Eyeglasses & Eye Care Community

Reading Glasses: Choosing The Perfect Pair

Do you remember when there was only one choice for reading glasses?

And that choice was, well, unflattering? The times have changed and with all the colors, sizes and shapes available, finding reading glasses you like is actually fun. And given all our busy lifestyles, one pair is not enough. So how do you pick the right pair of readers?

Of course you need to know the power of lens you need. You can get this by asking your eye care provider or by using a downloadable eye chart which can be found at many online boutiques.

Now for the style of reader, think about where you plan on wearing them. Will you wear them only at work? Will you want that same pair at home? Perhaps you prefer to have a separate pair for different tasks. Many people choose to have a pair that they carry around with them, and always leave another pair near the computer or their end-table.

You are more likely to purchase a specific style if you plan on wearing them in public V. a pair that you will only plan on wearing to read the morning paper. If you plan on carrying them around in your pocket, briefcase, or purse; make sure that pair is durable enough to withstand the transportation. A matching case for your frames is always a good idea.

Next, consider the shape of your face. There are many ways to figure your overall face shape and different frames will flatter different face shapes. If you have a round face, you may consider a pair that will work with you curves.

Now if your face is more angular, you might be happy with a design that will soften your lines. Some online boutiques, such as www.glassesshop.com, offer consultation with optical professionals and style experts to help you find that exact style you are looking for.

Third, look for a hue that complements your skin tone as well as your hair. Frames come in a variety of patterns and colors, and selecting colors should be a lot of fun. Consider a whimsical pair; giving that extra splash of color.

Remember, reading glasses are for intermittent use, so a pair that jazzes up your look is a great way to go. Not to mention they will become a conversation piece

Popularity: 10% [?]

7 Signs  One Might Be Ready For Reading Glasses

1.When you ask them for the time, they take a quick look at their watch, then dodge the question by saying “it’s getting late”

2.At dinner, they spend a few minutes looking at the menu, and when you ask “what looks good?” They reply with, “It all looks delicious, but let’s ask what the specials are”

3.Every time they pick up reading material, they first lift their head and sit up straight, then continue to extend there arm out; just a tad…

4.They have a new found interest in rearranging the lighting around the sofa.

5.The last 3 books purchased have all been large print.

6.They burnt the microwave popcorn by hitting the “potato” button rather than the “popcorn” button. And defended themselves by saying “the buttons look the same, they should be color coded”

7.They have been telling friends they are 38 years old for the past five years.

It is important to choose the right style of reading glasses for their first pair. Remember, this could very well be the very first pair of glasses this person has ever actually needed. Start with a pair of low add readers, for example, +1.00 are the perfect starter power. You also want a frame that will compliment their style.

Readers don’t have to be the kind you used to see your librarian wearing, they can be fun. Once someone accepts the fact that seeing is easier with correction, they will love you for introducing them to this whole new world of vision

Popularity: 10% [?]

Buying Designer Reading Glasses Does Not Have to Cost a Fortune

The purchase of reading eyeglasses can make people feel like they are between a rock and a hard place.

They can go the cheap route at their local corner store and pick up a $2.00 pair, but the frame might be a poor fit and feel like you could use them to sandpaper wood. The lenses and frames are of sub-par quality and may not be that great in the long run. That coupled with the fact that you probably won’t have much of a choice and may end up with something that isn’t exactly the height of good taste, may just compound the problems and make you feel incredibly self conscious.

The alternative is to visit an optometrist and end up being bewildered by the amount of options you have, and being charged a small fortune for the privilege. Even the simple task of picking a pair of frames you like can get completely out of hand, and they can vary wildly in price from $60-$500 depending on whether you want a brand name from a sports franchise like Adidas or a top fashion icon like Prada.

You then you have to contend with choosing what kind of lenses you want, which can be even more confusing. Lenses can come in a vast range of options. The choice of material can include polycarbonate, high index plastic, transitional lenses, and glass. Available coatings can include anti-reflective, UV protected, and even transition lenses, which gradually darken when in the glare of sunlight.

As you can imagine, you can walk into a place to buy a decent pair of reading eyeglasses and walk out again feeling like you’ve just put a down payment on a house!

This may be a necessary burden for the person who wears eyeglasses full time, but is this acceptable for someone who just wants a pair of quality reading eyeglasses that doesn’t cost the earth?

The differences to note between regular prescription eyewear and reading glasses is that the for reading glasses, the lenses are the same on each eye. Prescription eyeglasses are essentially made-to-order and must be fit to the persons face and eyes.

Because reading glasses have such a low power and they are designed only for near vision, matching up the pupillary distance is not nearly as important. Also, because the lenses are a fairly low power the latest in lens technology is not all that applicable.

So surely there has got to be a better solution than these two extremes? Finally, there is! Some brainbox in the eyeglass design field has finally discovered that they can fulfill the wishes of the majority of people looking to purchase reading eyeglasses with a standard aspheric lens usually made from polycarbonate or other high quality lens material. This is because reading eyeglasses normally have the same correction for each eye and are always a low plus power.

That means now you can choose from a range of quality eyeglasses that do the job they are supposed to do, look good, and also offer fantastic value for money

Popularity: 11% [?]

Tips on Buying a New Pair of Reading Glasses

When you’re learning about something new, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of relevant information available. This informative article should help you focus on the central points.

There are a number of different things to look at when deciding to buy reading glasses. The first is obvious, do you really need them? I don’t think many people just decide to get reading glasses for the fun of it, so if your reading this article you probably have some trouble reading.

For many people they don’t need regular prescription glasses or contacts throughout the day but only when they read. If you are experiencing headaches when you read, have trouble seeing the lettering, or need to hold the book real close or real far away to focus, then you probably need to get some glasses.

I trust that what you’ve read so far has been informative. The following section should go a long way toward clearing up any uncertainty that may remain.

Reading glassed come in all shapes and sizes. For those who are fashionable, then reading popular fashion magazines and paying attention to popular trends before buying glasses would be a good idea. Metal frames, funky colors and ultra light and rimless reading glasses are just a few of many types.

For those who just need glasses for reading, then folding eyeglasses might be the right choice for you. Going and trying on a few hundred pairs of glasses till you find a pair you like is normal, the more you try on, the more chances you will find the perfect set of reading eyewear.

Once you have an idea of what kind of styles you like, then you must go see an eye doctor

and figure out what type of prescription lens you need inside your fashionable frames. Some of you may be near sighted, others may be far sighted, some might have a stigmatism and others maybe just a lazy eye, what ever the case may be, you absolutely have to get a doctor to look at your eyes.

In rare cases you might only need to magnify the words, in this case you don necessarily need prescriptions but it would still be a good idea to double check to make sure that is indeed the case

Popularity: 10% [?]

Reading Glasses: A Great Way to Reverse the Time

So you take pride in reading them all the sign posts, distant highway signals, distant glow signs of the shops and so on! Your sharp focus on the distant objects baffles even an ophthalmologist! You are rather proud of your eyesight even in this ripe age, right?

But what happens at the times when you go to read something or want to examine something for a closer look? Why do you think they become fuzzy right away and suddenly start taking all kinds of fantastic shapes? Well, it is the high time that you need a reading glass.

So you are experiencing serious vision problems with regard to the near-at-hand things? A reading glass can improve the situation for you dramatically. Only you need to know a thing or two about the reading glasses to make an informed decision at the time of purchasing one.

Head off to your nearest drug store, and you will find reading eyeglasses in two main styles: full frames and half-eyes.

In full reading glasses, the entire lens is made in the reading prescription. These types of glasses are ideal for those who have to examine things closely for a considerable stretch of time. But you have to remove those glasses whenever you look up, as the world through them will appear to be blurry.

On the other hand, the half-eye style looking glasses are the smaller Franklin version of glasses that sit lower down on the nose. When you are looking closely at the near at hand things, you can look down through the glasses and whenever you have to look mat distance, look up over the glasses.

Reading glasses are ideal for those who have never used glasses in the past, for them reading glasses are better option than bifocals or no-line progressive lenses. If you have problem only with the closer vision, then a reading glass can do wonder for you. But on the other hand, if you need lens assistance for both near and distant vision correction then the bifocals or no-line progressive lenses are better choice for you.

In general, reading glasses are more stylist version than the traditional spectacles. They are more functional too. They come with colorful frames and attractive suspension chains and as sleek magnifier pendant necklaces that adorn your neck. You can also get the reading glasses as tiny foldable readers, easily accommodated in pen-sized cases. If you have to frequent in the outdoor, you can select tinted reading glasses with UV protection.

If you are going to buy ready-made reading glasses , ensure that the lenses are free of bubbles and waves. If ready made pieces do not satisfy your expectations, then go for customized pair, which you can order online or buy from your eye-care practitioner

Popularity: 10% [?]

Know Something Before Buy Glasses
article source: articlesbase.com

Let’s face it, shopping for eyeglasses can be so much fun, or it can be a hassle. If you think it is a hassle, it probably because you don’t know what shape your face is and which styles of eyeglass frames go well with your face shape.

There are a couple of secrets that master opticians have been using for years to quickly and efficiently find the best looking frames for most any face. And that secret is know what shape each and every face is. Good thing for you, you only need to know your own face shape.

You could ask your loved ones what shape your melon is, but be prepared for an unpleasant conversation if you don’t appreciate being called a triangle head

Alternatively, you can easily figure it out for yourself. Grab yourself a pencil and paper and go to the mirror. If you don’t have a pencil and paper handy, you can do this exercise in a steamy mirror or some people will actually draw right on the mirror with lipstick.

(If you decide to draw on the mirror with lipstick, remember to clean it up before you have company.)

As you look at yourself in the mirror, ask yourself the following questions. “Is my face taller than it is wide, or is it about even in both directions?”

Next, take a look at your facial curves. Are they mostly angles or are they soft curves? Some face have strong outline features while others are very soft.

Now use your drawing skills. Think about what you just decided your face looked like and draw it out in a shape.

The chances are that the shape you just drew is similar to either a circle, square, oval, or a heart (triangle). In reality, most of our faces can easily be categorized into one of those four face shapes. Certainly we could get more detailed, but there is no purpose to do so when thinking of eyeglasses.

Now when you go to pick out your next pair of glasses look for eyeglasses that directly contrast the shape of your face. If you have strong angles on your face, you will want softer curves on your glasses. Square faces do well with rectangularly rounded shaped frames. If you have a round face, still look for that rectangular shape frame, but only with stronger angles.

Always remember your face shape, it probably won’t change all that much, but your glasses will. Remember the few simple rules of looking for contrasting shapes and you will certainly be able to find plenty of frames that will make you look and feel like the fashionably person you are.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Vision Insurance for Men’s Eyeglasses

Let’s face it, at one point or another, just about everybody can benefit from a pair of eyeglasses. Some of us need vision correction at a young age, while others do just fine without eyeglasses until later in life. It is an extremely safe statement to say that at one point in your life, you will benefit from the use of eyeglasses.

You have accepted the fact that a pair of glasses will only help you, now how do you weave your way through all the available styles to choose from? Let’s break it down into easy decisions to help you out.

For starters, when are you going to where your glasses? If you are nearsighted, farsighted, or have astigmatism you will probably be wearing your glasses a good portion of the time (or at least when you want to see without contact lenses). On the other hand, if you only require correction for reading, you may be looking for an entirely different style of frame.

Eye wear comes in two main families of material; metals and plastics (also referred to as zyls). Metal frames are usually a little more streamlined and subtle. Zyl frames can be manufactured into just about any color and shape you can imagine. Yes, there are other frame materials available, such as wood and hybrid composites, but in general you will be deciding between zyl and metal eyeglass frames. For the sake of decision making, we will refer to rimless and semi-rimless frames as metals since most of them are comprised of metal based temples and nose-pieces.

Plastic frames usually have a saddle type bridge that fits securely over your nose, while metal frames come with adjustable nose pads. Bridge style decision should be made based on the rest of the frame; unless you know you absolutely do not want nose pads, for example. In that case, you will want plastic frames. Wasn’t that an easy decision?

From there you will want to consider frame and lens shapes. A good rule of thumb is to match the shape of your brow with the upper portion of the frame. That will at least get you started and based on how those look, you can try on some other pairs.

This is just enough information to get you started and help you pinpoint which style of eyeglass frame will work best for you. Remember, all in all, have fun with your eyewear. You may want a sleek and refined pair of rimless frames for those serious times, and it is perfectly alright to get a little wild and crazy with some fun colorful specs when the mood strikes.

Popularity: 11% [?]

How to Keep Your Eyeglasses Safe

People who wear eyeglasses sometimes lose, misplace, or break them. It’s easy to do, especially if you wear glasses only for reading or driving, instead of everyday full-time wear. Even if you don’t wear prescription sunglasses, you could lose dollar-store reading glasses or expensive (or not) sunglasses.

Whatever type you have, it’s inconvenient to leave they elsewhere or find them broken just when you need a pair to see or read.

But there are easy ways to keep your glasses safe. You don’t have to lock them in a vault or chain them to your desk. Try the following ideas and see if they don’t help.

1. Keep your glasses in an eyeglass holder when not in use. Your eye doctor will probably give you a holder with your prescription lenses.  For store-bought eyeglasses or sunglasses, you can purchase a holder for a dollar or two.

Always put your glasses of any kind in their holder when you don’t have them on. Make sure the holder is soft inside, to avoid scratching the lens, and solid outside, to protect against dropping or squeezing.

2. Your eyeglass holder should stay in the same place all the time. For sunglasses that you wear while driving, keep the holder in the glove compartment or another area of the front seat where you can readily get it. Try to keep the holder in the same area each time so you don’t forget where it is.

The same goes for prescription glasses in the house. Keep your holder on the dresser, in your purse, or on the desk, and it will be easier to remember where the glasses are the next time you need them.

3. Get an extra pair of eyeglasses to have on hand. Store them in a personal drawer or in another place where you can remember to find them when needed. These should be used only when the others are unavailable from being lost or broken. Otherwise, you could end up with two pairs floating around the house and not know where either is when you need it.

4. Don’t bend, chew, or stretch your eyeglass frames, and avoid twirling them. Never toss or throw your eyeglasses, and avoid dropping them. Avoid laying them on a hot surface or in a place that kids or dogs can reach. Use the recommended cleaning wipes to remove smears or lint, as other cloths or paper can scratch the lens. You may want to wear them on a chain around your neck to avoid misplacing them.

If you are accident-prone, you may want to take out eyeglass insurance that will let you replace the frame or the lens at a low cost. Don’t wear a frame that is cracked or one from which the lens keep popping out, or you could lose it.

Have your eyes checked each year or two to get the most up-to-date prescription. Try to stay away from situations where you can lose your eyeglasses and become temporarily vision-impaired.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Eye Glasses for Children Today
article source: ezinearticles.com

About two decades back, young children requiring glasses refused to wear as it seemed that the specs swallowed their faces. Those thick rim big plastic frames were all that was available then.

Kids who could not do without wearing them use to take them out once they reach their school so that the other kids wouldn’t laugh at them. This is true though these kids faced trouble to see the blackboard and that’s why they wore the glasses.

Today if you look at a children classroom, you’ll find that they are wear glasses and they are proud of it. Conditions like farsightedness or nearsightedness do not leave many children. Luckily, screenings of sight at school helps to detect these conditions before it spoils a child’s schoolwork.

Eyeglasses are considered great if they properly suit. Many distributors of eyeglass provide eyeglasses for children which are perfectly proportioned.

Twenty years ago there were limited options as not many children were diagnosed with different conditions of eye. Today, designer companies develop eyeglasses for children that really look great and cool on them. You just have to know what will suit best on the face of your child. Things to take into consideration:

Your child’s face size
Your child’s face shape
The glasses’ shape
The glasses’ size

Your child’s face size and shape determines what type of glasses they can wear. Frames come in round, oval and square shapes. Try all of them and you will know which one suits the best.

Frames are made from plastic and wire metal, so you can choose whichever suits best. Some glasses are rimless, that gives an illusion that child is not wearing them.

If your child’s eyesight is very bad, then go for thin lenses fixed in the frame. Technology is now so advanced that thin lenses that does not hamper the prescription are easily available.

This takes away the feeling that the child is seeing through the bottom of a soda bottle.

Popularity: 13% [?]

How You Can Rebuild Your Vision Naturally
article source: ezinearticles.com

There’re no “quick fix” when it involves to rebuild your vision. Many people search for these “quick fix” unsuccessfully.

If something can patch up your vision through no sweat on your part, it will arrive with horrific consequences – take lasik surgical procedure as an instance.

In place of throwing away your time seeking something that does not exist, why not reach for the system that produces results? I’ve fruitfully rebuild my vision, and I am convinced you can too. Desire to know how I accomplished it?

You may well not get this, but there’s a a right system that you are supposed to see.If you see the erroneous system, you hurt your eyes and they degenerate.
You see, different to your other senses, you can influence sight.

You can blink as regularly as you want, or as rarely as you want. You can peer, you can stare and you can attempt to see everything in place of centering on a single point.

In other words, you can control your sight, but not other senses. Have you ever attempted to feel, tast, hear or smell? Maybe you have but it wouldn’t work.
The recipe to wonderful vision is to get rid of the exertion you constantly put into seeing and permit your eyes to see the way you did when you were born… see the way your skin feel and your tongue tastes.

Naturally, it’s easier said than done. You’ve been placing exertion into sight that it’s now a element of your subsconcious. When your vision deteriorates, it’s a precursor that you are placing exertion into seeing.

But rather than dealing with that,you’ve in its place got yourself spectacles, which not only upholds the injury you already put on your eyes, it additionally increases them.
So how can you lessen effort – and so injury on your eyes? Assume good vision habits – and the single method to achieve that is to perform them repeatedly.

As you know, habit dies hard. Accordingly, for you to swap your existing vision habits with a new healthier one will take some time. It took me 9 months.

A number of people spent 30 days, it depends on how sternly you abide by the system.

To make things easier for you to learn these habits, the Rebuild Your Vision Program has crafted an assortment of “eye strengthening exercises”.

Don’t procrastinate. Check it out now to rebuild your vision.The Truth on How You Can

Popularity: 31% [?]

5 Natural Eye Care Tips to Prevent Puffiness and Dark Circles
article source: ezinearticles.com

Nothing can be more exasperating than waking up with raccoon eyes, which means having puffy eyes surrounded by dark circles. But before the rest of your waking days are ruined for good, you should know that there are things you can do to avert the development of unsightly eye problems.
Here’s a list of all-natural remedies for tired looking eyes.

1. Get Enough Sleep
It can’t be anymore obvious than this. But if you really want to banish tired-looking eyes, your best bet is to get enough sleep. For many people, it’s easy to sacrifice bedtime hours for other things like homework, late-night movies, and non-stop partying. No wonder then that a lot of women — and men — are bothered by dark eye circles and under-eye bags.
But with ample sleep, you should see your eyes improve. Experts suggest around nine hours of sleep every night to remedy tired looking eyes and strengthen your overall health.

2. Eat a Balanced Diet
Everybody knows that eating a balanced diet is essential for a stronger body. But did you know that eating right is important for beauty as well? By eating a healthy diet, your body gets all the necessary vitamins and minerals it needs to become, among other things, more efficient in eliminating toxins and wastes that make you look tired and wasted.
And part of a healthy diet is the reduced consumption of salt. You see, salt allows your body to retain excess amounts of water which consequently triggers the puffiness in many areas like your tummy and eyes. To avoid having eye bags, you can try to take the salt shaker out of your sight.

3. Increase Intake of Fresh Fruits
This can easily be included in your quest to eat a balanced diet. But your increased intake of fresh fruits deserves a special mention. As most fruits contain healthy amounts of copper and Vitamin C, they are excellent sources of nutrients that restore cells damaged by free radicals. In a nutshell, fruits can help you delay the signs of aging such as fine lines, bags, and skin discoloration in your eye area. So eat more fresh fruits.

4. Drink Plenty of Water
Water is an essential agent in cleansing away toxins and other unwanted materials that ruin your skin and make you look old and tired. It doesn’t matter how much fruits and vegetables you eat or how healthy your diet is, if you lack water in your body, harmful elements inside you will not be eliminated such that they remain to wreak havoc in your body and in the way you look. Doctors actually recommend drinking at least eight glasses of water everyday.

5. Teabags and Cucumber Slices
You may find this funny. But what you think happens only in movies and TV shows can actually help you restore the glow and vibrancy of your eyes. We’re talking about putting on a couple of cucumber slices on your eyes before you sleep. Cucumber has been known to ease puffiness in the eyes. You can also opt for tea bags whose tannin compounds have been proven to also remove swelling and skin discoloration in the eye area.

Take note, the part surrounding the eyes is different from all the other areas of the skin. Such area can be more delicate and requires special attention. If you have had enough of you looking old and tired, then it’s about time you give your eyes a little more TLC.

Every night, before you go to bed, make sure to put on eye treatment applications. One good example is dabbing some almond oil in your under-eye area to improve eye puffiness. You can also invest in skin care systems made especially for the eyes, just like Eyelastin.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Eye Problems in Children
article source: ezinearticles.com

Each Child is important to an individual family. It is but natural that parents become anxious if there is any problem to any of the organs of the child. As the eyes are important and very precious, they would be concerned if their daughter or son has eye problems.

There are many eye problems that are commonly found in children. The major problem is the refractive error, the common mode of presentation is that the child is not able to see the distant objects usually seen in the school where the child fails to see clearly the letters written by the teacher on the blackboard. Most of the time the child holds the book very close to the eyes while reading. And also child watches TV and Computers from a very close distance.

The other problems are – Vitamin A deficiency, Squint eyes and Retinoblastoma (Eye Cancer).

Refractive Errors:

There are mainly three types of refractive errors. Myopia, Hypermetropia and Astigmatism.

Myopia :

This is the most common refractive error found in children. Usually it is detected when the child is having problem in seeing distant objects. Occasionally the child may have a slight pain in the eyes after reading for many hours.

The light rays are focused in front of the retina in myopia with the result that the objects appear hazy.( If we have to see a clear object it has to be focused on the retina.) Sometimes it has a strong family history. The eye has to be properly examined by a competent Ophthalmologist (not by an Optometrist) and suitable glasses prescribed at the earliest. Regular follow – up is also a must in these children.

Astigmatism is another refractive error seen in children not as frequently as Myopia. Hypermetropia where the child has + numbers in glass, is comparatively less in frequency. Suitable glasses correct both these refractive errors.

Vitamin A Deficiency:

Vitamin A Deficiency is demonstrated in school going children. Usually children in the age group of 6-12 years complain of night blindness. In other words those children have inability in seeing objects clearly in dim light. Sometimes small pigmented patches are seen by the side of the cornea. These are called Bitot’s spots. At this stage the child has lot of watering in the eyes.

A substance called visual purple has to be created in the retina to visualize objects clearly in the dim light. Vitamin A is necessary to create this object. When there is deficiency of Vitamin A in the diet, child gets night blindness. Sometimes some skin problems are associated along with eye problems.

Vitamin A deficiency is treated by giving capsules of Vit.A 2500-5000 IU or 750 mg of beta-carotene. In severe cases injections may be needed. Green leafy vegetables, carrots, milk, curd, butter, egg, liver etc., have rich contents of Vitamin A.

Squint Eyes : The two eyes normally should be in a definite visual axis. A manifest deviation of the visual axis of either eye is known as squint or strabismus. Mainly there are two types of squints – Paralytic and Non-paralytic or Concomitant. Concomitant is the one which is mostly seen in children.

Concomitant deviations are for the most part, produced by anomalies of the power of convergence and divergence and the co-ordinated use of the two eyes to obtain binocular single vision. In these cases the amount and character of the deviation does not vary when the eyes are turned to the right or left.

The other classification of squint is – Convergent and Divergent. Convergent squint is the one in which one of the eye is turned inside, whereas in divergent squint one of the eye is turned outside.

Each child with squint has to be properly investigated before undertaking treatment. The common methods of treatment are – 1) Correcting the refractive errors by glasses whenever that is found to be the cause of the squint. 2) Deliberate occlusion or patching of the fixing eye so as to improve the vision of the squinting eye. 3) Suggesting special type of ( Orthoptic) exercises to improve the binocular faculties. 4) By surgery to restore parallelism of the visual axis. One or more of these methods or all four may be needed.

Retinoblastoma:

It is the cancer or malignant tumor of the eye , usually seen in children below 5 years. It may be seen at birth or later. This disease not only affects the vision, but also life itself if it is not diagnosed and treated properly at an appropriate time. It may be seen in one eye or both.

Usually the child is brought to the eye specialist with the complaint that something white or yellow material is seen in the eye. If one eye is swollen enormously, it is understood that the disease is advanced. Treatment is usually removal of the eyeball as soon as the disease is diagnosed and the cut portion sent for biopsy. After the removal of the eyeball, if there are any signs of the disease,

Radiotherapy is advised. At this stage the other eye is examined and if any traces are found it is also subjected to radiotherapy. In the advanced stage of the disease, it is mandatory to treat with chemotherapy.

Apart from these eye injuries, congenital cataract and glaucoma are the other diseases of children. Parents and teachers have great responsibility in the proper management of the eye diseases

Popularity: 11% [?]

Treating “Lazy Eye” in Older Children
article source: ezinearticles.com

Many eye doctors believed until recently that if a child’s vision was impaired because of a “lazy eye,” the condition could not be corrected past the age of six or seven years. However, a study funded by the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, has found that amblyopia or “lazy eye” treatment can be effective in children age seven through 17. In fact, many of the 517 children studied at 49 eye centers showed improvement in their vision.

“Age alone should not determine whether or not to treat,” said Michael Repka, M.D., a pediatric ophthalmologist at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and a co-author of the study. Even teenagers benefit from treatment, said Repka.

Amblyopia is a common cause of vision loss in as many as 3% of children in the US. During infancy or childhood, the vision loss occurs when the brain favors one eye over the other. The other healthy eye does not receive brain input, limiting visual development. The most common causes of ‘lazy eye” are nearsightedness, farsightedness, or a crossed or wandering eye (strabismus).

The reason vision in the amblyopic eye improves is due to the brain’s plasticity, says Susan Cotter, O.D., a pediatric optometrist at the Southern California College of Optometry and co-author of the treatment study. Neuroplasticity means the brain can change with learning. By forcing the unused eye to work, the brain will process the sensory information and adapt. As a result, vision improves.

Children in the study were divided into two groups, randomly selected. One group wore only prescription classes. The other group either wore glasses and an eye patch or glasses, an eye patch and eye drops. The latter group was also instructed to read, draw, or do other close-up activities as well since “near-vision activities are visually stimulating,” says Cotter.

The patch, eye drops and close-up work forced the test subjects to use their amblyopic eyes. Children wore the patch for two to six hours per day. Children 12 years and less also used eye drops.

However, “eye drops blur the eye all day which is why the teenagers wore only patches, which could be removed while driving,” says Cotter.
If children in the study could read two more lines on the eye chart with the amblyopic eye, the treatment was considered successful.

According to the National Eye Institute, 53% of children in the study ages 7 through 12 who wore glasses and a patch for 2-6 hours per day, and did near-vision activities could read two or more lines on the eye chart after 24 weeks. But only 25% in this age group could do the same. Twenty-five per cent of children ages 13 through 17 who wore eye glasses and a patch had improved vision whereas 23% who wore only glasses improved. Of those children in this age group who had been previously treated for amblyopia, 47% who wore glasses and a patch and did close-up work had improved vision. On the other hand, only 20 % improved who were treated with only glasses.

“This study shows how important it is to screen children of all ages for amblyopia,” said study co-chairman Richard W. Hertle, M.D., Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.
If children also have strabismus and will undergo surgery to correct the eye muscle imbalance, they should be treated first for amblyopia, says Cotter. “Surgery doesn’t help amblyopia. If the child has surgery and amblyopia still exists, one eye with 20/100 vision, for instance, will be blurry; consequently it will be difficult or impossible for the brain to fuse the two images together into one,” says Cotter.

Atropine eye drops may serve to improve compliance because the child doesn’t require monitoring. Adhesive patches are also used to increase compliance in young children as it is difficult for them to peek. “Children can’t be monitored all day,” says Cotter.

Although the adhesive patch is hypoallergenic, some children with sensitive skin experience irritation when the patch is removed. So some doctors allow their patients to switch to cloth patches. Cloth patches with side shields still block vision in the affected eye.

The number of hours that the children wore their patch was through self report. “This is a real world, treatment effectiveness study,” says Cotter. “I do the same clinically.”

A new study is planned to learn about the effects of near-vision activities on amblyopia.

Popularity: 15% [?]

How to Communicate Effectively With Your Five Year Old Kids
article source: ezinearticles.com

The tragedy of so many parent child relationships is of course that both parties bear a passionate affection for each other yet are unable to express this affection for a variety of reasons.

In the case of parents and small children, the reason is often that incidents of poor behaviour on the part of the child somehow sour the bond between mother, or father, and child.

Parents of little children, and by little I am referring to the under fives, are by definition leading an exhausting existence to start with. Modern mothers and fathers hang onto their jobs, juggling careers with home life and parental responsibilities. It is no wonder that things become, on occasion, spectacularly unstuck.

Modern parents have considerably more pressure brought upon them to succeed in their roles; more so I believe than parents of the fifties and sixties. In those days family units were considerably simpler than the fractional relationships comprising so many of our family structures today.

Single parents were rare then, as were working mothers, weekend fathers on access visits as a result of divorce, and so on.

Today, the spotlight is firmly on families to succeed as balanced structures in which a child may thrive. There are so many manuals and help theories out there, so there are seemingly no excuses for having a naughty, disobedient kid. Yeah, right.

The reality is that kids will push their luck from a really early age and parents without a foot on the pedal may expect a troublesome journey through childhood and early teens.

It does not follow, though, that bad behaviour must be tolerated indefinitely. There are methods that work a little better than screaming senselessly and threatening no TV for three years.

Children who are very small have a simple formula for good behaviour. The thing to try to remember always is that little kids do really want to please you and respond wonderfully to praise. The problem is that it is not acceptable to praise a child who is behaving like the proverbial monster from hell and the vicious circle of cause and effect starts all over again.

Start with a small incident of good behaviour. All children do some things better than others. Find that one thing and praise your child for that one thing.

When your child behaves badly, sit down so that your face is on a level with theirs, and in a firm voice that is not raised in volume tell them they may not do or say that again. Do not keep repeating yourself. The information may not go in the first or second time but wait until the behaviour is repeated before you remonstrate with the child again.

As soon as the child starts to behave well again, tell them they are being so good, reward them with hugs and kisses; make them feel they have achieved something.
Things will slowly improve. Be patient and do not expect miracles in the first week. Build the behavioural pattern carefully and you will see after a while that the standard has subtly changed and your child starts to recognise and point out poor behaviour in other children.

There is a moment when parents who have experienced difficulties disciplining young children realise they have conquered the worst of the problem and that moment is well worth the effort. All children go through patches of devilment in the process of development. The idea is to address the problems as they arise and make sure the discipline is mixed with a liberal helping of love and affection.

Jan Gamm writes reflections on life with an emphasis on world travel. She has lived in many countries and traveled extensively in the Far East, the Middle East, America, South America and throughout the South Pacific. She writes for fun and for money whenever she can manage it.

Popularity: 13% [?]

How to Turn Disrespectful Kids into Respectful Children
article source: ezinearticles.com

Effective parenting – building character in kids takes vision.

When 6-year-old Johnny asked his mom, “Can little kids cook?” She answered, “Certainly, with supervision.” Johnny thought for a moment and said, “I want to cook. Do I need glasses?” Today you’ll see that building character in children doesn’t require glasses but it does require “super vision.”

Effective Parenting – 3 styles of “super vision” all parents need for building

character:

Vision that sees with your mind as well as your eyes
Sammy’s sassing, Hannah’s hitting, and Billy’s blaming are difficult to take when juggling work and family life. Yet they need to be viewed as disrespect and handled with firmness.

Vision that understands your role as parent
When little Hector yells, “I hate you,” it’s disturbing but only if you let it. Avoid taking his rants and his raves personally. Deal with Hector’s disrespect firmly.

Vision that grasps the long term results of your present actions
Yelling at Lulu for not doing her chores and then doing them for her teaches Lulu to be lazy and disrespect your rules. Insist with firmness that she do them. This is vital to her future well-being and your self-respect as a parent.

Effective parenting – what every parent needs to remember:
You aren’t born knowing how to build character in your children. You can learn. Educator Marilyn Wiltz advises, “Remember you are the parent.” As the parent you are the leader, the guide, and the counselor for your children. It is important to establish a strong calm inner sense that you are the parent and you are in control. Your children will feel your inner strength if you feel it too.

Effective parenting – the biggest mistake parents must overcome:
Failing to draw the line and be the parent is the biggest mistake. When you argue, negotiate, and plead with Betty to stop her tantrum, you put Betty in charge. When you discipline Alex and then apologize, you put Alex in charge.

When you tell Terry you’re not going to buy the toy and then buy it for him anyway, you put Terry in charge. When you don’t draw the line, you put your child in charge. When you draw the line, you put yourself in charge. You are the parent.

Effective parenting – self-talk for parents who deal with disrespectful kids:
When your Sally is screaming at the top of her lungs, stop saying, “This behavior is my fault. I’m not a good parent.” Start saying, “This is Sally’s problem. How can I help her?”

Effective parenting takes firm “super vision,” remembering you are the parent, and drawing the line. When your kids are disrespectful, stop the yelling, stop the arguing, and get your kids to be accountable for their own behavior.

You’ll be teaching respect and building character too.

Popularity: 11% [?]