It’s time to pack those lunches, organize those books, and send your little ones back to school. Aside from the new backpack, paper, and pens, ensure you add eye exam to the back-to-school checklist.

Education experts agree that good vision is essential to learning ABCs. In fact, during a child’s first 12 years, 80% of all learning comes through vision. Despite these results, most children have not had a comprehensive eye exam prior to starting school. Many parents believe the eye screening given at school is good enough to detect eye health problems. However, vision screening doesn’t address most eye health issues and it can miss other critical vision deficiencies that may impact a child’s eye health. A professional eye care exam is essential for the early detection of eye disease and is mandatory for children with diabetes.

A comprehensive eye exam measure a number of visual skills are critical for healthy vision. Among those skills include:

• The ability of the eyes to focus properly when reading a book or viewing a computer
• The ability of the eyes to move properly when reading across a page of print
• Color and depth perception
• Field of vision, which is the entire area that can be seen without shifting of gaze.

With proper vision, children can then go back to school ready to grasp what the education system brings. With strong vision, a clear focus, and a positive attitude, you child can be more productive than ever before. In fact, 60% of students identified as problem learners have undetected vision problems.

Don’t let your child’s education or health fall behind. Get a timely eye exam performed on your child today.

In the past, Optometrists have always known that all eyeglass lenses had distortions and aberrations as an innate characteristic of the lens.  These distortions would cause blurry vision at various points on the lens.  As a whole, the optical industry was unable to do anything about correcting these visual distortions.

Valuvision carries the highest quality eyeglasses

Now we can!  The scientists from Essilor Optical Laboratory have developed a way to remove the unwanted distortions and aberrations from eyeglass lenses.  This discovery has lead to the development of an eyeglass lens personalized for each individualized wearer.   Resulting in clearer, sharper vision, no matter what point of the lens you gaze through.

High Defnitiion vision at Valuvision           

These new lenses increase the contrast in your vision, thereby, giving you a high definition (HD) effect.  Essilor’s personalized lenses are for patients who demand the ultimate in vision correction and will not settle for anything less.  Val-Uvision is committed to offering you the best optical products available, because we believe you and your eyes deserve the best.  Check out www.valuvision.com to contact your nearest Valuvision office.

Have you been surfing the web on your smartphone?  Recent study shows 2 causes of increased eyestrain.

Chances are you or someone you know uses a smartphone.  And, if you’re like most you find yourself using these little technology gadgets to do a majority of your online reading.  However, a note worthy study was published in July’s “Optometry and Visual Science,” stating that the visual demands created by viewing websites on your phone and found two surprising conditions that set the stage for eye strain.

The study first found that the average font size of a website viewed on a smartphone was about 30% smaller than newspaper print, but could also range as small as 70% compared to your local newspaper.

The second finding was that patients held their smartphones much closer than the recommended reading distance of 16 inches.  They found the average reading distance on a smartphone was about 12 inches, and with many patients viewing them as close as 8 inches away from their eyes.

Regrettably, both of these conditions cause a much higher focusing demand on the visual system and commonly can cause headaches, blurry or fluctuating vision, and significant eyestrain.

Although smartphones apparently are causing harm to our eyes, this doesn’t mean you have to throw away your iPhone or Android.  Instead, here are some tips for reducing these eyestrain conditions:

• Use the pinch-zoom function to magnify the text
• Try to magnify it enough, at a comfortable reading distance, to be able to hold it at least 16 inches away from your eyes
• Try to save heavy web surfing for a larger screen, such as a tablet or home-computer
• Always be sure to give your eyes a break no matter what size screen you use

Adapting your eyes to technology doesn’t have to be difficult if you are just aware of how much time to spend in front of the screen and away from the screen.  The physicians here a Valuvision care about your eyes and certainly hope these tips help you adapt more easily.

When your eye twitches, it feels like a sudden jerk that might seem a little disturbing. However, it’s actually a very common problem. Often, the twitching that you feel in your eye or eye lid is called “eyelid myokymia.” Myokymia is a local irritation of the nerve that controls some of the muscles around the eyelid. It typically involves rapid twitching of the eyelid which is not visible to the individual or to other observers. Although it may occur on multiple occasion throughout the day, this event is often brief and only lasts up to several days.

Some of the causes of myokymia include:

• Stress
• Fatigue
• Lack of Sleep
• Excessive Caffeine
• Excessive Alcohol Use
• Recent Illness

Although it’s a minor annoyance rather than a serious condition, there are some red flags in regards to myokymia. If you’re experiencing, pronounced flinching/twitching, numbness/tingling on one side of the face, or twitching on one side of the face, then you need to seek medical attention. These additional symptoms signal nervous issues that may be potentially serious.

For more information about myokymia or other eye conditions, contact the professional staff at Valuvision.

It is one question you should always be expected to answer when you visit an eye care professional for the first time, “Do you have any history of head trauma?”

Ever wonder why? Well, the fragile condition of the eyes makes trauma related with any amount of shock to the head. The incident in question could be as simple as a slip and fall or being involved in a serious car collision.

In terms of the visual effect of a head injury, there are numerous parts of the eye that could be effected by what you thought was a simple bump on the head.

Read more »

Wearing contact lenses can allow a person freedom from wearing lasses every day or just during social or sports events. However, contact lenses are by no means a replacement for glasses completely. A back up pair of glasses is always necessary for those times when the contact lenses are removed. Up-to-date eyeglasses should be kept alsoin the event that a person’s eyes are bothered by seasonal allergies, a cold, or other irritant. Contact lenses can be safely worn by most people whose eyes are healthy enough for contact lens wear, which can only be determined by your doctor. Contact lenses should never be purchased in beauty supply stores, salons, or flea markets. A contact lens is a medical device, regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, and always requires an eye health evaluation in order to be safely worn. Read more »

Quality eye care is crucial to maintaining good eyesight. That is why you should always do good research when choosing the right optometrist. Out of the many eye doctors in Jacksonville, FL, Valuvision offers quality eye examinations, treatment for all different eye conditions, and prescriptions for glasses or contacts. Read more »

Acuvue Contacts for Presbyopia
Presbyopia is defined as a condition where the eye exhibits a progressively diminished ability to focus on near objects as we age. When we hit that magic age of 40, most of us begin to notice a difficulty focusing on our computer or reading. Read more »

Do you wish you could wear contacts without the hassle of taking them out every time you go to sleep?

If you answered yes, you might just be a right fit for Jacksonville’s Valuvision’s AIR OPTIX Night and Day brand contacts. AIR OPTIX provides an FDA-approved contact lens to allow you to leave your contacts in for 30 days, night and day. AIR OPTIX provides a variety of benefits for anyone with an active lifestyle. Read more »

Benefits of Contact Lenses
As a contact lens wearer for almost 20 years and an optometrist for almost 12 years, let’s just say I love contacts! After wearing glasses for years, contact lenses can liberate you from the feeling of heavy and thick glasses. Contact lenses provide greater peripheral view. This is important especially when driving. Choosing the color of your eyes is a cosmetic benefit that many people will not go without. For those who play sports and live active lifestyles, contact lenses are an excellent option which provide more freedom of motion and remove the risk of losing or breaking a pair of glasses during activity. Read more »