells allow you to see in very dim light or off to the side while looking ahead (peripheral, or side, vision), but they can't distinguish colors. Cone cells distinguish color exquisitely but require more light to function. This is why it can be hard to see color in the evening or in dim light. (Hence the saying, "At night all cats are gray.") Cone cells are concentrated in the center of your retina and allow you to see sharp detail when you're looking straight ahead at a well-lit object.

How To Improve Your Eyesight Without Glasses

How To Improve Your Eyesight Without Glasses

Pupil
 
That dark spot in the center of your eye is a hole - somewhat like the dark opening of a cave. It's through this hole, which is covered by your cornea, that light passes into your eye.

How To Improve Your Eyesight Without Glasses

 
Iris
 
Surrounding your pupil is the iris, the colored part of your eye. Its color comes from a pigment called melanin in your iris tissue. The more pigment, the darker the color. Brown eyes have a lot of pigment. Blue or green eyes have less pigment. As you get older, the color may change as your iris loses some of this pigment.

How To Improve Your Eyesight Naturally - A Look Inside

How To Improve Your Eyesight Naturally

Your eyes are such a small part of your body. Each eyeball is about an inch in diameter, just a little smaller than the ball used for table tennis. Yet your eyes play such a big role in your life. With them you experience the shape, the color and the motion of your surroundings. They alert you to danger or the unexpected. 

How To Improve Your Eyesight Naturally

You rely on them to explore or learn. Of your five senses - sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste - sight is the sense you've likely come to trust most in your everyday activities. With the help of your eyes, you read books, write notes, balance your checkbook, drive your car, do your work, fix your meals and care for your loved ones. On an emotional level, your vision helps to define your self-image and your personal interactions with others.