Protect Your Eyes from Winter Rays

Your eyes don’t know what season it is.

Whether it’s winter, spring, summer or fall, your eyes need protection from the sun’s harmful rays.

Most people recognize the need for sunglasses during warmer months and in warmer climates. However, when the temperature starts to dip, people often assume that eye protection is no longer necessary (or even silly).

Why Winter Shades are Important

• The sun is positioned at a lower angle in the sky during the winter, so the rays may affect the eyes more directly
• Fresh snow reflects 80% of the sun’s UV rays, causing extreme glare (dangerous when driving, skiing, etc.)
• Dry eye symptoms can worsen during dry winter months; wraparound sunglasses or sports goggles may help
• Overexposure to harmful UV rays can lead to cataracts and macular degeneration in Richmond
• Polarized, anti-reflective sunglasses can block 100% of UV radiation (ask your eye doctor for recommendations)

Another Reason for LASIK

If you are nearsighted or have astigmatism, you will need corrective lenses to see distant objects clearly; that means investing in a good pair of prescription sunglasses to wear all year long. The other option is to wear contact lenses with over-the-counter sunglasses. However, dry, cold winter air can cause eye irritations for contact wearers.

LASIK vision correction in Richmond can make wearing sunglasses in the winter:

• More cost effective (in the long run the one-time cost of LASIK is cheaper than the ongoing expense of replacing and maintaining glasses and contacts)
• More fashionable (because of the vast choices that exist)
• More comfortable (no trying to fit goggles over glasses)

Wear Sunglasses All Year

Back in 1984, Corey Hart hit the music charts with his hit, “Sunglasses at Night.”

While Mr. Hart may have worn his sunglasses in the evening hours, to stress the importance of protecting your eyes against daytime winter rays, we’d change the song to “I wear my sunglasses all year…”

Sport your cool sunglasses all year long. And if you don’t want to invest in prescription sunglasses, consider having LASIK at Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center. Dr. Lipstock offers free LASIK Consultations to ensure you are a good candidate for the procedure and answer all questions you may have. Contact Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center today to arrange your appointment: 804-288-1543 or lipstocklaser.com. 

Serious Eye Conditions Growing in Young People

According to Medical News Today, a recent survey of optometrists has shown that the number of young people being diagnosed with serious eye conditions such as dry eye and blepharitis (inflammation of the eyelids) is growing. Many of these doctors were also concerned that certain sight-stealing vision conditions may be developing at a younger age:

• Glaucoma
• Cataracts
• Age-related macular degeneration

This phenomenon of deteriorating eye health may be due to any number of reasons, including:

• Diabetes
• Poor nutrition
• Increased usage of computer, tablet or smart phone screens
• Smoking
• Lack of sunglasses
• Improper contact lens usage

It’s important to note that even if you have your vision corrected through a procedure such as LASIK in Richmond, and even if you achieve 20/20 vision after the procedure, it is still possible to develop serious eye conditions. Regular eye exams are vital to the overall health of your eyes because they can detect any“silent” problems that are developing so treatment options can be explored.

If you are experiencing any changes in your vision or would like to learn more about ways to protect and preserve your eyesight, contact Lipstock LASIK & Cataract at 804-288-1543 or lipstocklaser.com to schedule an eye exam in Richmond. Lipstock LASIK & Cataract also offers free LASIK Consultations to help patients reduce or eliminate the need for glasses or contacts. 

Spring into Allergy Eye Relief

Beautiful springtime weather inevitably brings scratchy eyes, swollen eyes and itchy eyes in Richmond, Virginia. If you wear contact lenses, it’s virtually impossible to keep them in your eyes when you are constantly rubbing them.

Here are a couple of tips to help you through the allergy season:

• If you’re using eye drops to relieve the discomfort, make sure you take your lenses out first and leave them out for at least ten minutes or you’ll just aggravate the condition.
• If you’re taking antihistamine that can cause dry eye you should check with your ophthalmologist who may advise switching back to glasses for the duration.

If wearing your glasses for the entire springtime season doesn't sound appealing, another option is to have LASIK vision correction in Richmond. While LASIK won’t prevent you from having eye irritation during the spring, it may allow you to enjoy this season without the need for corrective lenses.

At Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center, our advanced LASIK lasers may help to alter the shape of your cornea to correct your nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. Many patients can even achieve 20/20 vision after LASIK, allowing them to live life without glasses or contacts.

The only way to know for sure if you are a good candidate for LASIK is by scheduling a free LASIK Consultation. Contact Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center today to schedule your Consultation at 804-288-1543 or lipstocklaser.com. 

LASIK vs. Contact Lenses

Many people are unaware that wearing contacts every day may be a bigger risk than having their vision corrected with LASIK.

The fact is, if you have to wear contact lenses, hard contact lenses will give you the best vision, but they are a real nuisance, uncomfortable, prone to slipping, and easily broken. Soft contacts on the other hand are more comfortable, but due to their composition and design it can be more difficult to correct astigmatism.

Possible Complications of Contact Lenses

With prolonged usage, especially in adverse environmental conditions, contact lenses can lead to:

• Cornea redness or inflammation
• Corneal infections
• Corneal abrasions
• Corneal ulcers
• Corneal swelling
• Dry eye

LASIK eye surgery may eliminate or reduce the need for corrective lenses. As with any type of surgical procedure, there are potential risks of LASIK surgery, including:

• Dry eye syndrome
• Visual symptoms, such as halos, glare, starbursts or double vision
• Vision loss

Cost of LASIK

The average one-time cost of LASIK ranges from $1,600 per eye for non-customized LASIK to $2,500 per eye for customized wavefront-guided procedures. When these costs are compared to the ongoing expenses of contacts and glasses, LASIK often makes sense financially. Over any 10 year period the average vision impaired person will spend around $12,000 on:

• New eyeglass prescriptions
• New frames and lenses
• Replacement lenses or an endless stream of replacement contacts
• Cleaning and sterilizing solutions

Not every person has the right eye conditions to support a LASIK procedure. If you are tired of wearing contacts or glasses and want to explore the LASIK option, the only way to determine if you are a good candidate for LASIK is by scheduling a LASIK Consultation. Contact Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center in Richmond today at 804-288-1543 or lipstocklaser.com to start on the path! 

LASIK and Your Retina

There is a misconception when it comes to LASIK and your retina. Some patients think that because they are having LASIK, the issues with their retina will also be corrected.

This is not true.

Your retina is found at the back of your eye. It is responsible for sending messages to your brain. These messages tell your brain what you are looking at.

You have LASIK to correct a refractive error. Refractive errors occur when the cornea in your eye is misshapen. The cornea, which is found in the front of your eye, should be round and bowl-shaped. If the cornea is not perfectly shaped, then you will experience a refractive error: nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism.

Light is reflected off of objects and is filtered by the cornea of your eye. When the cornea is perfectly shaped, this light will refract directly onto your retina. If the cornea is misshaped, then the light will not shine directly onto your retina, and this causes double vision, blurry vision, or fuzzy objects.

LASIK works to reshape the cornea into a bowl-shape so that the light will reflect directly onto your retina. It does this through the use of a laser, guided by a surgeon. The laser only affects the cornea and not the retina; therefore it does not correct any issues you may be experiencing with your retina.

A board-certified surgeon should carefully analyze your eyes prior to approving you for LASIK surgery. Most of the risks associated with LASIK occur because the person may not be an excellent candidate for LASIK. Some of these risks include double vision, a fixed or rotating glare, rings of light (“halos”) or starbursts of light. There is also a risk of dry eye, however most patients will experience dry eye for a short time after surgery.

To learn more about LASIK and how to find out if you’re a good candidate for laser vision correction, please visit our website.

Protect Your Eyesight - Vodka Eyeballing

Whether you have glasses, contacts, or 20/20 vision after LASIK, it’s very important to protect your eyes. The University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology reports an estimate of “… 1.1 to 2.4 million eye injuries occur each year, and about 42,000 of these injuries require hospitalization.”

While accidents are common for eye injuries, some younger people intentionally put their eyes at risk in a new drinking game called Vodka Eyeballing.

Yes, you read that right.

People are actually drinking through their eyes, in an attempt to get drunk faster. With Vodka Eyeballing, a person will take a bottle of vodka and put the opening up to their eye and pour the vodka directly onto the eye. The idea is that the alcohol will be absorbed through the eye and into the bloodstream faster than drinking it. However, there are no actual facts that prove this is the case.

The eye can only absorb a very limited amount of alcohol. The actual alcohol can do more damage and harm to your eyesight – burning through your cornea and causing permanent damage. Repeated often enough, the alcohol may even cause permanent blindness.

While not all eye-related injuries can be avoided, this is one instance where it can be.

LASIK and Dry Eyes

Perhaps the most common side effect to LASIK is dry eyes after the procedure. Most of our patients experience a little dry eye after the procedure. This temporary issue can be relieved with eye drops and it will correct itself within a couple of weeks.

According to FDA trials, 20% of LASIK patients still experience dry eye even six months after LASIK. While this side effect may be annoying, it can be treated with punctual plugs or medications.

At Lipstock LASIK and Cataract Center, most all of our patients are free of this irritation after one year. This is why the post-LASIK follow-up appointments are absolutely necessary. We take your vision very seriously and we want to make sure you can see clearly for years to come.

LASIK works by correcting the cornea of your eye. LASIK can have you seeing clearly for many, many years, depending upon what age you receive treatment. If you are not a good candidate for LASIK, there are other procedures that can be performed to correct your vision. Learn more about laser vision correction with Lipstock LASIK and Cataract Center.