Complete EyeCare Center » Blindness

80% of Visual Impairment is Avoidable

Mt Pleasant Eye Doctor — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:09:03 +0000

According to World Health Organization estimates:

80% of all visual impairment can be prevented, treated or cured
Top causes of visual impairment: refractive errors, cataracts and glaucoma
Top causes of blindness: cataracts, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration
About 285 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 million have low vision

When was your last eye exam? Your child’s?

Learn more Vision 2020 Global Facts the World Health Organization has identified.

Thinking Bigger–World Sight Day Challenge

Mt Pleasant Eye Doctor — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:29:22 +0000

Having visited our practice you know that we care about our patients and about protecting your vision. We are also concerned about people around the world who lack access to vision care. Because of this, Complete EyeCare Center is participating in the World Sight Day Challenge.

The World Sight Day Challenge is a campaign coordinated by Optometry Giving Sight to raise funds for projects that provide vision care, local training and infrastructure support for people who are blind or vision impaired due to uncorrected refractive error – simply the need for an eye exam and a pair of glasses.

Our practice will raise funds for the World Sight Day Challenge by matching the first $500 donated to this cause throughout the month of October.

Please join us in helping to give sight to people in need by making a donation of any amount. It’s easy to do. Just stop in our office, or donate online by clicking here. Sponsor Us

Together we can help transform lives. Here’s just one example:

Nlando was helped by Optometry Giving Sight

9 year old Nlando lives in a township in South Africa where the average family income is just $7 per day. Nlando struggled to see clearly until she received an eye exam and pair of glasses thanks to the support of Optometry Giving Sight. Having new glasses will enable her to learn at school. Because education can lead to freeedom from poverty, her future is likely to be much brighter.

Find out more about Optometry Giving Sight’s World Sight Day Challenge at www.givingsight.org. (You can see a video of a young man who had spent years in a school for the blind, and is now studying engineering in a regular school because his vision problem was corrected by a pair of glasses!)

Optovue Excellence is Right in Your Back Yard

Mt Pleasant Eye Doctor — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 11:00:51 +0000

Complete EyeCare Center utilizes quality diagnostic instrumentation like the award winning Optovue RTVue

The RTVue visualizes the retina and underlying nerve fiber layers

When it was featured on Good Morning America in May 2007, the Optovue RTVue spectral OCT was one of only 100 worldwide. As soon as May 2008, Dr. Olson was introducing that same instrument to his patients in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, at Complete EyeCare Center.

The GMA reporter was “able to get access to one”, and you have that same benefit without traveling to a metropolitan center or university. Spectral OCT with the Optovue RTVue is a new generation of Optical Coherence Tomography for detection, classification, and management of ocular diseases and pathology.

Why should that interest you? Because this exciting tool has the ability to help Dr. Olson detect and treat progressive eye diseases at a much earlier stage. Slowing or stopping disease progression early means less likelihood of vision loss or blindness, and better health for you.

Several eye diseases, like glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy have no symptoms in their early stages. But a skilled eye doctor using the RTVue can detect and manage them. Painless and quick, the ultra-high speed and high resolution features of the RTVue enable Dr. Olson to visualize retinal, anterior segment, and corneal tissue with ultra-high clarity.

Watch this interesting Good Morning America segment by clicking here.

Optomap Featured on “The Doctors” TV

Mt Pleasant Eye Doctor — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:00:47 +0000

Many eye problems can develop without you knowing. You may not even notice any change in your eyesight. But, diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, retinal tears or detachments, and other health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure can be seen with a thorough exam of the retina. Until the optomap®, the only way to evaluate the retina for these abnormalities was to dilate the eyes–which can be time consuming and uncomfortable. Now a wide retinal image can be captured quickly and painlessly. Convenient for patients, while providing critical eye health information–that’s why we were the first in Iowa to introduce the technology! That’s also why optomap® technology was featured on an episode of the popular TV show “The Doctors.” (You can see the TV clip by clicking here.)

An optomap® Retinal Exam provides:

A scan to show a healthy eye or detect disease.
A view of the retina, giving Dr. Olson a more detailed view than he can get by other means.
The opportunity for you to view and discuss the optomap® image of your eye with Dr. Olson at the time of your exam.
A permanent record for your file, which allows the doctor to view your images each year to look for changes.

The optomap® Retinal Exam is fast, easy, and comfortable for all ages. To have the exam, you simply look into the device one eye at a time and you will see a comfortable flash of light to let you know the image of your retina has been taken. Your optomap® is immediately captured so Dr. Olson can evaluate and review it with you on a computer screen during your exam. Click here to see a video demonstration of the optomap experience.

Please schedule your annual optomap® Retinal Exam today by calling our office at 319.385.9534 .