New Year’s Resolutions - 2014!

1. New Year’s Resolutions #2: Maintaining Proper Eye Care

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holiday season is behind us, it is time to start packing up the Christmas decorations and preparing yourself and your family for the start of another year. Whether you are planning on ringing in 2013 with a festive party that counts down to midnight, or you prefer a quiet night at home to reflect on the past year, there is one common New Year's routine that is a tradition for people all over the world: RESOLUTIONS.

New Year’s resolutions are a chance for us to look back on what we wish we could have improved on in the past and finally pledge to change our bad habits going into a fresh new year. However, while many people typically create their resolutions around health and fitness goals―an improved diet, a regular fitness routine, becoming more active, etc.―why not spend this year focusing on improving the health and well-being of your vision?

Many people often assume that because their vision is stable, their eyes are healthy. However, this is not always the case. Regular eye examinations cannot only help to protect your vision and help prevent future problems, but it can also help to uncover evidence of many different diseases, including diabetes and hypertension.

However, eye exams are not the only way in which you should be taking care of your vision in the upcoming new year. We have put together several simple steps that will help to ensure that your eyes and your vision health stays strong in 2014, and beyond.

Contact Care
If you are a daily wearer of contact lenses, it is important that you follow necessary steps when it comes to cleaning and maintaining your contacts. For instance, you should always take out your contact lenses when you go to sleep at night and follow the FDA recommended replacement schedule when it comes time to change them out. You should also make a resolution to use only the recommended disinfection solution, and to change your contact case every three months to make sure that you are keeping your lenses clean.

Vision and Electronics
The amount of time that we spend in front of television and computer screens may not be able to permanently damage our vision, but it still can take a significant toll on your productivity and work performance. Eyes can become dry, irritated and red when they are in front of a screen for too long. Therefore, be sure to follow the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break and look at something 20 feet away. This will help to make sure that your eyes stay healthy and hydrated.

Sun Protection
It is no secret that UV rays can be very damaging to our vision and eye health. Therefore, why not invest in a protective pair of prescription sunglasses  this year so that you can prevent exposure to the dangerous sunlight when you are outside. If you are outside a lot, you may also wish to purchase a hat or any other kind of protective clothing that will give you an extra layer of protection against UV rays.

When it comes to our vision, preventative maintenance and regular eye exams can go a long way towards keeping your eyes healthy all year long. Therefore, be sure to follow these three simple steps to ensure that 2014 will be a year for healthy vision!

2. New Year's Resolutions #1: How to save money but not sacrifice the quality of your eyecare. 

 

Maintain a regular schedule for eye exams.
Many people feel that they are saving money by skipping their recommended eye exams.  Did you know that eye exams are primarily about eye health, not just clarity of sight?  There are some blinding conditions with no symptoms that can only be detected with a thorough eye exam. If caught early, they can often be treated early with much simpler treatments. This can save hundreds or thousands of dollars of complicated treatment, including ocular surgery. This doesn’t even factor in the lost income and quality of life that can come from the loss of vision.

Get the exam that you pay for.
This may seem very obvious, but you should be sure that you are getting a complete and thorough eye exam. After all, if you are paying for something, you should get it.  Sometimes people are reluctant to have their pupils dilated during an exam, but if they don’t, the doctor cannot look for signs of disease in the back of the eye. Find out if there is a charge to come back and finish the exam at a later date. If you bring your child to eye doctor because you have concerns that vision may be affecting school performance, ask beforehand what type of tests are included.  Not all vision plans will cover this specialized testing, so you should find out how much it costs.

Utilize InfantSEE.
As with all health issues, prevention is more cost effective than treatment. This is particularly true for infants. An eye early eye exam can detect potential problems such as extreme nearsightedness and farsightedness as well as strabismus and amblyopia. To assist in this, the American Optometric Association created the public health initiative called InfantSEE. Our office provides one visual and eye health exam to infants between six and twelve months old at no charge.

Understand your Vision Plan, Medical Insurance, Flex and HSAs.
Some medical plans have coverage for eye exams. Some plans specifically cover medical problems such as eye infections and glaucoma. Other plans are specifically for vision and will have coverage for a vision exam, glasses, or contacts, but not medical visits. If you or your employer pays for these benefits, use them wisely. Find out what the annual benefits are. Ask the doctor’s staff to help you maximize your benefits. For example, you are getting both glasses and contact lenses and your plan only covers one of these, you may save more money applying the benefits to the glasses.  Also know that you cannot ask that the vision plan be billed on a different date than you actually received the service.  However, you CAN use your Flex and HSA accounts for eyecare and optical purchases.

Select your eyewear carefully.
When you are picking out eyewear, try on the styles and brands that you like. But keep in mind the purpose of each pair of glasses you buy. You might love the Dior frames with crystals, but if you work or play hard, it might make more sense to get some less expensive frames that are built to be durable. RayBan sunglasses are durable, but if you are prone to losing them (or dropping them in the gulf!) spend a extra few dollars on a glasses strap. And when shopping  around, be sure you compare apples to apples. A discount store or online retailer may be cheaper,  but consider material quality and customer service when making your choice.  Will your optical service remake lenses in the case of an error?  What happens if the coating flakes off within a few months? Our office prides itself on personalized frame and lens selection and high quality products with generous warranties!

Get the right lens materials and coatings.
Find out what the doctor or optician recommends for lens options, but don’t just assume that more expensive is better. Some lens options are worth a little extra: The newer anti-reflective coatings will improve the clarity of your lenses, reduce glare, and resist scratches.  Some fabulously high-tech lens materials are essential for someone with a very high prescription but may be a waste of money if you have a low prescription. We always recommend UV protection for all general purpose glasses, but if you only use glasses for reading indoors, then it may not be needed.  On the other hand the anti-reflective coatings are a necessity for computer use.  If the optical staff do not explain your options to your satisfaction – ask. They may be able to help you save money when they understand how the glasses are to be used.

Try multipurpose lenses.
Do you own just one pair of shoes? Not likely, because most people have different shoes for different purposes. Your eyes also have different needs and no one single pair of glasses will meet all those needs.  But you don’t need to own a baker’s dozen pairs of glasses either. If you have a different prescription for reading and distance (like most people over 45), save money with just one pair of bifocals or progressives. It is best to have a dedicated pair of prescription sunglasses.  But eyewear with clip-on sunglasses or Transitions (that darken in the sun) are a cost-effective and protect your eyes from UV and bright sun.

Make use of your warranties.
If you are spending hard-earned money on glasses, you expect them to work well for you. Always inquire about what warranty is included in your purchase. At Uptown EyeCare, most of our eyewear frames come with a 2-year breakage warranty. If you get premium anti-reflective coating, it also includes a 2-year scratch warranty.

Learn about your contacts.
Talking to your optometrist about your contact lens options.  Monthly lenses may be a cost-saving option for full-time wearers;  daily lenses are a good deal for occasional contact wearers, especially when you factor in the solution costs.  RGP (hard) contacts frequently outperform their soft counterparts and can be up to half as expensive.

Consider financing options or just planning ahead.
Many offices, including ours, accept cash, checks and multiple credit cards.  This is helpful for spreading the cost around so you do not have to pay it all at once for extra pairs or spare pairs of glasses.  We also have many patients pick out two pair of glasses and order one pair of glasses now and get the second pair in a month and take advantage of our multiple pairs discounts.

3. New Year Resolutions for Parents and Teachers! 

**Parents – I resolve:

To play catch with my child and help strengthen his/her visual skills.

To make sure my child doesn’t use a smart phone, iPad or laptop with poor posture.

To realize that signs of dyslexia could also be the signs of a vision problem.

To make sure my child uses the Harmon Distance (the distance from the big knuckle on the middle finger to the tip of the elbow) when doing near work.

To schedule next year’s vision test before school starts.

To use these summer activities to give my child meaningful visual experiences.

To realize that school screenings don’t provide the complete picture on a child’s vision, as they don’t test functional vision.

To make sure that my child, when using a computer screen, is sitting on a chair with his/her feet flat on the floor and legs at a ninety-degree angle.

To take action if I get bad news at a parent-teacher conference.

To understand why my gifted child hates school.

To understand the difference between crossed eye and lazy eye.

To watch my child for headaches, excessive eye-rubbing and a short attention span – telltale signs of a vision problem.

To consider vision as a reason your child says, “I hate school.”


Teachers – I resolve:

To ensure my classroom has proper lighting for computer use.

To have my children take vision breaks when they are using computers.  Every 15 minutes, they should look at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds.

To have my students use a slant board or a three-ring binder as a slant board.

To understand the impact vision has on standardized testing.

To improve my understanding of how vision relates to math.

To make parents aware of the connection between vision and learning.

To learn how vision impacts spelling.

To use visualization to help struggling readers.

To modify my classroom for children with vision problems.

To understand that a child can have 20/20 eyesight but still have a vision problem.

A big list, we know.  Try and shoot for 1 or 2 (or 3 or 4).  It will be a big difference in a child’s life and learning. Happy New Year from all of us at Uptown EyeCare!