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Featured Monthly Video
- Written by InnovativEyes
It is safe to say that many people prefer shopping online to shopping in stores for many of their needs.
With technology constantly improving and evolving, people tend to take advantage of the convenience of shopping online. Whether it’s clothing, electronics, or even food, you can easily find almost everything you need on the Internet.
Eyeglasses, unfortunately, are no different. Many online shops have been popping up in recent years, offering people that same convenience. But what they don’t tell you is that it comes at a price, and this article’s purpose is to shine a light on the negatives of shopping online for eyeglasses.
Here are some important reasons to avoid the temptation of ordering glasses online.
- Accuracy- Instead of saving the most important point for last, we will focus on the main reason that ordering eyeglass online is a bad idea first. Product accuracy is a huge reason that the online market has not completely taken off. Every person who needs eyeglasses needs to understand the process for how their prescription is obtained in order to truly understand why shopping online is a bad idea. It is called an eyeglass prescription for a reason. Your ophthalmologist or optometrist is prescribing your lenses as if they were prescribing any form of medication. To take that prescription and hand it over to a website that does not require licensed workers to interpret the prescription is not the wisest choice. Equally as important as the prescription itself are the pupillary distance (PD) measurement, and the optical centers. These measurements are not given at the time of the examination by the ophthalmologist or optometrist, but instead are administered by the optician at the point of sale. Not having these measurements done accurately will negatively affect the quality of vision as much as an error in the prescription.
- Quality- Similar to the accuracy of the lens, the quality of the product you are purchasing is affected when making the decision to purchase online. The saying “too good to be true” is the case more times than not, and this purchase is no exception. When you see enticing advertisements for pricing that seems to be too good, there is a reason. This product is often not inspected or handled by a state-licensed optician. These websites rely on mass production in order to operate. Factory workers operating machines pale in comparison to the experience you will receive in a professional office. Skilled opticians licensed to interpret and manufacture your eyeglass prescriptions and are held to a much higher standard than factory workers.
- Warranty- Due to their low prices, most of these websites do not include any form of product warranty or guarantee. Opticians, however, stand behind your purchase. If there are issues with adjustment or a patient not being comfortable in a specific lens or product, professional opticians are willing to work with you. This personal experience is not attainable on the web.
- Coordination with your doctor- With the complexity of eyeglass lenses, the ease of working in house is always a benefit worth keeping in mind. Eyeglass lenses can be very complex products. Having the benefit of being able to work directly with the doctor gives the optician the best chance to put you in the exact lenses you need. There is a substantial difference in the percentage of error between shopping online and the care you get in a private practice.
- Personal Experience- Probably the most important factor for many people, the personal experience you get when shopping in person is something you cannot obtain by using the Internet. Dealing with the same opticians year in and out is something patients emphasize and appreciate. Just like people tend to keep the same doctors over the years, patients like knowing that the same people will be in charge of making their glasses. Shopping online will not offer that experience.
All of these factors should be carefully weighed when making the decision to shop online. While the initial price difference could entice you at first, know that it does come at a price. Whether it be a warranty, quality, or convenience all of these are very important factors when buying glasses. People sometimes tend to discount how intricate eyeglasses are.
Purchasing eyeglasses is handled best in person by professionals who can provide you with the utmost care and quality.
Article contributed by Richard Striffolino Jr.
- Written by InnovativEyes
Do you have floaters in your vision?
Floaters are caused by thick areas in the gel-like fluid that fills the back cavity of your eye, called the vitreous.
Many people, especially highly near-sighted people, often see some degree of floaters for a good portion of their lives. Often, these floaters are in the periphery of your vision and may only be visible in certain lighting conditions. The most frequent conditions are when you are in bright sunlight and are looking toward the clear blue sky. This I know from personal experience as I have a floater in my left eye that I most often see when swimming outdoors. Every time I turn my head to the left to breathe I see this floater moving in my peripheral vision.
This is totally harmless other than when I’m swimming in the ocean and swear that sudden object in my peripheral vision is a shark bearing down on me. Some people who have floaters are not as lucky and the floater can be very central and almost constantly annoying, especially when trying to read.
The second scenario in which floaters occur is during the normal aging process. The vitreous gel in the back of the eye starts to shrink as we age and at some point it collapses in on itself and pulls away from the retina. This sometimes results in a sudden set of new floaters.
When that happens you need to be checked for signs of a retinal tear or detachment. As long as your retina survives that episode without any problems, the floaters themselves may stick around for a while and can be rather annoying.
Most people eventually adapt to the floaters; the brain learns to filter them out so you are no longer aware of them. The vitreous can also collapse more as time goes on and the dense floater you are seeing initially may move further forward and drop lower in the eye so the shadow it is casting is less intense and more in the periphery of your vision where it is much easier to ignore.
The first line of treatment for floaters has been, and still is, to live with them. Once you have your retina checked and there is nothing wrong there, the floaters themselves are harmless and will not lead to any further deterioration of your vision, which is why, if at all possible, you should just live with them. This is especially true if the floaters are new because the overwhelming majority of people with new floaters will eventually get to the point where they are no longer seeing them or at least where they are not interfering with normal daily activities.
If you have tried to wait them out and live with them but they are still interfering with your normal daily activities, you may want to consider having them treated with a laser.
This treatment relatively new and involves using a special laser to try to break down large floaters into much smaller pieces that may no longer be visible. In a recent study of the laser treatment involving 52 patients, 36 were treated with the laser (a single laser treatment session) and 16 people had a sham treatment (meaning they went through everything the treated group did but did not actually have the real treatment done). In the people who were actually treated, 54% reported a significant improvement in the floater symptoms while 0% in the sham group reported any improvement (no placebo effect). There were no significant side effects in either group.
Some points to note in the above study:
Fifty-four percent of people treated noted a significant improvement in their floater symptoms with a single treatment. That’s clearly not anywhere near a guaranteed improvement.
Other people have noted an improvement after more than one session, bringing the total expected improvement into the 70% range, with one or more treatments.
Another point to note is that there were no significant side effects to the treatment.
Although true in this small study, it does not mean that there are no risks to the laser treatment. Although rare, there have been reports of damage to the retina, optic nerve or the lens of the eye.
Another treatment that can be used to treat floaters is a surgical procedure called a vitrectomy. This involves surgically going inside the back of the eye and removing the vitreous. This surgical procedure carries a higher risk than the laser treatment and is not 100% effective.
In summary, this new laser treatment is a good addition to the tools to deal with significant floater problems. If you have floaters for at least six months and they are central and interfering with your normal daily activities such as reading or driving and you want to see if this laser treatment could be right for you, check with your eye doctor.
Article contributed by Dr. Brian Wnorowski, M.D.
