Buying Tips for Eye Safe Toys this Holiday Season

We wanted to share some tips for buying “eye safe” toys as you make your list for this holiday season. Certainly the kids and the toy manufacturers know what is popular, but often they are unaware of potential safety issues-especially eye safety issues. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, there are typically more than 250,000 toy-related injuries treated in U.S. emergency rooms in annually with more than 75% affecting children under 15 years of age. A serious eye injury from a toy can ruin a family's holiday and, more seriously leave a child with permanent vision loss.

Top Five Tips for Choosing Eye Safe Toys

1.     Avoid purchasing toys with sharp, protruding or projectile parts.

2.     Make sure children have appropriate supervision when playing with potentially hazardous toys or games that could cause injury.

3.     If you plan to give sports equipment, provide appropriate protective eyewear with polycarbonate lenses. Check with your eye doctor to learn about protective eyewear recommended for your child's sport.

4.     Check labels for age recommendations and be sure to select gifts that are appropriate for a child's age and maturity.

5.     Keep toys that are made for older children away from younger children.

We wish you a happy holiday season. If you need help with guidance on toys or protective eyewear for children, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.          

Vision Loss is the Worst Disability

Most people would rather lose a limb than lose their eyesight, according to the results of a nationwide poll. Indeed, if given a choice, most people would prefer to lose their hearing, their memory, or their ability to speak rather than losing their vision, according to the survey results published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.

The survey polled 2,044 Americans from across all ethnic, racial, and economic demographics. Nearly 88% of respondents viewed eye health as critical to overall health, and 47% considered vision loss to be the worst possible health condition that could happen them, even worse than Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, or AIDS/HIV. Among the possible consequences of vision loss, respondents ranked quality of life as the greatest concern, followed by loss of independence.

While 81.5% of Americans reported having an eye examination, many were not well aware of the diseases and conditions that lead to vision loss. Nearly two-thirds of respondents reported awareness of cataracts (65.8%) or glaucoma (63.4%), but only half were aware of macular degeneration, and 37.3% were aware of diabetic retinopathy. As many as 25% of all respondents weren’t aware of any eye conditions that could cause loss of vision.

If you or someone you know does not have regular eye health and vision exams, please schedule one today. Please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.          

Early Detection of Juvenile Diabetic Retina Problems

Diabetic retinopathy is best treated and managed with early detection and diagnosis. This can be especially important for children with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. The earlier we can detect and diagnose the diabetic eye problems, the better we can prepare to help prevent vision loss. Most often diabetic retinopathy is diagnosed during a dilated exam of the retina during an eye exam. However, we also have a very sensitive non-invasive “kid friendly” imaging system in our office called Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) that can help us detect the very earliest types of changes from diabetes-even before they might be visible during a dilated retinal exam.

According to a clinical study reported in the journal Ophthalmic Surgery, Laser and Imaging Retina Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus causes and degenerative effect on certain nerve cells in the retina even before the breakdown of blood vessels occurs with diabetic retinopathy. From this research, it is thought that OCT may be more useful than just a dilated retinal exam in kids with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus.

If you or someone you know has a child or young adult with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus, please make sure they are having regular eye exams but also that we might perform an OCT as part of their care. If you have questions or wish to schedule an appointment please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.          

Artificial Intelligence Can Help Prevent Diabetic Eye Problems

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness globally. Yet, many diabetic patients still do not schedule regular diabetic eye exams as requested by their physicians. Referral to an eye doctor for early diagnosis and treatment is the key to preventing vision loss in diabetics. Performing retinal screening examinations on all diabetic patients is an unmet need, and leads to many undiagnosed and untreated cases of DR. Recently researcher-clinicians reported their work to develop an artificial intelligence automated algorithm for retinal photographs that would help with referral from primary care physicians to ophthalmologists of eyes with DR for further evaluation and treatment. The study suggests that this method of screening would aid in reducing the rate of vision loss, enabling timely and accurate diagnoses.

Please feel free to learn more at Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.          

Eye Health Tips for College Students

Going to college and perhaps living in a dormitory can be an exciting and hectic time for students. But, it’s worth mentioning some common sense tips to preserve eye health and avoid eye problems for college students. College students can be susceptible to a host of vision and eye problems such as injury, infection and increased nearsightedness that can be avoided with a little bit of “smarts” and awareness.

Don't Shower or Swim with Contact Lenses. Acanthamoeba is a parasite that lives in water and can cause a rare but serious eye infection called Acanthamoeba keratitis. According to the CDC, 85 percent of Acanthamoeba eye infections occur in contact lens wearers, one of the main risks being exposure of lenses to water. To avoid this dangerous infection, do not wear contact lenses in showers, hot tubs or when swimming in lakes or pools. Also, never use water to clean or store contact lenses; only use sterile contact lens disinfecting solution and a clean contact lens case.

  

Get Out. We all want you to get good grades, but spending much of their time studying indoors, puts you at risk of becoming more nearsighted, or myopic. A recent study found that more than 50 percent of college graduates are nearsighted, with vision worsening for each year in school. Other research shows that spending more time outdoors can protect vision from getting worse. Take a break-get outside when possible.

Wash Your Hands. Conjunctivitis, or “pink eye” spreads really fast in schools and dorms. We know of a report where an outbreak struck more than 1,000 Ivy League college students! Avoid rubbing the eyes and wash hands with soap to avoid catching and spreading pink eye, not to mention other infections.

Give Your Eyes a Break. Dry eye from intense long hours of computer or video display terminal use can be a real problem for college students. To help avoid dry eye symptoms of burning, gritty red eyes, follow the 20-20-20 rule. Look at something 20 feet away every 20 minutes for 20 seconds. Because dry eye can also cause painful corneal ulcers, which are open sores on the front part of the eye, blink regularly and fully to keep eyes moist.  

Don't Share Makeup. Harmless as it may seem, sharing makeup is a surefire way to spread infection such as herpes keratitis among friends. Infection-causing bacteria grow easily in creamy or liquid eye makeup. Stick to your own makeup and throw it away after three months. If you develop an eye infection, immediately toss all of your eye makeup.  

Stay in the Game. Did you know that nearly 1 in 18 college athletes will get an eye injury playing sports? Common injuries, like scratches on the eye surface and broken bones near the eye socket, happen most often in high-risk sports such as baseball, basketball and lacrosse. Athletes should consider wearing polycarbonate sports glasses to help keep stray balls and elbows from hitting their eyes.

In college, taking care of their eye health may be the last thing on your mind but we wanted to share some common sense tips. If you or someone you experiences an eye health or vision problem please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County, Google+ or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.