Flexon Live In Times Square 1 from Marchon on Vimeo.

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After years as a practicing optometrist, I thought I had heard everything when it came to patients and the wacky things they would do with their contact lenses. However, even I was surprised to hear about the results of a recent study conducted by the company I work for, Bausch+Lomb, which found that one in five people confessed to using “strange solutions,” such as beer, baby oil, Coke, butter, water and saliva to rinse and store their contacts.

From the study results, it seems some contact lens wearers are using saliva and tap water as a substitute for a multi-purpose solution. While many may think saliva and tap water are harmless, the truth is that these liquids should never come near your eyes! The average adult mouth contains 500 to 650 different types of bacteria, and both tap and distilled water may contain micro-organisms which can cause irreversible damage to the eye.

For those who wear contact lenses, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to take proper care of your contact lenses. Listen to the advice your eyecare professional shares about which multi-purpose solution you should be using to clean, disinfect, and store your lenses. Today, multi-purpose solutions come in convenient, two-ounce sample sizes that easily fit in a purse, gym bag, or office drawer so you can always have proper care at your fingertips, reducing the need to resort to unhealthy options. To my fellow eyecare professionals, make sure to discuss lens care (including multi-purpose solutions) with your patients, and encourage them to keep a sample size of solution nearby so they don’t have to turn to strange solutions.

For more about this study, please visit www.bausch.com. In the meantime, please take care of your eyes!

We’re committed to helping you experience life to the fullest by not only seeing well, but being well. We are excited to announce a special offer for VSP members. Starting now, all VSP members can take advantage of deep discounts on some of the most popular digital hearing aids on the market from TruHearing.

Vision and hearing loss are affecting more and more people. Studies show age-related hearing loss tracks almost 1-to-1 with age-related vision loss. Reasons include the aging U.S. population and the increased use of personal listening devices and handheld computers that place greater demands on our eyes and ears.

According to the Better Hearing Institute, one in 14 people aged 29-40 and one in six aged 41-59 has a serviceable hearing loss. With the average cost of a pair of hearing aids topping $5,000, it’s no wonder that 70% of the more than 30 million Americans who need hearing aids don’t have them because they can’t afford them.

To learn more about this great VSP member offer, visit specialoffers.vsp.com/truhearing.

Jill N., aka Eye Need Coffee Mommy

A few months ago, I was driving to work wondering to myself why it was so foggy when the news had said it was going to be a beautiful clear day. It wasn’t until I was halfway into my commute that I realized it wasn’t fog, I had just once again forgotten to put my contacts in. It was at that moment that my Christmas wish became that much clearer.

As a working Mom of a Houdini-like 15 month-old, wearing contacts the majority of the time became a necessity for me. As anyone who has ever spent more than 5 minutes near a kid this age, you quickly realize how fast they can be at de-accessorizing you. Whether it is earrings, necklaces, hair clips or eyeglasses, the likelihood these items will no longer be on your person, or will shortly be covered in an amazing amount of finger smudges, is always high.

However, as I am also a working mom of a 15 month-old, I realize that my brain is not always as turned on as it potentially could be first thing in the morning, and remembering to actually put in my contact lenses obviously has been a challenge as well. So what is a girl to do? Aha! LASIK!

The excitement and possibility of having a great solution to help simplify yet another part of my life got me all giddy. Great! Ummm…so now what?

As I started talking about this with friends and family that question was always the end result. So now what? Where do I go to even start looking into it? Is Google Answers my answer? How much does it cost? How do I know who will do a good job? How do I know if I’m even a candidate for the surgery? How much time will I need to take off work?  How much time will I need to take off from my normal activities like running?

The questions became overwhelming! And then I remembered I had a wealth of information at the place I drive to in my fake fog each morning. I had resources to answer these questions! As I find them, I will share my journey in hopes it will help you evaluate if this would be something for you to consider as well.

So I invite you to join me. I will be capturing each key piece of information I gather and each step I take during the process and posting to the blog. My first video? I met with Cathy G. who manages the VSP Laser VisionCare program here at VSP–a program that is available to all VSP members–and she provided me with helpful information on where to get started, where to find resources and what my next steps should be.

If you have specific questions that aren’t covered in my videos, please either leave a comment or email prteam@vsp.com and I’ll be sure to cover it or get you in touch with the right resource afterwards.

Here we go!

Click here to view the embedded video.

See what happens next in Part 2: My Consultation

We received many great entries for the VSP “See the World” Photo Contest, thank you to everyone who submitted a photo of the people important to you!

Now the fun will continue, as the voting period begins today! Your vote will help decide the grand prize, first runner up and second runner up winners. Click here to see the top photos and vote for your favorite photo submission!

An added bonus – you can also be a winner just by voting! All eligible voters will receive one entry into the daily drawing for a chance to win a $25 Visa^® Gift Card. Voting ends on November 16, so remember to vote once a day every day, beginning today.

Help your favorite photo win by encouraging your friends and family to vote, too! Spread the word about the VSP “See the World’ Photo Contest on Facebook and Twitter using this link: http://www.seemuchmore.com/photo-contest/?utm_source=VSPblog&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=VSPcom

Good luck to all the finalists. Happy voting!

Yesterday, I was surrounded by temptation from heaping mounds upon mounds of the sweet and sticky goodness known as Halloween candy. Now, the biggest feast of the year is in less than a month, followed by more holiday season get-togethers with food … and calories! How can I say no?

I try to live a fairly healthy lifestyle year-round, but now is the time when I start thinking about stepping up my workout routine to shed the extra pounds that comes with consuming all those goodies we enjoy around the holidays. However, after reading an interesting article in Healthday, I learned about an additional benefit of exercising … related to your eyes.

Did you know that living a physically active lifestyle may help protect your eyes from glaucoma? Check out the article here. It’s just another great example of how important it is to maintain your overall health in order to maintain your eye health. Don’t you want to ensure you can see all those great holiday treats in front of you?!

Southern California College of Optometry student, Aaron S., evaluating a patient on the VSP mobile eye clinic.

During the large free health clinic event VSP recently participated in at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, we had the pleasure of working alongside a number of optometry students from Southern California College of Optometry (SCCO) who were volunteering their time and services. One student, Aaron S., sat down with me on Friday to share a bit about his experience.

Why did you choose to get involved at this event?
I had the chance to volunteer as a 4^th year student at SCCO. When I was offered the chance to come out and help for two of the four days I agreed knowing I would enjoy the experience.

What has your experience been like so far?
Today I have been able to do more than typical vision screenings. Patients who come to this health clinic get a full comprehensive examination with the latest technology. For example, multiple phoropters are available for interns and doctors to use which provides patients with a refined eyeglasses prescription. I was happy to work in the VSP clinic where a full Marco integrated lane room could be found. The auto refractor even had NCT technology (non-contact tonometry). Ultimately this means that patient’s could receive the best care from knowledgeable volunteers who get to use the best and latest instruments.

What are your thoughts on having the opportunity to do something like this?
I think about the patients I have seen today. The majority I have seen so far needed up to date vision correction very badly. One patient had glasses that had been broken and glued back together in a crude fashion. This patient did this because he had a high amount of astigmatism and myopia (nearsightedness) and couldn’t see without them. Today he was given a new prescription and the opportunity to have new glasses made for him. Good eye care with a current prescription and glasses will provide better quality of life in the here and now for patients coming in this weekend. VSP was one of the major providers volunteering time and money to this huge event. Taking care of patients with the instruments they provided today has been the most efficient way for me to take care of these patients so far.

Why do you want to enter the field of optometry?
I love being able to help people see better. I am still a student, but I have already seen the look many people get on their face when they put on a new pair of much needed vision correction. Helping people see has helped motivate me towards this profession.

Check out additional pictures from the event here.

VSP employees with Dr. Oz after closing down a record breaking day of 455 patients being seen in the vision area in one day.

In one of the largest outreach  events that VSP has participated in to date, we had the incredible opportunity to work for a day alongside Dr. Oz, two-time Daytime Emmy^® Award-winning host of the Daytime Emmy^® Award-winning “The Dr. Oz Show”, and vice-chair and professor of surgery at Columbia University (that’s a mouthful isn’t it?).

He arrived on the second day of the clinic to meet with the volunteers, thanking them for their commitment to give back to those who need it most, to consult with the medical, dental and vision care professionals as they donated their time and services and to provide medical advice and guidance to a number of patients who were being seen.

One of those patients, David, was identified when he walked up to the VSP educational table in front of our mobile eye clinic. He told us he was drawn to the table because of an image that was displayed that simulated how a person with diabetic retinopathy would see. He was terrified that the blurriness he was experiencing was, in fact, due to diabetic retinopathy. As a 22-year-old Hispanic male with Type 2 diabetes and a family history of diabetes-related health issues, he had come to the clinic to try to be proactive about his health for his wife and two baby girls. However, he had never received an eye exam in his life and had no idea that he could lose his sight from the disease.

With his eyes extremely red and knowing he was experiencing blurriness, we immediately referred him to the vision area for care where optometry students from Southern California College of Optometry and VSP doctors were awaiting him. After moving through the various stations, David ultimately ended up with VSP doctor, and lead eyecare practitioner for CareNow, John Nishimoto, O.D. After consulting with David and learning more about both his personal and family history, Dr. Nishimoto made an initial check of his eye health. At that point, he didn’t see an obvious sign of diabetic retinopathy, but did see something that didn’t appear normal. At this point, Dr. Oz joined him to learn about David and and his situation. Dr. Nishimoto made the decision to take David onto the VSP mobile eye clinic for a more thorough examination where Dr. Oz joined them. I’m going to do something horrible and leave you here…with a bit of a cliffhanger. The reason why? David’s story will be told on the Dr. Oz show and we really want you to watch! His story is a great example of not only what can be detected in an annual eye exam, but also why regular eyecare  is an important part of a person’s healthcare routine.

We’ll keep you posted on when to tune in to the Dr. Oz show (we are still confirming the exact date) to see the whole experience. But in the meantime, check out some of the behind the scenes pictures we captured here.

And to Dr. Oz? It was a pleasure and we say thank you for helping to bring to the national spotlight some of the personal stories and needs of the more than 725,000 people VSP has had the opportunity to impact through our charitable programs. We hope this will encourage even more people and organizations to give back while also serving to educate everyone about the importance of taking advantage of, and utilizing, the channels they have available to them to take care of themselves.