School Exams Catch Problems

Now that school is out, your children probably have lots of fun activities planned for the summer. Because summer can seem to slip by so quickly, now is a good time to schedule those school eye exams before the August rush. Even if your child has had an eye exam in a prior year, it is important to have regular exams to catch any changes in vision.

In order to perform at the best of their ability in school your child’s visual system should be performing at 100%. This includes not only your child’s vision, but also their muscle coordination and ocular health. Some problems such as amblyopia (when the vision can’t be corrected to 20/20) and strabismus (one eye is turning in or out) need to be addressed as early as possible to prevent permanent vision impairment. These problems along with others such as myopia or hyperopia can be detected during our school exams. If left undected, your child might have difficulty in school.

Our doctors see patients three years old and up. Tests have been designed for children who are not yet reading. We accept most major routine insurance plans, including VSP, Avesis, VCP/Comp Benefits and Davis Vision. For families without vision coverage, we offer a school exam for $65.

Call to schedule an appointment with Dr. Carol Parker at our Audubon office or Dr. Hayley Woodruff at our Story Avenue office. Beginning in July, Dr. Woodruff and Dr. Parker will begin seeing patients at our Mt. Washington office as well.

Importance of Proper Contact Lens Wear and Care

Do you wear contact lenses? What type are they? How often do you take them out, clean them, change to a new pair? Contact Lens wear and care needs may vary depending on what lenses you have.

According to Dr. Hayley Woodruff, optometrist at the Story Ave. location of the Eye Care Institute, the most common rule broken in wearing soft, disposable contacts is not changing and disposing of them according to the recommended schedule. Not abiding by your eye care professional’s recommended schedule could lead to conditions such as increase in dry eye symptoms, corneal ulcers, giant papillary conjunctivitis, or ocular infections. Some of these conditions can be severe enough to cause blindness if left untreated.

Using the appropriate cleaning and disinfecting solutions as directed by your eye care professional are also vital to healthy contact lens care. One-step solutions are often recommended for soft contact lens care. Gas permeable and hard contacts require different solutions than soft lenses. Not all solutions are the same. If your doctor has recommended a specific solution for your contact lens care and you want to try something different, check with your eye doctor first. He or she may have made a specific recommendation as some solutions are less likely to cause allergic reactions. If you do not like cleaning your lenses, one-day disposable lenses may be for you. This allows you to have fresh lenses everyday and is especially great during allergy season. Your eye doctor will choose what he or she feels would be best for you.

It is not recommended to sleep in hard or gas permeable contacts. Some people think it is okay to sleep in soft lenses, especially since they can be so comfortable. This is not always the best policy. Most soft contacts have not been approved by the FDA to be slept in. Many of these lenses do not allow enough oxygen exchange through the lens. Sleeping in contacts when your eye doctor has not recommended it can lead to severe and often painful ocular problems. Please STRICTLY follow your eye care professional’s advice and wear, clean and change lenses accordingly.

Eye Drops

Have you ever wondered why some eye drops have different colored caps? The American Academy of Ophthalmology has assigned a color-code system to the different classes of ocular medications. This makes it easier to distinguish different bottles, especially if you are using more than one type of eye drops. Patients with more than one eye condition can easily be confused about which bottle to use at the proper time. Color-coding the bottle caps helps to distinguish different medication types. Sometimes colored labels are used instead of colored caps, but the assigned color is kept the same. Color-coding also helps your doctor understand what drops you may be using, if you cannot remember the name of the medication. The code assigns a different color to each class of medication.

A tan cap indicates an antibiotic eye drop. This includes antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal medications.
A pink cap specifies a steroid, used to reduce inflammation.
A grey cap designates a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID).
A red cap indicates a dilating drop, including both mydriatics and cycloplegics.
A green cap denotes a miotic drop, which causes the pupil to constrict (the opposite of dilation).

Most of the colorful caps are reserved for glaucoma drops. Glaucoma medications are divided into several different classes. Both blue and yellow caps indicate beta-blockers, which lower eye pressure by decreasing the production of fluid in the eye. Purple caps are found on adrenergic agonists, which also decrease fluid production but use a different mechanism. Orange caps indicate another drop to decrease fluid production – the carbonic anhydrase inhibitor. Finally, turquoise or teal caps indicate prostaglandin analogues, which lower eye pressure by increasing the drainage of fluid from the eye.

Other medications and drops that are available over-the-counter use a variety of other colors. However, the code above reserves those colors for their specific medication classes. Since the color code is used consistently by drug companies and pharmacies, it can be a great help both to patients and doctors. The colors help everyone keep track of which medication is in which bottle.