College Major

I had an 18-year-old patient starting college as a patient.  I asked him what his major was.  He said he was combining a psychology and a business major together.  I thought what a great idea.  His advisor at school couldn't figure out why he wanted to combine the two. 

Owning my own business, so many psychological factors enter into how successful a business is.  Of course one is how well the staff gets along with each other as well as the patients.

I thought this patient was quite insightful, especially for being so young.  It will be interesting to follow his progress.

Good Vision Is More Than 20/20

A number of individuals feel they don't need to have their eyes examined because they see clearly.  When examining the eyes, of course we want to the patient to have clear sight.  But we also want to know how well their eyes work together, if they have depth perception or even if they're straining their eyes when working close up, particularly on a monitor.  You can have clear sight and still have problems visually.

The other side of the examinatin deals with how healthy the eyes are.  You can have 20/20 and still manifest a sight-threatening or life threatening disease such as glaucoma, cancer of the eye or even a detachment of structures of the eyes and not be aware of them.  You can be losing peripheral vision and not even be aware of it.  I've had patients who were diagnosed to have a brain aneurysm or a tumor through examination of the eyes.

For more information, please visit my website, www.wehelpuc.com.

Vertical Eye Problems

Many times a patient will will be able to see clearly out of each eye separately but has trouble using both eyes together.

One problem that could be causing this is the eye's being out of alignment in the vertical direction.  If the eyes are the least bit out of alignment vertically, straining to see or double vision could occur.  This finding is often not measured during the course of an examination.

Also, when an individual has a very significant difference in prescription between the two eyes, especially with bifocal wearers, the patient can feel this same strain.  Regarding this particular situation, prism might need to be added to the prescription  to help compensate for this difference between the two eyes.

Glaucma Certification

I am currently going through continuing education coursework  to become certified in prescribing for patients who have glaucoma.  I anticipate completing the courses by mid-March, 2013. 

This is a significatnt expansion of the scope of care that I can provide.  One of the factors I so love about optometry is that nothing is static.  There is constant change within the profession.  I feel so fortunate that I picked such a profession to make my career. 

I am also able to share this with individuals either in optometry school or students who are trying to decide what career path to follow.

Mastermind Group

Most Thursday evenings at my office at 7:00 P.M., we have a Mastermind Group meeting.  In these meetings which usually last about one and one half hours, we discuss the tenets of Jim Rohn.  He writes on everything from economic gains, physical well being, business, networking and even spirituality.  Our next two meetings, are November 29 and December 6.

I so enjoy these meetings.  I get a great feeling after their conclusion.  If you're interested in attending, please give me a call at (951) 206-1747.  I think you'll find it very fulfilling.

Just a reminder.  My office is located at 7211-A Haven Ave. in Rancho Cucamonga in the Ralph's Shopping Center.  Our office has the sign "optometry" in front of

Continuing Education

Optometry is such an expansive field.  When I go to continuing education seminars, it amazes me the developments that are occurring within the eye and vision fields.  New contact lenses and lenses for glasses have come a long way over the last few years.

Medical advanements in refractive surgery (lasik for example), cataract surgery and being able to treat macular degeneration  has also grown by leaps and bounds.  It's great to be witness to the patients receiving the benefits of these developments.

Also, the fact that almost everyone is in front of a hand-held device, tablet or monitor will help insure the needs for my services will only grow. The effects of viewing extensive close up work, for some, affects one's vision. To be honest, this area alone is a very exciting area for me.

Attention To Detail

I was recently at a Chamber of Commerce function last week.  One of my patients came up to be me and was very happy about her glasses.  She said it was the first time she was able to read comfortably then look up and see clearly with her bifocal.

The patient had problems previously because she had a very significant difference between her two eyes.  This meant that when she looked down to read, she was struggling from seeing double vision.  A lot of times, consideration for this is overlooked.  We prescribed what's called "slab-off" prism to help with the situation.  It made a significant difference for the patient.