Halloween without Glasses

Unless you want to dress up as Clark Kent, Austin Powers, Harry Potter or a hippie chick, there aren’t too many Halloween costumes that feature glasses. But if you…

• Are nearsighted, farsighted or have astigmatism…
• Can’t wear contact lenses…
• And actually want to see your friends at a Halloween party…

…you may have to be a football player, zombie, vampire or other character with spectacles. 

The other option: LASIK vision correction in Richmond.

We’re not suggesting that you enter into refractive surgery just to improve your chances at winning a costume contest. But if you are tired of wearing glasses and would like the opportunity to have 20/20 vision, you owe it to yourself to research your Richmond LASIK options.

Dr. Lipstock at Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center offers free LASIK Consultations to help patients:

• Understand how LASIK works
• Determine if their unique eyes are right for the procedure
• Learn about different LASIK technologies
• Learn the risks and rewards of LASIK
• Meet our staff and learn our track record of success

Halloween will be here soon. If you want better vision before October 31, schedule your LASIK Consultation right away so you can find out if LASIK is right for you by calling 804-288-1543 or visiting lipstocklaser.com. If Dr. Lipstock gives you the green light, you could be rocking your Halloween costume lens-free! 

Keep Your Eyes Safe in the Kitchen

At Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center,we have helped thousands of people achieve lens-free vision through laser vision correction. And while our LASIK in Richmond allows most of our patients to toss out their glasses, we encourage those patients to protect their new-found clear vision by wearing protective safety glasses when performing certain activities.

Most people know that safety glasses are important when playing contact sports, using power tools or working in the yard. But did you know that they are also important in the kitchen?

According to WebMD, almost half of the annual 2.5 million eye injuries occur in and around the home…and more than 40% of those happen during everyday activities like cooking. (Source: American Academy of Ophthalmology and the American Society of Ocular Trauma)

Potential Causes of Kitchen Eye Injuries

Your eye can become injured during food prep, oven and stove cooking and cleaning. 

• Cleaning chemical splatters
• Grease/oil splatters
• Champagne corks
• Steam burns
• Spicy juices, such as cutting jalapeños and touching your eyes
• Oven heat

It may seem a bit silly to wear glasses in the kitchen, but whether you’ve invested in your vision through LASIK or already have excellent vision, you don’t want to risk your eyesight to a freak kitchen accident. Get a pair of protective glasses that are approved by the American National Standards Institute and get cooking!

If you are tired of wearing glasses to read recipes, contact Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center to schedule a free LASIK Consultation and find out if LASIK is right for your eyes. You can call 804-288-1543 or schedule an appointment anytime day or night by visiting lipstocklaser.com. 

Does Your Computer Need Glasses?

If you are over age 40, you may be experiencing the effects of presbyopia on your eyesight. Presbyopia is the gradual stiffening of the eye lens that makes it more difficult for the eyes to focus on near objects. This condition happens to almost everyone as they age (even if you’ve had successful LASIK vision correction surgery) and is the reason why so many adults need reading glasses to read things like menus, books, tablets, computers and smart phones clearly.

But what if your computer screen wore your glasses for you?

Researchers at UC Berkeley are developing a technology that may, in essence, create glasses for your computer, tablet or other type of screen. They have developed a prototype of a vision-correcting display using a printed pinhole screen in between two layers of clear plastic to enhance image sharpness. The “computation” technique distorts the screen image based on each user’s unique visual impairment, allowing the image to look clear for that individual. The ultimate goal is to reduce or eliminate the need for glasses or contacts to read displays on screens.

Will this technology eventually replace LASIK in Richmond? Probably not,because LASIK not only corrects farsightedness; it also corrects nearsightedness and astigmatism. However, it may help those individuals who have had successful LASIK surgery reduce their need for reading glasses later in life when presbyopia creeps in – at least when looking at displays. Time will tell.

If you are experiencing any changes in your vision or want to reduce your dependence on glasses or contacts, contact Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center at 804-288-1543 or lipstocklaser.com to schedule an eye exam or a free LASIK Consultation in Richmond and Henrico. 

2014 World Sight Day

World Sight Day is October 9, 2014.  The call-to-action for this year’s observation is “No More Avoidable Blindness” and is part of an overall plan to reduce avoidable blindness by 25% by the year 2019. Created by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), this initiative supports their overall theme of “Universal Eye Health” and protecting/preserving eyesight for people around the world. 

In celebration of this event, Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center is urging people to make their eye health a top priority by scheduling an eye exam in Richmond. We also encourage you to spread the word about the importance of regular eye exams. Often people neglect their eyesight – until they experience a problem. Regular eye exams can detect conditions that may be silently robbing you of your vision, such as glaucoma or cataracts, and eye doctors can even detect underlying health conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes or brain tumors.

During an eye exam, you may also learn that your eyes have the right conditions for vision correcting procedures, such as LASIK vision correction. During a free LASIK Consultation, you can learn about the pros and cons of LASIK, how LASIK technologies differ and find out if 20/20 vision without glasses is a possibility.

Make the most of World Sight Day 2014. Schedule your eye exam or free LASIK Consultation in Richmond today by contacting Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center at 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. 

Celebrate Comic Book Day with Superhero Vision

September 25 is National Comic Book Day. There are many genres of comic books from which to choose, such as superhero, manga, humor, science fiction/fantasy, horror, comics and more. People of all ages love comics because they have interesting characters, exciting story lines and detailed graphics. 

Today comics are available electronically on tablets, websites and smart phones. But if you prefer the “old school” way of reading printed comics, and you are farsighted (meaning you see distant objects clearly but close-up objects are blurry), you probably have to wear glasses or contacts to read their fine print. 

If you’re a comic book fan over age 21, wouldn’t it be great to pick up any comic, any time, day or night, and be able to read it? LASIK vision correction in Richmond can correct farsightedness, allowing many patients to achieve 20/20 vision after the quick procedure. The LASIK process uses a laser to slightly alter the shape of the cornea with superb precision, allowing light to properly focus on the back of the eye (the retina). The actual procedure takes just a few minutes per eye, is virtually painless and most patients are back to work within a day or two. 

The procedure is so effective that some of Dr. Lipstock’s happy LASIK patients at Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center consider him a superhero! Find out if your eyes are ready for an “Adventure in Richmond LASIK.” You won’t have X-ray, night or freeze vision after LASIK, but you may still feel like you have super strength vision when you can wake up in the morning and see without glasses. 

Visit lipstocklaser.com or call 804-288-1543 to schedule your free LASIK Consultation or take the free online LASIK Self-Evaluation as a first step.  

Pirates Don’t Wear Glasses

Blackbeard…Captain Kidd…Black Bart…Redbeard…even Jack Sparrow…

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a pirate who wore glasses (there were plenty of eye patches, though). Does that mean that all pirates had 20/20 vision? Probably not; but it’s safe to assume that pirates didn’t have access to good eye care.

Even if a pirate did manage to visit an eye doctor and find out his vision was less-than-perfect, the idea of wearing eye glasses wasn’t too appealing. (After all, a pirate had a reputation to uphold!) And LASIK vision correction wasn’t FDA-approved before the late 1990s, so all the gleamin’ booty in the world wouldn’t make that an option.  

Why are we talking about pirates? September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! It’s a day for you to connect with your inner pirate and toss about a few “Aarrs” and “Blimeys” with friends, family and co-workers. You may even want to don an eye patch for the occasion. But if you have to wear glasses to correct your nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, it will be almost impossible to look authentic with an eye patch over your glasses. 

Avast! If you want to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day by looking like a pirate (meaning, no glasses), find out if LASIK vision correction in Richmond or Henrico is right for you. Call 804-288-1543 or visit lipstocklaser.com to schedule your free LASIK Consultation at Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center.

Lipstock LASIK & Cataract Center won’t hornswaggle you with the cost of LASIK and they will even provide LASIK financing options to make better vision more affordable.