A previous patient of mine brought her mother in for an examination. She had stated thank you for "saving my son's life." Her son wasn't sick or anything like that. He had a lazy eye and was undergoing patching for at least a couple of years with no results. The boy was introverted and did not participate in sports. I put a contact lens in his lazy eye. Even though he couldn't see much better than 20/200 in that eye, he was now able to use that eye and have depth perception. The change in behavior was dramatic. He was doing better in school, participated in sports and is generally more outgoing. His mother says he's a lot happier.

As an optometrist and an owner of my own business, networking with others is very important. At this time I'm not talking about online, social networking. I'm talking about live person to person networking. I belong to multiple chambers of commerce and I'm active in them. Even at the gym, by talking about what I do enthusiastically, I've been able to generate patients coming into the office. It's quite easy to incorporate what I do into general discussion, especially the fact that I'm passionate in what I do.

Fitting contact lenses is usually straightforward. The prescription usually follows closely to the glasses' prescription. Sometimes, however, the tears between the contact lens and the eye affects one's vision. I had a patient like this earlier today. I tried three different (different manufacturers) contact lenses, each with the same prescription, until the patient was satisfied with what she saw. The patient was a long time patient here.

One of the great joys I get out of my practice is being involved with the community, particularly the chamber of commerce. I belong to three chambers in the surrounding area of my practice. I am actually on the board of directors of one chambers. In addition to the enjoyment I get meeting with other business people and officials of the city, the chambers have been a good source of referral to my practice.

I've been practicing optometry for nearly 30 years. It's interesting where the source of useful information regarding my field will come from. I had a bifocal contact lens patient who came into my office. He was wearing a type of bifocal contact lens that I stock. This lens is the type that is usually given to a patient in their early 40s. With a little modification, this patient gave me the idea to start fitting this lens to patients in their 50s and above. I had not thought of this before. I have met with very good success for this population of patients who want to wear bifocal contact lenses.

Even though optometry is generally not a life or death profession, I had a very rewarding experience happen to me in my office. I had a patient whom I saw around August, 2010. She had a headache, uncorrected vision in one of her eyes(about to 20/50) and changes in her peripheral vision. I immediately referred her to an ophthalmologist. They immediately referred her to neurology in which surgery was performed.

The patient came back in December, 2010 and told me what happened. She stated that the emergency room surgeon told her it was a good thing that the referrals occurred. She had an aneurysm the size of which the surgeon said was huge. The surgeon related to her that if she had waited a month, she very well could have died.

The patient was most thankful when she came in (with her sister). This is what helps to make optometry such a rewarding profession.

One area that's often overlooked in an athlete's ability to perform is their vision. There is more to vision than just seeing clearly. Peripheral awareness, depth perception, ability to focus one's eyes quickly from distance to near and back to distance are all important skills which could have a significant impact on an athlete's success. What's important is that these skills are measurable and more importantly, can be improved upon.