Daily peek at eyecare
Possibly. According to recent research from the University of California, Berkeley, people with amblyopia (lazy eye) could improve their vision by playing video games. The study is of particular interest for adults because treating amblyopia becomes more difficult with age.
Read more about the study on CNET or on UC Berkeley’s news center. If you have amblyopia and think this could be beneficial to you, be sure to talk with your eye doctor.
Tyreke Evans is upping his game…and this time, it’s off the court. He stars in the final episode of VSP EyeFiles Season 2, which you can watch below or on our Facebook page. A big fan of 3D, Evans knows that as much as a third of the population experiences discomfort or “vision sickness” while watching 3D and that a smaller group of the population has trouble seeing 3D at all. Symptoms can include nausea, headaches, and eye strain. But did you know that those symptoms may signal an undiagnosed vision problem?
Whether you’re watching a game on ESPN 3D or watching Avatar, be sure to make an appointment with your eye doctor if you or your children have difficulty watching 3D content. Your eye doctor can often treat and correct these eye conditions, but the earlier they are addressed, the better. Learn more by watching the video clip, and enter to win a 3D prize pack for four!
About Tyreke Evans and VSP Vision Care
VSP Vision Care is proud to be the exclusive eyecare and eyewear provider for Tyreke Evans. Tyreke plays professional basketball for the Sacramento Kings and was named 2010 Rookie of the Year. He’s the fourth rookie ever to average 20 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds per game. The only other players to accomplish this were Oscar Robertson, Michael Jordan and LeBron James. Not only is good vision a critical component for being successful in sports, it’s also an important part of every day life. Be sure to follow VSP Vision Care on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with Tyreke’s Activities.
By now, hopefully you’ve read a blog or two about how 3D technology can help detect underlying vision conditions like strabismus, amblyopia and binocular vision coordination problems. But, that’s not all there is to know about 3D. VSP optometrist Dr. Nathan Bonilla-Warford recently answered some FAQ’s about how 3D technology works with our eyes. For instance, did you know that 3D movies often appear darker because half the light is diverted from each eye? Read the full article on “What Would TOTO Watch.“
Amblyopia if left untreated
3D technology is impressive, but does it ever make your head feel like it’s on overdrive? 3D works by sending two slightly different images—one through each eye—to the brain where they are superimposed to create a 3D effect. However, this is not how you normally see, so it puts extra stress on the visual system. That extra stress can cause headaches, dizziness and nausea (3D vision sickness) in about a third of the population.
The good news is that the discomfort is only temporary; no permanent damage can come from watching 3D. The catch is that the reason for the discomfort may be an underlying vision problem. Amblyopia (lazy eye) and strabismus (crossed eyes) are the most common causes of 3D vision sickness. These conditions indicate that one eye is either misaligned or sending blurry images to the brain, and that’s a problem.
If you experience discomfort watching 3D, you should make an appointment for a comprehensive eye exam. An eye doctor can check for these conditions, give you exercises to strengthen your weaker eye and discuss treatment options. Even though 3D can’t harm your vision, ignoring a vision problem can lead to permanent vision loss.
See more FAQs about 3D Eye Health.
Joel Kestenbaum O.D. is a VSP provider in Long Island, NY.
Guest blogger Dr. Joel Kestenbaum returns with a post about amblyopia, a.k.a. lazy eye and the importance of early detection.
Lazy eye or amblyopia is reduced vision resulting from vision deprivation to one eye. Reasons include large differences in vision between the two eyes or misalignment of the two eyes resulting in one eye being stronger than the other.
If not corrected at an early age, the lesser-seeing eye may have permanent vision loss. The brain will usually start to suppress the image of the poorer eye possibly resulting in useless vision.
As an aside, statistics show that 80% of a child’s learning comes through the eyes. Early detection and early correction are imperative to a child’s binocular eyesight. I see many young patients whose parents never realized that having an eye exam before age five can affect the child’s lifetime education. And what is even worse, most pediatricians think that reading the eye chart in their office is an eye exam. What they also don’t realize is that 20/20 does not mean 20/perfect. As a result, the doctor’s that see the most children inadvertently do an injustice to their young patients.
Here is one example: Many kids can see 20/20 but if they are “farsighted” or hyperopic, their eyes work hard to focus on distance objects and work harder to focus on close objects. It’s like the automatic zoom lens on a camera. When the eyes point to an object, it is natural for the brain to signal the eyes to focus. The problem is that a child’s eyes have a large amount of focusing power. The other problem is that the harder a farsighted child has to focus, the more likely that the child will develop a crossed eye, possibly resulting in a lazy eye.
So what do we do about it? First of all we need to educate the educators and the primary medical providers to screen children and to understand that an eye doctor should examine eyes just as a dentist should examine the mouth. We need to catch lazy eye early. Treatment for lazy eye includes eyeglasses, patching therapy, eye drops, surgery, and/or eye exercises. If not treated, the amblyopic eye may never achieve good vision and may in fact develop functional blindness.
So the bottom line is early detection, early intervention and education. See you in the next blog.
