Prepare Your Eyes For Allergy Season

Spring is on the horizon and we couldn’t be more excited!

Chirping birds, blooming flowers, and warmer weather are just a few of the things we look forward to when spring comes around. We have to admit though, there is one thing about the season that’s not particularly appealing, and that’s allergies.

What Your Eyes Can Expect This Spring

The American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology states that approximately 50 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies. Many of you have experienced it… you walk outside to enjoy the fresh air of a new spring day, only to find yourself sneezing and congested soon after. Not only that, but your eyes suffer too! If you struggle with allergies, your eyes might experience the following symptoms:

• Redness
• Swelling around the eyelids
• Sensitivity to light
• Itchiness
• Tearing, or watery discharge

We know that nothing can ruin your spring fever quite like an allergy attack, so read on to find out ways to protect yourself this season!

Tips To Help You Survive Allergy Season

The best way to treat allergies is prevention. Here are some tips to protect your eyes when seasonal allergies strike!

Avoid Allergens

This goes without saying. Be aware of the pollen count in your area and try to stay indoors when pollen counts are at their highest, usually mid-morning and early evening. Keep your windows closed and use air conditioning at home and in your car. If you have to go outdoors, wear wraparound sunglasses to keep pollen out of your eyes.

Try Home Remedies

Applying a cold compress to your eyes can bring a surprising amount of relief. This reduces eye itchiness and swelling. You should also remove your contacts if you feel your allergies are getting the best of you. Allergens can get trapped in between your contact lenses and the surface of your eye, causing constant irritation.

Use Over-The-Counter Medication

Artificial tears can help wash out any allergens in your eyes, so keep these on hand. You can also use over-the-counter allergy eye drops or oral antihistamines. If you feel that these aren’t helping you, visit your local Vision Source® member practice and they can write you a prescription for stronger medication that may provide more relief.

To get a more in-depth look at what causes those pesky allergies and what you can do to avoid them, check out the video below!

Don’t Let Allergies Get The Best Of You

We know how difficult spring can be for some of our patients because of allergies. We want you to know that we’re here for you!

Keep in mind that many eye infections can mimic the symptoms of eye allergies. So if you’ve never had seasonal allergies and suddenly experience them or you’re simply unsure, contact your optometrist and get your eyes checked. We’re here to get you through allergy season with a smile on your face!

To learn more, visit us online at www.visionsourcenw.com or call us at 604.553.3900.

Digital Eye Strain

Research is showing a rise in the detection of visual problems because of the number of hours spent in front of a computer. Uncorrected hyperopia or myopia, astigmatism and wearing multifocals can all make computer use less comfortable and efficient. Depending on your condition, your eyes could be exerting extra focusing effort or be forced to work harder to maintain a clear image when viewing the screen. Even people with perfect vision may experience symptoms such as blurred vision, eyestrain and headaches with improper computer use. To ensure comfortable and efficient computing, visit your doctor of optometry for a thorough eye exam. Your doctor of optometry will need to know:

• How many hours a day you use a computer
• The distance from your eyes to your screen
• The overall set up of your workstation and your main work tasks
• The type and location of lighting in your computer area

A doctor of optometry will advise you if you suffer from digital eye strain, or if your ocular discomfort is the result of a more serious vision or health problem. To help reduce the risk of digital eye strain, consider the following tips:

• Position your screen about an arm’s length from your eyes and 20 degrees below eye level.
• Set colour and contrast tones to suit your eyes and match the brightness of your screen with your surroundings.
• Minimize reflected glare on your screen by using dimmer switches on lights and a protective anti-glare screen cover. Also consider positioning your screen so that it sits perpendicular to windows and other bright light sources. If you are having trouble locating the source of the glare, turn off your monitor to reveal a darkened screen and tilt/swivel your monitor until the reflection disappears.
• Keep your screen free of fingerprints and dust, as both can reduce visual clarity.
• If you alternate between looking at your screen and paperwork, consider obtaining a clipboard that attaches alongside your monitor so that the two are at the same working distance.
• Use the 20-20-20 rule. Every 20 minutes take a 20 second break and focus your eyes on something at least 20 feet away (the water cooler, possibly?). This will give your eyes a much-needed break and reduce some of the symptoms mentioned earlier.
• Remember to blink! Did you know that on average we blink 12 times per minute, but when we’re on the computer, we only blink five times per minute? That can add up to dry eyes. Relieve the discomfort by using artificial teardrops or gels and remembering to blink. Consult your optometrist to determine which eye drops are best to relieve your dry eyes.
• Ask for anti-reflective coatings on the lenses of your glasses, which can be applied at the time of manufacturing, which allow for more comfortable viewing of screens, fluorescent and LED lights. Your doctor of optometry will talk to you about eyewear designed specifically for computer use.

Symptoms of headaches, eye strain, blurred vision, eye irritation, double vision, excessive tearing or dry eyes and excessive blinking or squinting are all common effects of digital eye strain. Any time you experience these symptoms, you should visit your doctor of optometry for a comprehensive eye health examination to rule out a more serious vision problem.

Detecting Underlying Health Conditions

During a comprehensive eye exam, your doctor of optometry does much more than just determine your prescription for eyeglasses or contact lenses. He or she will also check your eyes for common and rare eye diseases, assess how well your eyes work together as a team and look for indicators of many potentially serious health conditions that affect other areas of the body.

Health Conditions Visible in the Eyes

The connection between vision and other systems of the body make routine eye exams an important part of preventative healthcare— regardless of your age or your physical health. Comprehensive eye exams provide optometrists with a close-up look at your blood vessels, the optic nerves, and other complex eye structures, all of which may contain clues to conditions that could pose a serious risk to your health. A number of underlying health conditions can be detected through a comprehensive eye exam, ranging from high blood pressure and diabetes to certain forms of cancer. Other health conditions that may show signs in the eyes include tumours, aneurysms, autoimmune disorders, thyroid disease, sickle cell disease, liver disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and other neurological or brain disorders.

High blood pressure

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms, but if left untreated is a major risk factor for life threatening conditions like heart disease, stroke, and heart attack. Because the eye is the only part of the body in which blood vessels can be viewed without invasive techniques, it can be the first place that high blood pressure is detected.

The retina is a tissue layer lining the inside of your eye. This layer transforms light into nerve signals that are then sent to the brain for interpretation into images. When your blood pressure is too high, for a prolonged period, changes to the retina’s blood vessels occur. During an eye exam, your optometrist will look out for damage to the blood vessels in the retina, helping to detect signs of high blood pressure and identify risks for stroke or heart attack.

Diabetes

Like high blood pressure, diabetes can damage the small blood vessels in your retina. If undetected or not controlled effectively, diabetes can impact your vision and put you at risk of other life threatening complications such as heart disease and kidney failure. With as many as one million Canadians living with undiagnosed diabetes, an eye exam can play an important role in early detection of diabetes and assist in effective management of the disease.

Cancer

A comprehensive eye exam can identify unusual structures and growths inside or around the eye, including a rare form of cancer called choroidal melanoma which develops within the cells that make pigmentation in the eye and can be life threatening if it spreads to other parts of the body.

Brain tumours, depending on their location in the brain, can cause loss of peripheral vision, optic nerve changes, abnormal eye movements, double vision, or other changes in vision. A comprehensive eye exam includes tests of peripheral vision and eye muscle function and can often be the first line of detection of a brain tumour.

Skin cancer can also be detected through an eye exam, as lesions called basal cell carcinomas can show up on the eyelid and, in rare occasions, can spread to the brain through the eye. The eye and its surrounding tissues are one of the most common areas of the body where skin cancer is first diagnosed.

Neurological Conditions and Brain Injuries

The optic nerve in the eye is essentially an extension of the brain and carries signals from the retina’s nerve cells to the brain for processing. Neurological conditions that affect nerve cells, such as multiple sclerosis, may affect vision and be detected through an eye exam.

The muscles attached to the eye that are responsible for coordinated eye movements are controlled through nerves that arise directly from the brain. Several neurological conditions, which affect the brain, including Parkinson’s disease and Progressive Supranuclear Palsy, can affect eye movements and even cause double vision.

Mental health conditions and brain injuries, including strokes, may affect the parts of the brain that control eye coordination and tracking. Strokes can also cause peripheral vision loss. Diabetes can cause nerve damage that can result in double vision. A comprehensive eye exam can detect problems with eye movement, and vision training or spectacle (eyeglass) therapy can improve the ability of the eyes to track and work together.

Prevention Information

Good vision is about making good choices. Your best choice is to see your doctor of optometry for a routine eye exam to ensure good vision and eye health. Early diagnosis and treatment are keys to preventing vision loss. Don’t assume that red eyes, pain or unusual visual symptoms will go away on their own. You can never be sure: some eye diseases only show symptoms when the condition is advanced and difficult, or even impossible to treat.

It’s about making smart decisions at home. Everything from sitting at a distance equivalent to at least five times the width of your TV screen; eating the right foods to help deter the onset of certain eye conditions; taking a 20 second break from your computer screen every 20 minutes and focusing your eyes on something at least 20 feet away; wearing proper protective eyewear when undertaking most major indoor or outdoor work; to the simple habit of having your child wear sunglasses outside when the sun is shining. Good vision and eye health means making smart choices at work, too. At the office, being farsighted, nearsighted, or having astigmatism can all make computer use less comfortable.

Depending on your condition, your eyes could be exerting extra focusing effort or be forced to work harder to maintain a clear image on the screen. We provide expert eye health and leading prescription safety eyewear to industries as diverse as forestry and IT, offering comprehensive eye examinations, professional consultation and individually tailored programs to help employees work safely and effectively. Through comprehensive eye health services, such as visual field assessments and vision training, your doctor of optometry can detect, manage and treat conditions such as job-related eyestrain, age-related vision change and disease. Talk to one of our Doctors of Optometry to ensure you are making the right choices.

Glaucoma

What is glaucoma?

Glaucoma is a chronic progressive eye disease characterized by a degeneration of the optic nerve. This can lead to serious vision loss if not detected and treated early. The optic nerve takes all of the information the eye sees and transmits that information to the brain. Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in Canada.

What causes glaucoma?

The exact cause and mechanism of glaucoma is not fully understood. There seems to be some level of mechanical compression and/or decreased blood flow to the optic nerve. Although high eye pressure sometimes leads to glaucoma, many people can also develop glaucoma with “normal” eye pressure, known as normal-tension glaucoma (NTG).

An injury, infection or tumour in or around the eye can cause the pressure inside the eye to rise, leading to a form of glaucoma. These situations are referred to as secondary glaucoma, because their cause is a result of another medical condition.

Who gets glaucoma?

Glaucoma most frequently occurs in individuals over the age of 40, and there is a hereditary tendency for the development of the disease in some families. There is also a greater risk of developing glaucoma when you have diabetes, high blood pressure or a history of eye injuries. Regular eye examinations by a doctor of optometry are important for people of all ages to assess the presence of, or your risk for, glaucoma. Glaucoma cannot be detected without an eye exam.

Why is glaucoma harmful to vision?

The optic nerve, at the back of the eye, carries visual information to the brain. As the fibers that make up the optic nerve are damaged due to increased pressure and/or reduced blood flow to the nerve, the amount and quality of information sent to the brain decreases and a loss of vision occurs. Usually peripheral vision is affected first, followed by central vision during the later stages of the disease.

Will I go blind from glaucoma?

If diagnosed at an early stage, eye drops and laser treatment can control glaucoma and little or no further vision loss should occur. If left untreated, peripheral vision is affected first, followed by central vision loss during late stages of the disease. Complete blindness may occur.

How can I tell if I have glaucoma?

Primary open-angle glaucoma often develops painlessly and gradually. There are no early warning signs. It can gradually destroy your vision without you knowing it. Regular eye exams are important for people of all ages to assess the presence of, or your risk for, glaucoma. Glaucoma cannot be detected without an eye examination. Acute angle-closure glaucoma is a more sudden type of glaucoma and may have warning signs and symptoms such as nausea, eye pain, red eyes, blurred vision and haloes around lights.

How is glaucoma detected?

A comprehensive eye examination is often the only way to detect glaucoma. Your doctor of optometry will perform a simple and painless procedure called tonometry during your routine eye exam, which measures the internal pressure of your eye. Because normal-tension glaucoma causes damage to the optic nerve without eye pressure exceeding the normal rang, it is detected by observing the optic nerve for signs of damage. As part of a comprehensive exam, your doctor will take a detailed look at your optic nerve often through a dilated pupil using a series of hand held lenses. They may also use advanced imaging devices when assessing your optic nerve.

Is all glaucoma detectable?

Normal tension glaucoma is symptomless and can often take years to manifest. Diagnosis of NTG can involve monitoring a patient with standardized eye exam equipment over a number of years, and watching for changes to the optic nerve and/or visual field over time. As part of this testing, your doctor will monitor for signs and symptoms of NTG and refer for the appropriate tests or to the appropriate specialist whenever that is warranted or indicated. Some optometry offices choose to incorporate extended testing in their offices (such as Optical Coherence Tomography, which provides high-resolution, cross-sectional imaging of ocular tissues) to save referral wait times. Other offices will refer for further testing, knowing it is readily available in a colleague’s office (optometrist or ophthalmologist).

How is glaucoma treated?

Treatment of glaucoma will depend on the severity and progress of the disease. It cannot be cured, but rather controlled, often with daily eye drops. Laser surgery is also an effective way to control glaucoma and maintain your remaining vision. In more complicated cases, surgery may be needed to completely bypass the eye’s natural drainage system. Once vision is lost due to glaucoma, it cannot be restored. This is why regular preventive eye exams with your doctor of optometry are so important.