Human vision, visual correction, and visual science

Archive for July, 2010

Nystagmus and driving

  Could somebody give me some advice on vision problems and driving?

   I want to know how I go about finding out if I should be driving.   I
have a learner’s permit from Oklahoma.  I live in Florida currently and I
don’t drive, at age 28.  I know how to drive and I have alot of practice,
but I don’t feel comfortable driving, in particular I have had a few "near
accidents" and I always feel nervous driving.  I don’t know what my visual
acuity is, but it is far from perfect 20/20.   I have congenital nystagmus,
caused by hypoplastic optic nerves, with a null point, myopia, and
strabismus, and my left eye is worse than my right eye at distance.  I also
don’t always have constant binocular vision, in fact most of the time I
don’t (but I don’t have amblyopia).   An eye doctor has never told me what
my vision is.  I believe my glasses are around 5-7 diopters.

   I did not take Drivers Ed in highschool because I was in a special PE
class for disabled students.  In college (I have a 2 year degree) in
Oklahoma I took driving lessons, and one of my instructors said he was not
sure I should be driving.  He was very uncomfortable with my driving,
especially on longer lessons.  I really feel fatigued if I drive any longer
than 12 minutes without a break.  My eyes/head feel really fatigued and I
feel like I start to loose concentration.

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best polymer contacts for dryish, oily eyes?

Because of job changes and companies changing insurance carriers,
I’ve had to go to a different eye doctor every year.  And every
year, they say "that was the wrong type lens for you," and give
me a different polymer lens with the same problems.

I have a very oily, proteinous tear film, and I can’t use any of
the all-in-one cleaning/soaking solutions without them feeling
pretty cruddy after one day.  I have to alternate two pairs of
lenses, use the soapy-rubby cleaner and let them soak overnight in
all-in-one-solution with protein remover drops, and then put them in
the ClearCare (formerly AOSept) peroxide solution the next day.

They are usually fine the first whole day out of the box.  After that,
If I only use rubby cleaner and all-in-one solution, or only rubber
cleaner and Clearcare overnight, they feel somewhat cruddy after one
day, and tend to slime up, fog over, and sometimes fall out of my
eyes after 4 or 5 hours.  And even using the extra solutions, they
still often fogged over and sometimes fell out while I was driving
home from work.

I would like to try 1-day disposables, because the cleaning regimen
is so much of a bother that I gave up my vanity and started wearing
glasses when I leave the house (I don’t need any for reading, using
the computer, or anything in the house except watching the living
room TV), but my eye doctor doesn’t think they will work well for my
oily and somewhat dry tear film.

Does anyone have any suggestions for polymer types that might be
best for me?


  jamie  (jamie…@newsguy.com)

                "There’s a seeker born every minute."

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OT: participating amt vs. non participating amt vs. limiting charge amt

Hi i had a comprehensive eye exam by an ophthalmologist and got the
invoice from medicare. i looked at the procedure code that was billed
and was curious about it so i went to the medicare website to look it
up. now for 92004 there were 3 different fees. why is that? is
limiting charge amount the highest my doctor can put on the insurance
claim, or does he just file the highest fee for participating amt?
just wondering……

sill

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Flourescent light sensitivity (flicker sensitivity )

At work I noticed that when I read my monitor (with a flourescent
overhead) or the printed page that the text seems to *move* and its
hard to focus on it but at home (with a similar monitor but lit by
incandescent  light) I do not have this problem.  However, at work if
it is a bright sunny day and I stand by the window I can read text just
fine.  I recently bought a incandescent lamp and put it in my cube and
if I read by that it is much clearer.  I am also very sensitive
monitors with low refresh rates.   If the monitor is at 60Hz its
unbearable.  But when I started in the computer industry I could easily
use 60Hz monitors.

A couple people at my small company have various stages of this issue,
but no one has mentioned the printed page issue.

Is there an article or name of this condition that I can use to find
out more information?  Would different flourescent bulbs help?  Any
suggestions?

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Scarring in eye?

I recently have been experiencing strange visual phonemenon that’s
best described as a circular flasher. It usually appears in the same
part of my left eye and is kind of semi-transparent and kind of
flashes and shifts colors. I went to the opthamologist to have it
checked out and he took pictures and told me the visual phonemenon was
the result of a scar in my eye. He said it might have been an old
toxicplasmosis scar or a new scar but he offered no other explanation
of how the scar could have gotten there. He said the scar didn’t seem
particularly active or inflamed and instructed me to come back in
three weeks for a check-up.

In the meantime though I am worrying- is this a typical early sign of
histoplasmosis? The doctor didn’t mention spots and I have noticed no
distortion in straight lines that seems typical of this condition.
Could an old toxicplasmosis scar have been re-activated? If so why? If
anyone has any insights on this I would appreciate it thanks!

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DMV part three

I posted before about how I twice failed the vision screening at the
California DMV, and my OD said that corrective lenses wouldn’t help, and
that the DMV then requires a drive test to prove that you can drive even
though you can’t pass the vision screening.  Now, I’ve been driving mostly
without corrective lenses for the last 2 1/2 years, since my last cataract
surgery, but my license says that I require corrective lenses, so I’ve
been out of compliance.

So I showed up for my driving test at the DMV yesterday.  Unlike past
visits, the lines were nightmares.  Fortunately, the drive test is given
by appointment only, and the line for that was short.

After the examiner checked the equipment on the car, he tried to diagnose
my eye problems.  I tried my best to explain, but my knowledge is limited
and so was his.  I kept telling him that I had the official DMV form with
my OD signing, and that the OD stated that glasses were not prescribed.
He wanted to know why.  I honestly think that he wasn’t hassling me or
trying to disqualify me, but that he really wanted to learn more about
vision problems.  I think he finally accepted my theory that my retinal
detachment was responsible for the problem.

So, he gave me the drive test, about 20 minutes of driving around the
exact area where I’ve lived for the last 25 years.  I passed easily, and
now for the first time in almost 40 years I have an unrestricted driving
license.


Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS
da…@sonic.net

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20/20 Shawn Responds to Mike T.

Dear Friends,

As you know, a poster with the initials RM does not
give use his name, but claims certain qualifications
which we can not check.

Equally, I have not identified my 14 year-old friends
Shawn-Jon for exactly the same reson.  You can believe
RM, or Shawn as you chooes.

It is true that the plus-for-prevention is difficult
to use, and depends more on the person’s fortitude,
than anything that can be "prescribed".  In that
sense the issue truly is the motivation concerned
with protecting his distant vision by use of the plus.

Subject:  Commentary by Jon on Mike’s theory of nearsightedness.

Jon > Please forward this to Mike Tyner as well.

Otis> I will — but he might choke.

     _______________

     Dear Jon,

     Mike Tyner is "making up" statements to avert the fact that
nearsighedness (in the first stage) is preventable — and you have
done it with outstanding success.

     He must do this (for sci.med.vision consumption) so that
others — less gifted — will avoid the idea that nearsighedness
(on the threshold) can be defeated the way that Stirling did it.

     No optometrist I know of EVER does ANY identification of that
nature.  All they do is put a minus lens on you to a strength that
just-clears the 20/20 line.  They then "pat you on the head" and
send you on your way.

     Equally, a percentage of optometrists have advocated
prevention over the last 100 years, by "correct use" of a plus
lens.  But correct implementation has eluded them — because
the "patient" involved has not understood the need to use
the plus "correctly".  Only when you actually used the plus with
great force and persistance — could you be successful, and
obviously under your full control

     I am willing to discuss some of these details with you — of
course.

     But the basic concept of prevention (from direct-experimental
data) is correct.

     As I stated when we began this — everything depended on the
fact that you would gain "measurement control".  Once you do this
— you become the "responsible engineer".  You are still young for
this analysis — but I am certain you have that capability also.
It just takes analytic skills.

     You might read the book by Thomas Kuhn, called "The Structure
of Scientific Revolutions" for background — and a book report.

     Mike Tyner is using the method put in place 400 years ago.
Whatever "science" it was based on — was available then.
It is very easy to "quick-fix" the public that walks in off the
street.  For "optometry" it is probably impossible to get beyond
that point in "their" science.

     If he argued that the "public" was ignorant, and
non-motivated, I would agree with him completely.  But you are not
"the public", and you have the right to use your own judgment
about science, facts, and protect your own visual future under
your own control.

     To further respond:

     ______________________

Jon > Dear Otis

Jon > I read where Mike Tyner states that it is only possible for
      accomodation myopes to improve their vision with the plus.

Otis> Mike has no clue about who can work their way out of
      nearsighedness.  I would suspect a large number of pilots
      could do so — if they had the motivation for it — and
      engineering support.  This is a conveient ploy — just
      describe everyone who works himself clear — as having
      "preventable myopia".  Always easy to do — after the fact!

Jon > He says it isnt possible for other types of myopia to be
      reversed with the plus.

Otis> I would agree that once YOU BEGIN WEARING THE MINUS you will
      develop NOT-PREVENABLE myopia — caused by that minus lens.

Otis> You were both lucky and smart not to be caught in that trap!

Jon > I think he may be wrong,

Otis> You are correct.       Remember what I said about money, power
      and position.  He must twist everything to maitain all of
      these things for himself.  Truth, accurate scientific fact,
      and your long-term visual is not important to him — they
      are only to you, and other scientists like Stirling Colgate,
      Francis Young and Howard Howland.

Jon > …Because when I went to my OD in april he told my my
      problem was that my cornea was too steep.

Otis> This is an extrapolation from a bad theory.  There is no way
      anyone could make that determination from an eye were only
      the reafractive status is measured.

Jon > He never mentioned psuedo-myopia as being my problem.

Otis> There is a profound misconception at work here.  It is the
      "bad theory" belief that the eye is a "frozen" box camera,
      and that you can analyize the eye that way.  This is called
      a "paradigm".  The scientific concept is that the eye is
      "dynamic".  This is a much more accurate concept — and in
      the event you have proven this fact to youself by getting
      your refractive status to change by +1.5 dipoters and
      clearing to 20/20.  For you that is the real proof — that
      you can do this work successfully under your own control.

Otis> Don’t let these closed-minded ODs get you down.  Remember
      the "quality" of Dr.  Stirling Colgate and Dr.  Steve Leung.
      Successful prevention is indeed the "medical"
      second-opinion, even though very difficult.

Otis> Steve Leung OD is working FOR YOU, and using the plus on his
      own young children.  This is the true nature of an honest
      "second opinion"

Best,

Otis

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Re: Cataract Eye Drops (n-acetylcarnosine)

mic…@gmail.com (Michele) wrote in message <news:c96bdabc.0411301926.5f27aa2e@posting.google.com>…
> Has anyone tried using these drops and had positive results?

I have cataract diagnosed on my left eye.
I’m wondering if NU-EYES drops from http://www.bionational.com/
can help.

Has anybody use this drops?
Any results?

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Dark, Leafy Greens Help Shield Eyes from Cataracts

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.php?event=news_print_list_item&id=440

Alison McCook, "Dark, Leafy Greens Help Shield Eyes from Cataracts",
Reuters, December 3, 2004,
Link: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=MC2JHZJX4PUUUCRBA…

New research provides further evidence that substances in kale,
spinach and other green vegetables help protect aging eyes from
cataracts.

In an experiment, investigators found that human eye cells treated
with antioxidants called lutein and zeaxanthin showed less damage
after being exposed to ultraviolet rays, the sunlight ingredient
considered a major contributor to cataracts.

Cataracts occur when proteins in the eye’s lens begin to clump
together, forming a milky cloud that obscures vision. Currently,
around 20 million Americans have cataracts, and research suggests that
the more sunlight you are exposed to in life, the greater your risk.

It’s hard to say how much of each antioxidant people should get in
their diets, given that little is known about how antioxidants in the
bloodstream reach the eyes, study author Dr. Joshua A. Bomser told
Reuters Health.

"While the specific experiments haven’t been done…we know generally:
eat more fruits and vegetables," he said.

Foods that contain particularly high doses of lutein and zeaxanthin
include kale, collard greens, broccoli, turnip greens and spinach.

Bomser explained that there is ample evidence to suggest that people
who eat a lot of fruits and vegetables seem to have a lower risk of
age-related cataracts.

To investigate why, Bomser and his colleagues at Ohio State University
in Columbus grew human lens cells in a laboratory, then added lutein,
zeaxanthin, vitamin E, or left the cells alone. The researchers then
exposed the eye cells to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, in order to mimic
the effect of sunlight.

In an interview, Bomser explained that lens cells mixed with lutein
and zeaxanthin showed significantly less damage following UV-exposure
than cells that had no shielding from antioxidants.

And although vitamin E appeared to offer some protection from UV rays,
it was surpassed by both lutein and zeaxanthin, he and his colleagues
note in the Journal of Nutrition.

However, other research shows that both vitamins E and C appear to
protect body cells from damage from free radicals, which are a normal
byproduct of metabolism, Bomser noted.

He added that it’s always better to eat antioxidant-rich foods than
supplements, in order to get the benefits of other healthy substances
present in foods. However, barring that, research does suggest that
people can also benefit from taking lutein and zeaxanthin supplements,
Bomser said.

SOURCE: Journal of Nutrition, December 2004.

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Re: Shawn at 20/20 with some 20/15

"Otis Brown" <otisbr…@pa.net> wrote

> In stead you attempt to "explain away" this
> obvious scientific fact, by saying (with out
> any proof) that he had "accommodation myopia",
> or some other fiction.

You still haven’t told us which physical structure changed. If you ever
figure that out, you’ll realize we’re right. Here’s a hint: when you
eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must
be the truth.

Hanging a piece of convex plastic in the visual path doesn’t change the
length of the eye or the curvature of the cornea. Perhaps you believe it
does, but then, that is YOUR PROBLEM.

You can evade the issue by saying the eye isn’t a box-camera, but the only
other explanation is that some miracle happens between the cornea and the
brain, and that isn’t really scientific, now, is it?

-MT

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