There is an eye condition that has increased in prevalence in the US by 66% since 1971. This condition now affects over 25% of all Americans and the prevalence has reached upwards of 85% in some Asian countries.

I’m talking about myopia, or nearsightedness. While low amounts of myopia may seem harmless (hey, we can still see with glasses or contacts!), myopic patients are more likely to develop blinding eye diseases like glaucoma, retinal tears and detachments, and premature cataracts, among countless others.

Myopia is caused by an elongated eye

Luckily, new research is beginning to identify trends in those who are nearsighted. Besides genetics, increased near work and lack of outdoor play have been identified as contributing factors in myopia progression

So What Can We Do?

There are currently three preventative measures that can be taken to slow myopia progression:

1. Orthokeratology
2. Soft bifocal contact lenses
3. Low dose dilating drops, called Atropine.

   While all work well, bifocal contacts and atropine can significantly decrease a child’s clarity of vision, even though they reduced their risk of myopia progression. Ortho-K, however, offers clear vision AND slowing of myopia progression for children of all ages! That’s why it’s our go-to to get kids out of glasses and contacts and reduce their risk of myopia progression.

Want to know more about Ortho-K? Check out our website here.

-Dr. Montgomery

Dr. Canaan Montgomery is an Optometrist in Paducah, KY. He specializes in ocular disease, pediatrics, and specialty contact lens fitting, including Orthokeratology.

The question I get asked the most is: “What’s the point in an eye exam if they can’t verbalize what they read on an eye chart?”

Optometrists have means of accurately determining refractive error on any patient, including patients who cannot speak. This involves using something called a retinoscope and various lenses placed before the eye to determine the exact prescription. In addition to checking for high prescriptions and eye alignment issues, we dilate the baby’s pupils and use special lenses to look inside their eye at the retina, where many eye diseases go undiagnosed by pediatricians.

A doctor using a retinoscope to determine the patient’s prescription

Remember: whatever your child’s vision is, that is “normal” for them until they are made aware that their vision should be better. This is the flaw in waiting until the child complains before visiting an eye doctor; at that point, it is often too late to intervene and stop conditions like amblyopia and strabismus.

Make sure your child’s first year of life sets the stage for healthy development: get an eye exam by an optometrist!

-Dr. Montgomery

Dr. Canaan Montgomery is an Optometrist in Paducah, KY. As an eye doctor in Paducah, he sees pediatric patients beginning at age 6 months.

What It Is

Astigmatism simply means that either the front surface of your eye (called your cornea) or the lens inside your eye (called your intraocular lens) is not perfectly round and smooth like it should be. Instead, it’s wavy, causing whatever you’re looking at to be distorted. You can think of it like a funhouse mirror: some parts of what you’re seeing get stretched and other parts get squished. You can also think of it like looking through really old windows: since the glass isn’t perfectly smooth like modern windows, there are some distortions when you try to look through it.

How We Fix It

Glasses will fix virtually every type and power of astigmatism. Soft and hard contact lenses work well, too.

Myth-Busting

-Myth: Astigmatism is a serious eye disease.

Reality: Astigmatism is a perfectly normal part of most peoples’ refractive error.

-Myth: I can’t wear contact lenses if I have astigmatism.

Reality: You absolutely CAN wear contact lenses to correct astigmatism. Soft contact lenses for astigmatism (called toric lenses) are the best choice for most patients. And with companies like Acuvue now making higher toric lens powers (up to -2.75 DC of astigmatism!), we can correct even moderate to high amounts of astigmatism with soft contacts. Hard contact lenses are typically reserved for extreme cases of astigmatism and are very infrequently utilized these days.

Toric soft contact lenses correct most types of astigmatism

–Myth: My eye is shaped like a football!

Reality: Relax, your eye is NOT shaped like a football. It’s round just like everyone else’s. Some doctor’s use the “football-shaped eye” analogy to attempt to explain astigmatism. What they’re trying to convey is that your cornea is really curved vertically and a little less curved horizontally, sort of like the side of a football or an egg shell.

Bottom Line

Most folks have astigmatism, whether it’s a mild or moderate amount. The good news is we can easily correct for astigmatism by using the correct lens in your glasses or contact lenses.

-Dr. Montgomery

Dr. Canaan Montgomery is an Optometrist in Paducah, KY. As an eye doctor in Paducah, he treats eye diseases, fits contact lenses, and sees pediatric eye care patients.

The eyedrop aisle at the Paducah Walmart

For starters, your Optometrist should be recommending any drops that you might need for your eyes. Self-medicating red eyes may be prolonging the correct treatment or diagnosis of a potentially serious underlying condition. If you are in a pinch and need quick relief, here’s a simple way to navigate the daunting eye drop aisle:

Only Three Kinds of Drops

Despite the seemingly endless brands of OTC eye drops, they can generally be condensed into three categories.

1. “Get the Red Out”: Brands like Visine, Clear Eyes, and Opcon advertise products to “reduce redness”. You should generally AVOID these drops altogether.

Avoid “Get the Red Out” Drops Like Visine

These drops contain vaso-constrictive medications called Naphazoline or Tetrahydrozoline that shrink the blood vessels on the surface of your eye, making your eyes appear temporarily less red. The problem is, using these drops chronically typically causes more irritation than they prevent and when you stop taking them, they cause rebound inflammation, making your eyes appear even more red and agitated than before. They never address the underlying issue causing the redness!

Bottom Line: there are better options!

2. Artificial Tears: These are excellent eye drops to soothe dry or irritated eyes. They do not contain a medication but, rather, coat the ocular surface with protective tears. Brands like Systane, Refresh, and Blink all make excellent artifical tears. They also make night-time gels and ointments that lubricate your eye while you sleep.

Systane makes excellent artifical tears to soothe dry eyes

Bottome Line: GREAT for dry, irritated eyes!

3. Antihistamines: Have allergies? Stick with the two best OTC allergy drops: Alaway or Zaditor. Both are used twice a day for mild allergies. But be warned: these drops have little effect against moderate to severe allergic reactions. Stronger prescription allergy drops are almost always needed in these cases.

Bottome Line: The best OTC drops for MILD eye allergies. Do not treat moderate to severe eye allergies well.

That’s it! Most of the drops out there are redundant and typically not very helpful. As always, ask your optometrist if you have any questions about which drops you should be using!

-Dr. Montgomery

Dr. Canaan Montgomery is an Optometrist in Paducah, Kentucky. As an eye doctor in Paducah, he focuses on ocular disease, pediatrics, and primary eye care.

Daily disposable lenses are at the forefront of this movement and are evolving almost monthly. Here are just a few benefits of switching to daily disposable lenses:

1. Convenience: throw them away at the end of every day and get a new pair in the morning. No solution, case, or cleaning!

2. Health: daily disposables breathe better, letting more oxygen through to your cornea. Less handling also means lower risk of corneal infection!

3. Comfort: do your contacts occasionally bother you? Time to switch to dailies. Dailies are so comfortable that you’ll forget you have them on!

4. Astigmatism and Bifocal lenses available: While dailies were originally confined to those with no astigmatism and those who only needed distance correction, they now encompass virtually every prescription for every person!

5. Great for athletes: dailies are great for athletes who only wear contacts when they are competing. Rather than keeping a pair of contacts stored in a case for months at a time only to use them once a week (not safe!), you can put in a new pair of lenses for the game, at the gym, or when running and toss them when you’re done!

At your next appointment, ask your optometrist if he/she fits daily lenses and if you would be a good candidate.

-Dr. Montgomery

Dr. Canaan Montgomery is an optometrist who practices in Paducah, KY. As an eye doctor in Paducah, he focuses on general eye care, eye disease, and pediatrics.

Many people equate the white lies they tell the dentist about flossing with the white lies they tell their eye doctor about how they wear their contacts. But, if you think about the worst possible outcome of not flossing versus the worst possible outcome of corneal disease (permanent vision loss), they aren’t quite the same, are they?

The fact is, complications from contact lens abuse are not rare occurrences that we optometrists see only now and then and use to scare our patients. Unfortunately, I see peoples lives changed weekly by contact lens abuse.

Bacterial Corneal Ulcer From Contact Lens Abuse

Contact lenses are safe, IF you use them correctly. Here’s my top ten of what you should be doing to protect yourself:

1. Do NOT sleep in your contact lenses unless your doctor has specifically told you that you can. If you are unsure, call their office and ask.

2. Throw away your contacts when you’re supposed to. Stretching the life of your contact lens may feel OK, but you are creating a breeding ground for bacteria. If you are supposed to throw away every 30 days, then on day 31 you should have a new lens on your eye.

3. Don’t top off your lens solution in your case. You don’t want all the bacteria you washed off the night before staying in the case for prolonged periods of time. Each night, dump the solution, rinse with water, dry, and refill.

4. Toss your contact lens case every 3 months and buy a new one. Your contacts spend as much time in the case as on your eye, so make sure they have a clean place to disinfect.

5. ALWAYS wash your hands before inserting or removing your contacts. Dirty hands mean dirty lenses.

6. Buy name brand solution. Don’t skimp on the solution to save 2 bucks. The good stuff goes through FDA testing and approval. The Walmart version does not.

7. Know that you can’t wear contact lenses every day. When your eye hurts, it’s trying to tell you to take your contact out; it needs a break. And this is why…

8. You should always have a back up pair of glasses. See number 7 for details.

9. See your Optometrist every 12 months. When you wear contact lenses, you are putting yourself at an increased risk of countless complications. You owe it to yourself to get your eye health evaluated every year on the dot.

10. Talk to your Optometrist about the best contact lens for you. Just because you’ve always worn the same contacts without issues doesn’t mean there’s not a better lens on the market for you. Technologies are emerging every year and, chances are, there’s a better contact lens out there for you.

-Dr. Montgomery

Dr. Canaan Montgomery is an optometrist in Paducah, KY. As an eye doctor in Paducah, he fits glasses and contact lenses, treats eye diseases, and sees pediatric patients.

OUR EYES CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

THE PROBLEM

When we look up close,  a muscle in our eye contracts and changes the shape of our intraocular lens to help us focus up close. Can you imagine going to the gym and holding a dumbbell for hours at a time? Your muscles would start to spasm, get tired, and eventually you would give up.

Our eyes are going through the exact same process every time we sit down in front of our iPhone or computer for hours at a time. The muscles in your eye are not made for these long near sessions and they get tired!

It’s important to know that virtually everyone in the world would have this problem if they used a computer long enough. It’s not a problem with your eye’s focusing system, we’re just asking too much of them.

THE FIX

Long gone are the days that glasses for near are just for old folks. In fact, as a write this, my 20-something eyes are at ease looking through my near prescription. I see this most frequently in high school students, college students, and those who work on computers or tablets for at work.

Here are the most common symptoms I hear from my patients. If this sounds like you, WE CAN HELP!

-Eyes feel tired after being on computer

-Headaches across the forehead during and after computer work

-Feeling tired after computer work

-Words move on the screen or you even see double

-Irritated feeling eyes with computer work

If you’re having trouble working on your computer at school or work, quit suffering and let us help!

-Dr. Montgomery

Dr. Canaan Montgomery is an Optometrist in Paducah, KY. His interests are general eye care, ocular disease, and pediatric eye care.