We truly believe in routine eye examinations so that you can see as clearly as possible. Once you have to get glasses or contacts, it is even more important to watch the health of your eyes. You also need routine checks to ensure your prescription has not changed.
To ensure good eye health and vision, we are very proud to offer the following services:
- Comprehensive Eye Exams
- Contact Lenses
- Myopia Control
- Dry Eye Treatment
- Eye Disease Management (Glaucoma, Diabetic Eye Care, Macular Degeneration, Keratoconus)
- Emergency Care
- Ortho-K
- Cataracts
- Digital Retina Imaging
- Hard To Fit Contact Lenses
- Pediatric Eye Exams
- Sports Vision
- Sunglasses
- Surgery Co-Management
Cataracts
Cataracts cause a clouding of the lens in the eye, making your vision appear to be foggy. Cataracts are the most common cause of vision loss in people over 40 and are the leading cause of blindness in the world.
Your eyes are meant to naturally adjust to normal light changes, adjust focus, and allow us to see both near and far. Your lens is primarily made up of water and proteins. The proper arrangement of these proteins is what contributes to normal vision. Some of these proteins clump together forming a clouding of the lens.
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Comprehensive Eye Exams
On average, we recommend scheduling an appointment once every two years to ensure your eyes are remaining healthy. If you have been diagnosed with an eye condition, however, we recommend scheduling an appointment once or twice a year depending on the severity.
During your appointment, we will review your patient history, visual acuity, perform preliminary tests, and evaluate your eyes’ overall health.
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Contact Lenses
Nowadays, most people prefer to wear contacts instead of glasses. If you are interested in contact lenses, please let your eye doctor know prior to your appointment. During your exam, we will discuss the various contact lenses available and determine the best option based on your individual needs and lifestyle.
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Diabetic Eye Care
Diabetes can affect more than just your blood sugar. It can also do some damage to your eyes if you are not careful.
Diabetic eye disease can cause vision loss if you are not careful. It can cause you to have trouble with everyday tasks even if you have regular glasses or contacts. It can even cause blindness.
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Digital Retina Imaging
Using a digital camera system, our optometrists at Advanced Eyecare Center, PC can clearly see and examine your retina, located at the back of your eye. This examination is critical to monitoring the health of your eye as well as to the early detection of many medical problems. The pictures generated through retinal imaging help us identify problems with your vision and can also help diagnose other medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, or even brain tumors.
Dry Eye Treatment
Dry eye is a very common condition that occurs when your eyes lack the necessary lubrication to be able to be used comfortably and maintain clear vision. You will almost certainly experience at least one episode of dry eye during your lifetime, but you may not even realize it. This is because when the symptoms are mild, they are easily overlooked, and the condition usually passes without requiring you to see your eye doctor. However, some patients go on to experience chronic dry eye. This means that although the severity of their condition may vary, they experience frequent repetitive episodes of dry eye, or their symptoms never fully go away. When someone has persistent dry eye, professional intervention is nearly always needed in order for patients to achieve clear, comfortable vision again.
What causes dry eye?
Dry eye usually occurs for one of several reasons. Firstly, your eyes might not be making enough natural lubrication, aka tear film. This can happen if there is a problem with the glands that are responsible for producing tear film, such as them becoming blocked. Secondly, dry eye can be caused by an imbalance in the composition of your tear film. Tear film is made from water, oil, and proteins. Too much or too little of any of these substances can cause tear film to be less effective, resulting in dry eye. Finally, there is the possibility that the tear film isn’t staying on the surface of the eye for long enough because it is draining too quickly.
Symptoms of dry eye
Unsurprisingly, the most common symptom of dry eye is suffering from eyes that feel dry and stiff. It may seem like your eyes feel heavy. However, these aren’t the only symptoms associated with dry eye. There are many others, including:
– Sensitivity to light
– Struggling to focus on objects
– Stinging, burning or scratchy-feeling eyes
– Redness
– Stringy mucus in or around the eyes
– Feeling like you have grit or sand in your eyes
– Problems with night vision
– Difficulty wearing contact lenses
– Blurred vision
– Excessive watering of the eyes, which is the body’s natural response to the irritation caused by dry eye
In dry eye, both eyes are usually affected at the same time however the severity with which you experience symptoms may vary slightly.
Am I at risk of dry eye?
There are certain factors that could potentially increase your risk of suffering from dry eye. These include:
– Being over the age of 50
– Wearing contact lenses
– Spending time in cold, windy or dusty environments
– Spending time in air-conditioned or heated environments
– Excessive screen time
– Taking certain medications
– Suffering from specific medical conditions that affect the eyes
– Smoking
Drinking alcohol regularly
What treatment is available for dry eye?
Fortunately, there are many things you can do to help combat dry eye. Many patients rely on a combination of the following in order to achieve the best relief from their symptoms.
Regular screen breaks
Excessive screen time is one of the biggest contributing factors to the development of dry eye. This is because when we look at screens, our rate of blinking dramatically decreases. Regular breaks are crucial to prevent dry eye and other screen-related issues from occurring. This is because they allow the eyes to refocus on an object that is farther away, enabling them to relax.
Artificial tears
There is a wide range of eye drops that can be used to help treat dry eye. These are known as artificial tears. Since there are so many, you may need to try a variety of different ones to find the one that provides the biggest improvement in your symptoms. If you wear contact lenses, you will need to use preservative-free artificial tears.
Medications to reduce inflammation
Inflammation of the cornea is a fairly normal occurrence in patients with dry eye. This can cause pain and blurred vision. Inflammation can also affect the way that the glands that produce tear film work. Fortunately, eye drops that contain corticosteroids or other anti-inflammatory medications can help to get this under control and improve your symptoms.
Tear-stimulating drugs
Drugs called cholinergic work by increasing tear film production and are available as eye drops, pills or gels. These may be prescribed to help alleviate your dry eye symptoms.
Punctual Plugs
Punctual plugs are tiny devices that are placed into the drainage channels in the corners of your eyes to prevent tear film from draining too quickly. If this is believed to be the cause of your dry eye, punctual plugs may be the most effective treatment that we can provide.
Lipiflow
Lipiflow treatment is recommended for patients whose dry eye is caused by blockages in the glands that produce tear film. Lipiflow uses heat and vibrations to liquefy and clear the blockages in the glands, enabling tear film to flow freely once more.
If you are concerned about dry eyes and would like more information, or to schedule an appointment with our expert eye care team, please contact our office.
Emergency Care
Here at Advanced Eyecare Center, PC, we are here for you in the case of an emergency. There are times when you may need immediate care for your eyes. Any time that you experience trauma to your eyes, you need to be seen. If you get anything in your eye, especially chemicals and foreign objects, you should be seen immediately to limit the potential damage to the eye.
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Glaucoma
Glaucoma occurs from damage to the eye’s optic nerve and can often lead to loss of vision and blindness. To detect glaucoma, our highly trained doctors will perform a proper screening to determine severity, examine the damage, and help you manage your glaucoma.
Early detection of glaucoma is crucial in preventing vision loss and blindness; the earlier the better. However, there is no official cure for glaucoma. There are several treatment methods that manage, slow down, or halt the process. Treatment for glaucoma will vary depending on the stage and severity for each individual patient.
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Hard To Fit Contact Lenses
Do you find wearing contact lenses impossible? Are your regular contacts painful or constantly uncomfortable? You are not alone. Due to a variety of factors such as individual eye shape, specific conditions, impairments, or the aftermath of surgery, some patients are considered to have more difficulty wearing contacts than others.
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Keratoconus
Keratoconus is a non-inflammatory disorder that affects the cornea. The cornea becomes thinned and steepened, resulting in distorted vision, sensitivity to light, and decreased vision. Symptoms typically manifest in a person’s younger years, usually the late teens or 20’s.
Keratoconus can affect a person’s ability to read or drive, which can be a major obstacle for people. Luckily, this is a condition that can be diagnosed through a routine eye exam, which underscores the importance of scheduling regular eye exams for you and your children.
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Macular Degeneration
Macular degeneration is a deterioration of the central portion of the retina, the inside layer of the eye that records the images we see and sends them through the optic nerve from the eye to the brain for processing. The macula, or the center of the retina, is responsible for focusing central vision in the eye and controls our ability to see and process information.
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Myopia Control
Nearsightedness, known as myopia, makes it difficult to see objects from afar. If you are experiencing nearsightedness, corrective lenses such as glasses or contact lenses will be prescribed. After a thorough examination, we will determine the prescription that’s best for you.
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Ortho-K
Ortho-k involves temporarily reshaping the cornea through the use of specialized contact lenses, which are designed to be worn while sleeping. Although these lenses are not very common and most people still prefer laser surgery, this reshaping method is gaining more popularity as the procedure continues to be improved.
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Pediatric Eye Exams
Here at Advanced Eyecare Center, PC, we are proud to offer pediatric eye examinations. Children should have their first eye exam around the age of six months. If the first exam finds that their eyes are healthy, they won’t need another appointment until they are between the age of two and three.
Although many schools offer annual eye exams, they are not complete visual exams and the results can be inaccurate. For this reason, you should schedule yearly or bi-yearly examinations to ensure that your child’s eyes are healthy and that he or she can see clearly.
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Sports Vision
Sports Vision training involves high-level eye tracking, depth perception, and hand-eye coordination. Many athletes will practice these exercises to keep their eye health in peak condition.
There are various exercises and specific exams used for Sports Vision testing. Office and field tests can both help determine how your eyes will function beyond the realm of normal activity. We can customize a program to strengthen your vision based on your level of activity.
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Sunglasses
Sunglasses are designed to protect your eyes from sunlight. While all tinted lenses help to protect your eyes from sunlight, some will protect your eyes better than others. Sunglasses with lenses that block ultraviolet sunlight are the best option. Although sunglasses can be expensive, there are many affordable brands that provide great protection from harmful sunlight as well. If you are interested in finding the best brand of sunglasses for your lifestyle, we can help you find them.
We have a variety of options for you to choose from that will comfortably fit your face and let you enjoy the warm weather in style. Prescription lenses can be applied to most sunglasses and we can help you order a specific brand if we don’t have them in the store.
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Surgery Co-Management
If you are interested in laser surgery, we will begin with a comprehensive eye examination, which will let us know more about you and your needs. We may have to perform some testing to properly diagnose your eye conditions. During this time, the surgeon and staff will go over what you can expect before, during and after the procedure; we want to make sure to give you realistic answers for your unique vision.
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