Category: Eye Resources

Each year, more than 700,000 Americans injure their eyes at work and 125,000 Americans injure their eyes at home. However, almost 90% of these eye injuries could have been prevented with the use of safety eyewear.*

Safety Glasses Vs Regular Glasses

In comparison to regular glasses, safety glasses are designed and tested to meet safety regulations for enhanced protection. Safety glasses must have higher durability, the lenses and frames must be impact resistant, and they must pass a series of tests. Regular glasses to do not have these standards.

Lens Materials

The lens materials used in safety eyewear undergo numerous tests to determine safety classification and impact resistance. Safety eyewear commonly uses polycarbonate material for impact-resistant lenses. This material is half the weight of glass and makes for lighter and more comfortable wear.

Prescription Safety Eyewear

In most cases, safety goggles do not have prescription lenses and are used primarily for eye protection. However, goggles can be made with prescription lenses to accommodate those who need corrective eyewear.

Standards for Safety Eyewear

In the United States, the American National Standards Institute is the non-profit organization that sets the quality and safety standards for eye safety devices including eyeglasses, goggles, face shields, welding helmets, and full face respirators. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is the department of US Department of Labor that oversees workplace safety. Your employer should inform you what type of safety eyewear you need for the job.

Symbols to Look For

• Having a plus mark (+) on eyewear means the lenses passed the high-velocity test. Without a plus mark, they pass the basic impact test.
• (V) means they are photochromic and (S) means the lens has a special tint. The glasses marked with (V) and (S) protect your eyes from light damage when soldering, brazing, cutting, and welding.
• Z87 the frames pass basic impact.
• Z87+ the frames pass high impact.
• Z87-2 the frames pass basic impact and have prescription lenses.

When do I need to wear protective eyewear?

Occupational Hazards

Some jobs require protective eyewear. A good rule of thumb is if you work in an area with loose particles, flying objects, chemicals, or dust, you should wear safety glasses. Some occupations have a higher risk of eye injury including construction, manufacturing, auto repair, electrical work, welding, mining, carpentry, plumbing, and maintenance.

Home Risks

If you are working on repairs, renovations, painting, or yard work at your home you should wear protective eyeglasses. For home tasks such as mowing the lawn, trimming, and other power tool activities it is recommended to use frames with side shields to protect from flying particles and objects.

Sports Safety

Protective eyewear should be worn in a variety of sports. For active sports, elastic bands can help to secure the glasses on players’ heads. Athletes that participate in hunting or shooting sports should wear high impact frames and lenses, which protects their eyes from possible ricochet. Fish hooks can cause serious eye injuries; the best choice is a wrap-style frame with safety lenses. Protective eyewear can help to prevent eye injuries.

* All About Vision

 

People are always touting the benefits and the risks of social media, videogames, television, and other screen activities. It’s common to hear about someone giving up social media for a period of time just to see if they are able to kick what they consider an ‘addiction.’ New Year’s resolutions are often to read more and spend less time at a computer or on a smartphone. These may seem like grown-up problems, but adults and teens aren’t the only demographics spending a large part of their daily routine behind a screen. Children barely old enough to move a mouse are using computers and devices for recreation and learning every day.

In 2009, kids in grades 7–12 reported spending an average of more than 90 minutes a day just sending or receiving texts on cell phones. In 2011, 50% of children under eight-years-old reported having access to a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet. Children under two watch 53 minutes a day of television.

Should all screen time and computer usage be cause for concern? Not quite. Consider this: studies have found that children who use a computer at school and at home perform better on tests of school readiness, visual motor skills, gross motor, and cognitive development. This positive effect seems to diminish if you look at children’s screen time beyond physician-recommended daily limits, however. Excessive screen time does not help children learn, and overuse has been shown to put children at risk for vision problems.

Children aged 8–18 reported in 2009 that they spent more than seven hours a day devoted to “entertainment media” including computers and videogames. That makes screen time a full-time job! Pediatric eye doctors are warning parents that this sort of heavy screen time is putting children at risk for early nearsightedness, among other possible issues.

According to the National Eye Institute, over the past 30 years the prevalence of nearsightedness has increased from 25 percent to over 41 percent. This is an increase of more than 66 percent. No one can be certain if this increase is caused by screen time, but many professionals are concerned that there may be a connection.

The longer children are exposed to a computer screen, the greater their risk is for developing computer vision syndrome. Computer vision syndrome is the term used to describe problems associated with focusing on an electronic display for excessive, uninterrupted amounts of time. The risk is increased because children’s eyes are not as well-developed as adults. It’s easier for children to experience these problems because they often lose track of time, are assigned lots of homework to do on the computer, or may not realize that they should be taking frequent breaks. Additionally, children are notorious for sitting very close to screens even if they have perfect vision—a position that strains the eyes and the rest of the body.

Parents should pay careful attention to how long a child spends with electronics. Set limits and help them develop good habits for how to use their devices. Talk to your eye care professional to discuss your child’s media habits and determine if you should change how they interact with electronics for optimal eye health.

Vision therapy is often misunderstood. It has been misrepresented as some people have taken ideas about how vision works, coupled with real medical concepts, and tried to make their own vision “cures” while calling them “vision therapy.” Vision therapy is no one cure, and not even one treatment, but instead is a non-surgical, customized program created by a doctor and under his or her supervision. The process of vision therapy aims to correct certain vision problems or vision-related skills.

Because more people are asking for treatment options and bringing their children for eye exams earlier in life, vision therapy has become more well-known. We get a lot of questions about how it can help patients, so here are some answers to commonly asked questions about vision therapy.

I just heard about vision therapy helping a family I know. Is it new?
No, vision therapy is not new. Many of the activities and tools doctors use have been around for decades or more, but more people are asking about it and opting for vision therapy over surgical procedures when possible.

What conditions can vision therapy treat?
This is dependent on the patient’s unique situation, but vision therapy may be used to treat or improve problems like amblyopia (“lazy eye”), strabismus (“crossed eyes”), binocular vision problems with eye alignment, eye movement disorders, focusing disorders, or other visual deficiencies related to eye strain, eye fatigue, or problems derived from stroke or brain injury.

What does vision therapy do?
Vision therapy attempts to help focusing deficiencies and eye muscle imbalances, among other deficiencies. Vision problems can interfere with academic performance or impair the ability to comfortably read, so these coordinated plans try to improve these functions.

Is vision therapy only for children?
There are several kinds of vision therapy that include various treatments and exercises that may help you or your child. Vision therapy is more common for children because it is more likely that a child’s vision impairment can be aided when they are young, and more important to make sure development is not impeded.

Does it work?
This depends on many factors including the patient’s anatomy, the eye condition or deficiency, and how early the problem is treated. The only person who can assess the likelihood of vision therapy success is an experience eye doctor.

If you have questions about this or other eye health conditions, contact us for more information!