Many well-intentioned professionals are unaware that some visual disorders share several common symptoms with ADHD and ADD, and that can lead to a misdiagnosis, perhaps even unnecessary medication.  Journalist Laura Novak writes, ”Doctors and teachers often attribute the behavior to attention disorders or seek other medical explanations. Mrs. Gragg said her pediatrician had never heard of convergence insufficiency.” Read the full article here: Not Autistic or Hyperactive. Just Seeing Double at Times

Complete EyeCare Center’s Optometrist, Dr. Olson, has the education and commitment to evaluate the visual system beyond the simple abilityto read an eye chart.  A child like Raea may be able to read the chart’s 20/20 line and still have a vision problem. Perhaps her struggles could have been avoided if a trained InfantSee optometrist had seen Raea before age 1 and had performed a visual assessment at age 3, as recommended by the American Optometric Association.  It is possible her convergence insufficiency could have been detected and treated before she began to experience symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, irritability, low self-esteem, inability to concentrate, aversion to reading, and difficulties in school.

Before you turn to medication, before you send your child to school, please ensure that your child doesn’t have a vision problem. We want to make it easy for parents to give their children a good start in life and follow the AOA guidelines for vision evaluation.  Dr. Olson participates in the InfantSee program providing free assessments for 6-12 month olds.  He has also developed his own free assessment program for children age 3, available exclusively at Complete EyeCare Center, called “See at 3!™”  If there is a child in your life age 6-12 months or age 3 we encourage you to give them every chance to succeed–including the assurance from Dr. Olson that they are seeing well, with both eyes working together properly.

Clear vision can be life-changing for those with limited access to eyecare.

$5 can provide an exam & pair of glasses to someone in a developing country, and that can transform the life of a child or adult living without access to basic eye care.  Optometry Giving Sight has numerous stories of how eyecare can change a life–from an adult who was able to work for the first time, to a boy from the school for the blind who is now succeeding in regular school–all because they had correctable but previously untreated vision conditions.

Just stop in our office and use your mobile phone’s facebook app to “check in” and claim the deal!  There’s no cost to you.  If fact, we’ll have a small gift for you when you do.

You can also donate $5 to Optometry Giving Sight yourself by clicking here!

(Our facebook page is facebook.com/completeeye)

Regular soft contact lenses are not designed to correct astigmatism.  If you have astigmatism and wear them you’ve been  experiencing blurry, inconsistent vision–definitely a source of frustration and compromised performance during daily activities.

What about soft toric lenses?  They are designed to correct astigmatism but can rotate on your eye, causing blurry vision that goes in-and-out of focus; especially at night.   Here’s another issue.  They are meant to stay aligned when your head is in a vertical position–like standing. But if you lie down, recline, or tilt your head, your vision can blur.  Think of all the activities you do where this is the case.  How would that work on the putting green?  Watching TV?  Even looking down to read something on your desk?

Some active people have given up altogether on the possibility that they can successfully wear contacts and are resigned to wearing glasses fulltime.  They can be cumbersome during sports and many physical activities. 

Dr. Olson wants to provide you with dependable, crisp, high-definition vision and all-day comfort no matter what life demands. He has the expertise and access to prescribe a cutting edge hybrid lens that eliminates many problems people have had with previous contact lenses!   

*If it’s been more than a year since your last eye exam, you’ll need one prior to your contact lens fitting.

Dr. Olson has used new Duette hybrid lenses to successfully fit people who thought they could never wear contacts!

• 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.

If you have trouble perceiving 3D images tell your eye doctor.

Allaboutvision.com thinks the company is likely being cautious because of a lack of research on the effects of long-term 3D viewing on young children’s vision development.  This may be a wise precautionary choice for parents, however the American Optometric Association (AOA) recently released a statement saying it is safe if the child’s visual system is developing normally.  The AOA went on to suggest 3D viewing of movies, TV and the Nintendo 3DS may actually help diagnose subtle vision disorders, like convergence insufficiency, that should be corrected. 

Some people have difficulty aligning their eyes to focus properly, or converging.  It is a vision disorder that often goes undetected.  Interestingly, this insufficiency can be especially noticeable during a 3D viewing experience.  If you or your child has difficulty perceiving the 3D effect, experiences discomfort, or gets dizzy, you should tell Dr. Olson.  An AOA survey suggests that as much as 25% of the population may have difficulty with 3D content, experiencing what is now being called “3D Vision Syndrome.”  Treatment is available, so don’t hesitate to call and schedule an eye health & vision exam.

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!)

A 3-story eyeball sculpture is coming to Chicago's Loop in July 2010!

For a CNN story on this unusual piece of public art click here.  Need we say more?

Has your child had a comprehensive eye exam?

Does your child…

…have a short attention span?

…find it hard to concentrate on reading?

…get headaches or blurred vision when using the computer?

…avoid homework?

…tire easily when reading?

…suffer eyestrain?

…get car sick?

…get labeled as an “underachiever”?

The answers to these questions may indicate the need not only for vision correction in the form of eyeglasses or contacts, but the need for improved  visual skills such as eye teaming, convergence, fixation, accommodation, or tracking.  So much of learning is done visually, so a vision impairment can directly affect a child’s behavior and academic success.

Dr. Olson evaluates vision, eye health, and visual skills during a comprehensive eye exam.  If he finds visual skill deficiency, vision therapy may help the patient with vision-related problems affecting learning.

Our office offers an in-home vision therapy program from HTS.  After receiving instruction on how to use the program, parents have their child use their home computer to do therapy “games” approximately 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week.  After 2-3 months they return for the doctor to review the results.  This is often a sufficient amount of time to retrain the eye muscles to work properly.

We have heard success stories from many of our vision therapy patients.  For more information, learn why 20/20 vision isn’t enough at the HTS website or call Complete EyeCare Center at 319.395.9534 for an appointment with Dr. Olson.

Dr. Olson will begin your evaluation with a comprehensive eye examination, including dilation.  Accurate measurements of your visual needs will be obtained.  We will perform corneal topography to map the corneal surface of your eye.  This allows Dr. Olson to determine if there are any corneal defects that could affect the success of LASIK, and provides information for the surgeon.  He’ll also measure the thickness of your corneas and pupil sizes.  You will be examined for cataracts, glaucoma, retinal disease, as well as corneal and macular health.

A decision of this importance should be made in consultation with your eye doctor, not by price shopping, because your vision is precious!  By providing post-operative care for many years, Dr. Olson has seen the results of numerous surgeries first-hand and has talked with patients about their experiences with various clinics and doctors.  This gives him insight for future referrals and a perspective from which his patients can benefit.  Surgical vision correction has become a precise and reliable alternative, when it is done by an experienced doctor with the best technology available.  That’s why we work closely with eye clinics such as Wolfe Eye Clinic and TLC Laser Eye Centers to increase the likelihood that you will have a positive surgical outcome.

So if you’ve wondered, “Should I consider LASIK?” call for a consultation today and please mention that you are interested in a LASIK evaluation.  We can be reached at 319-385-9534.

* LASIK stands for Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileusis