One little girl found the excitement to be too loud

While Prince William and Kate, duchess of Cambridge, kissed on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Royal Wedding on Friday, April, 29, one little girl found the excitement to be too loud. Lady Louise is the daughter of Queen Elizabeth's youngest son, Edward, and his wife Sophie. Lady Louise has long been sheltered from public attention, due to the fact that she has an eye condition known as exotropia.

Exotropia is a type of strabismus, the technical term for a misalignment of the eyes, in which one or both of the eyes points outward. Strabismus is usually caused by poor muscle control in one of the six muscles that control eye movement. Typically the eyes work together to focus on an image, but in a patient with strabismus, the eyes do not focus on just one image. This may create double vision or confusion as the brain tries to make sense of the two different images it sees. Over time, the brain will override information from the turned eye, causing poor depth perception

It is estimated that up to 5 percent of all children have some form of strabismus.

There are several recommended therapies, including the use of patches or glasses to attempt to get the affected eye back into alignment. Strengthening the eye muscles and correcting farsightedness are excellent ways to improve the appearance and function of the affected eye. Vision therapies may also help focus the eye through activities requiring hand-eye coordination. Finally, surgery can be performed as a last resort. It is believed that Edward and Sophie have refused to put Lady Louise through eye surgery, but her participation in other forms of treatment is unknown.

Credit to http://news.yahoo.com

Click the title for direct link of the news.

WCO meeting

Ron Fyfe And Annette Morgan - NZ delegates

The mural at the PR College of Optometry - people from classical optics and recent students.

The Aricebo Observatory detector.

Before Easter, I was in the Caribbean (San Juan, Puerto Rico), for the 2011 World Council of Optometry meeting - I am fortunate enough to be the NZ delegate. We attended the 30th anniversary celebrations of the School of Optometry there, which is a US school following US courses (four-year pre-med then a four year course). They take about 60 students per year, and this year's intake are all from "off-island", so there is some concern that they all will want to return to the mainland after graduation rather than stay in PR.

Most of the work is done in the committees - Legislative, Fellowship Grants, Public Health and Education, so they are very hard-working as the standards of the profession vary so much around the world that everyone needs to be mindful of where each country is at present and where it needs to go. The Governing Board met with some members of the PR government, and the President had spent the previous week meeting with health ministers in several Caribbean and Latin American countries to explain what it is that optometry does and how professional optometry can benefit their citizens. In some countries, there is really no access to eye care (including glasses) and in others (such as NZ) we can treat some eye condtions with medications. In Kentucky, optometrists can use lasers to treat!

And the food and the fellowship were great! Plus Tim and I got to visit the Aricebo Radio Observatory (and the MSC in Houston on the way home!)

Happy Easter

Annette and staffs would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family the blessings of Easter.

Practice will be closed over Easter weekend. We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday , 26 April 2011.