Everyone needs eyes examined

At every stage of your life, there's a need to have an eye examination.

For children, regular examinations help to detect and monitor any eye changes or poor vision that could cause learning difficulties.

For adults and seniors, having an eye exam every two years allows the early diagnosis of eye health problems that can cause blindness.

They're the only eyes you'll ever have

Every year, about 1500 New Zealanders lose their sight. For many of them, blindness could have been prevented if their eye health and vision had been examined regularly. For example, it's estimated that half the people with glaucoma are not receiving treatment simply because they don't know they have the disease. Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness in New Zealand.

NZAO recommends an eye examination every two years

The New Zealand Association of Optometrist recommends that you have your eyes checked every two years, or as recommended by your optometrist, depending on your current eye health and vision needs. All Visique optometrists belong to this association, which exists to ensure a high quality of eye health care is provided in New Zealand.

Not just for the people who wear glasses

Regular trips to Visique aren't only for the people who need vision correction. Even if your eyesight seems to be perfect, eye examinations are important becasue most sight threatening conditions have no symptoms at first - this is particularly true of eyes problems related to diabetes and glaucoma.

What is the optometrist looking for?

Optometrists are trained to examine eyes of all ages. About 60% of the people examined required some kind of vision correction. Of the remaining 40%, many will benefit from other forms of eye care, such as preventative eye care, eye hygiene advice and medical treatment.

Bring your questions with you

During your Visique appointment, you can expect to be asked questions about your eyes and vision, your family's eye and vision history and your general health. Specialised equipment and techniques will be used to check for signs of eye disease and other abnormalities. After examining your eyes, your Visique optometrist will discuss your vision and eye health with you and offer advise. At this point, you can ask any questions that might be on your mind.

Do not take your eyes for granted.

Progressive Promotion - June/July 2011

Wholesaler's promotion !!!

Buy a pair of Essilor progressive lenses in new frame and

receive a FREE pair of distance* or readers*.

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As seen on page 9 of Kapiti Observer dated 13 June , Monday.

Winter is here - well, late autumn, anyway. Mild - we're expecting 19 degrees - and very wet. So we still need to consider our eyes and vision, even if we are not as concerned about sun-protection at present!

Sunglasses are still useful on glary, bright days, but never wear them at night. With wet roads and the lights from in-coming cars, drivers can experience discomfort glare and also miss pedestrians running across the road in dark clothes, but you need as much light is available to pick up road hazards (including pedestrians who see you and figure that you se them too). Sunglasses block light, so are dangerous to wear in the dark.

Many people snuggle down and enjoy winter hobbies at this time - reading gardening books rather than getting out in the garden, writing the great NZ novel, cooking warming soups and stews. Reading the recipe book, reading the garden guide, cross-stitch for hours, writing (by hand or on the computer) - are your eyes up to concentrated near viewing? Our aim is to give you single, clear, comfortable vision. If you can't see as well or as easily as you'd like to, call us for an appointment to-day.

A busy week

Winnie and I have had a busy week, which explains why this post is later than usual. We have had a new practice management computer system installed, kindly supported by Essilor who are a large funder of Sunnix Vision. Sunnix is great because one of the directors is an optometrist, and Essilor is also very supportive in paying for updates as users decide that things could be improved. It has the advantage that if enough optometristrs want a screen that does something, this can be done.

So we are tackling our new system - haven't crashed it yet!

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.

Sorry I didn't post last week - optometrists lead busy professional lives! Seeing patients is, of course, the most important part of the job, but there is all the practice administration as well. But I am lucky because, as an NZAO Councillor, I get to do "other stuff" as well. Last week, I was in Auckland at the NZAO student awards' evening, where we got to meet many of our colleagues-to-be, optometrists in training, and to congratulate the winners of academic prizes offered by the NZAO. The next day involved a meeting with the Department of Optometry and Visual Sciences' staff and the Optometrists' and Dispensing Opticians' Board - we meet annually in a round-table meeting so the profession, the training/research institution and the regulation authority all have an idea as to what the others' issues are. In a fortnight, I shall be lucky enough to see another Optometry school...in Puerto Rico. But more of that in about a month! Happy Easter.

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With all the sorrow and drama from Christchurch after the earthquake on 22 February, things have been rather odd here lately. Earthquakes - Christchurch's (and our little ones)have replaced the weather as the topic of converstaion when patients come in. At least there was no tsunami warning, unlike that late February 2010 Chilean earthquake with everyone on East Coast beaches on alert - I remember as I was in the garden tidying up before my dad's birthday last year and felt a bit of deja vu this year...

Optometry has lost a great colleague in the Chistchurch quake. Paul Dunlop of Chistchurch was not at work that day - he was helping to dismantle a damaged organ in Durham St Methodist Church when the quake hit. Three of them died in the quake, with five getting out. Paul was a great clinician, a repected colleague and mentor and a really nice guy. He leaves a family, who are in our thoughts and prayers.

It will be a big funeral.