Archive for the ‘Los Angeles Optometrist’ Category

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Hillary Clinton’s Special Glasses are a Remnant of Concussion and Aneurysm

Thursday, February 14th, 2013

Hillary Clinton is wearing glasses with a membrane called a Fresnel Prism to help her with double vision after her concussion and aneurysm.

There is an extremely high incidence (greater than 50%) of visual and visual-cognitive disorders in neurologically impaired patients (traumatic brain injury from sports or car accidents, mild brain injury – kids in karate, soccer, falling down, stroke, aneurysm, cerebral vascular accidents, multiple sclerosis etc.) http://hollywoodvision.com/brain-injuries.php

Visual problems after brain injury:

  • Double vision (cranial nerve palsy, decreased ability to compensate for weak eye muscle coordination). If the eye misalignment exists for awhile, it can lead to suppression of one eye, or a loss of peripheral vision and depth perception. This would give you a two dimensional, rather than a 3D view of world which can impair your eye hand coordination and spatial localization while playing sports or driving.
  • Loss of side vision
  • Loss of depth perception or visual spatial localization
  • Dizziness
  • Imbalance
  • Inability to track and follow targets or read
  • Light sensitivity
  • Post Traumatic Vision Syndrome

Vision problems affect your ability to walk, balance, read, drive, etc. Vision problems are disconcerting, affects safety, confidence, and productivity.

Treatment Options:

  • Prism: Fresnel or clear (like what Hillary is wearing), special lens that bends light to bring images together. Clear or Fresnel, a type of membrane lens that is cut out and applied to the inside surface of a spectacle lens.  The more vertical lines you see, the higher the power of the prism, so the prism Hillary is wearing is pretty powerful.  Her double vision must therefore be of a significant amount without her prism in place.
  • Vision therapy is a type of Physical Therapy to train non-damaged part of brain to do what damaged part used to do. Exercises to stimulate and train the brain using the principles of neuroscience.
  • Occlusion , spot patch
  • If brain damage is severe, and not due to temporary swelling, visual abilities will not return
  • Surgery is sometimes an option for strabismus or an eye turn, but Vision Therapy is still necessary to train the brain to coordinate the eyes correctly.

If you have suffered a brain injury, even a mild one, please have your eyes examined by a Rehabilitative or Neuro Optometrist. Untreated vision problems can cause discomfort and safety problems if not treated. The good news, is that most of these problems are treatable to one degree or another.

 

Elise Brisco, O.D., F.C.O.V.D. is the Co-Founder of the Rehabilitative Vision Clinic at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California. She is in private practice at the Hollywood Vision Center – Optometry, and was the Team Optometrist for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim.

 

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Posted in 90048 Optometrist, Cedars Sinai Optometrist Los Angeles, Los Angeles Eye Doctor, Post Traumatic Vision Syndrome, Vision Therapy | Comments Off

Keep Your Eyes on the Ball and the Olympic Athletes

Saturday, July 21st, 2012

 

Vision is extremely important for athletes. Vision guides your hands and body, tells you when to reach out, when to grab the ball, when to swing the bat or racquet, and where your teammates and opponents are. Balance and shifts in weight are dependent on visual information.

Vision is more than 20/20 eyesight. Seeing clearly is important, but so are these visual skills:

  • Eye movements
  • Eye teaming
  • Focusing
  • Visualization
  • Visual spatial localization
  • Depth perception
  • Dynamic Visual Acuity

Dynamic skills are critical for athletes. Poor vision always compromises athletic performance, and performance in daily life, to one extent or another. Imagine hitting a speeding baseball or tennis ball if it is blurry, or your eyes cannot follow it quickly and accurately.

Visual skills are developed, rather than innate. A child learns how to move his eyes to follow a target. Eye coordination is fine tuned through practice by changing fixation between near and far objects while playing. This is why outdoors play and sports are so important to develop children’s visual motor skills which help them become good athletes, and good students. Passive play with video games and television do not help develop these critical skills.

Since vision is developed, it can also be taught, developed, and improved. Many professional and Olympic athletes do Vision Therapy to enhance their visual skills which helps them see faster, and react to the ball faster. I worked with Olympic athletes when the games were in Atlanta in 1996. From boxers to divers, all athletes need good vision to spot their target, throw a punch, avoid a punch, or catch a ball. I also worked with the NHL’s Mighty Ducks of Anaheim with visual drills to support their performance on the ice. Hockey is an extremely fast sport, so dynamic visual skills are paramount to their success.

 

Dr. Brisco sparring with a boxer from Ecuador at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA.

So the next time you see a tennis player hit the ball well, a basketball player make a free throw shot, or a golfer make an excellent putt, give thanks to their Optometrist who helped them see well so that they can perform well on the court.

For more information on Sports Vision Therapy, please see our website at www.HollywoodVision.com or call our office at (323)954-5800.

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Posted in 90048 Optometrist, Cedars Siinai Optometrist, Cedars Sinai Eye Doctor, Children's Vision, Eye Exercises, Los Angeles Eye Doctor, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Olympic Athletes, Sports Vision, Sports Vision Training, Vision Enhancement | Comments Off

Dry Eye After LASIK Study

Monday, June 25th, 2012

Dr. Elise Brisco, O.D., and Dr. Paul Dougherty, M.D. are conducting a medical research study to compare the effectiveness of a new homeopathic dry eye drop to traditional artificial tear drops in controlling symptoms of dry eye in the first week after LASIK.

It is relatively common for LASIK patients to experience burning and stinging from dry eyes, especially during the first week after LASIK. It is traditionally treated with artificial tear drops, but in this study patients undergoing all-laser LASIK in both eyes will be randomly assigned to use either artificial tears or the new homeopathic dry eye drops. Both eye drops replace tears temporarily, but homeopathic dry eye drops also stimulate tear production. At the 1-week post-operative visit, each patient will be asked to fill out a questionnaire about dry eye symptoms and will undergo a few routine, non-invasive tests to evaluate signs of dry eye.

Patients participating in the study will be offered a discount of $1700 off of the usual charge of all-laser LASIK of $5900 (for a net cost of $4200) for participating in the study.  In addition, all study eye drops (i.e. artificial tears or homeopathic dry eye drops) will be provided at no cost.

Dr. Dougherty and Dr. Brisco are excited to be collaborating on this research study, and invite patients to participate in this monumental study.

Paul Dougherty, M.D.

Dr. Dougherty has personally performed more than 17,000 LASIK eye surgeries, which puts him in the top 1% of the LASIK Surgery specialists in the world.
He served as a principal investigator on FDA clinical trials to evaluate the latest approved technologies including the Staar Visian ICL (Implantable Contact Lens). Dr. Dougherty is one of just 39 eye surgeons in the world to serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Refractive Surgery -- the American Academy of Ophthalmology's peer-reviewed scientific journal about new developments in refractive surgery.

Elise Brisco, O.D., F.A.A.O. , F.C.O.V.D.

Dr. Brisco co-founded the Rehabilitative Vision Clinic at the Cedars Sinai Medical Center in the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. She is the Director for an Integrated Wellness Clinic whose practitioners include: Functional Medicine, Acupuncture, Chinese Medicine, Ophthalmology, Osteopath, and Plastic Surgery.

Dr. Brisco Served as the Team Optometrist for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the Long Beach Ice Dogs and the Los Angeles Galaxy. She is on the Medical Advisory Board: Los Angeles Zoo and Women in Optometry journal.

Dr. Brisco has been interviewed frequently in the media including appearances on: The Doctors, Disney Channel, KTLA, ABC, NBC, Wall Street Journal, FOX, CBS. She has been the media spokesperson for Acuvue (Johnson & Johnson), Visine (McNeil-PPC), Ciba Vision (Novartis), American Optometric  Association, and the California Optometric Association.

Please contact our office if you are interested in participating in this research study (323)954-5800

 

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Posted in 90048 Optometrist, Beautiful Eyes, Contact Lenses, Dry Eyes, Hollywood Vision Center, Homeopathy, LASIK, Los Angeles Eye Doctor, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Research Study, Wellness Care | Comments Off

Many Drug Store Reading Glasses Are the Wrong Prescription and/or Poorly Made

Sunday, May 13th, 2012

Many store bought reading glasses are not made or labeled correctly.

A recent investigation done by David Elliott and Alison Green, and published in the Optometry and Vision Science journal of the American Academy of Optometry found that 48% of the 322 reading glasses that they tested were wrong. That means 1 out of every 2 pairs sold over-the-counter is wrong and can hurt your eyes.

The main problems with these readers are:

  • Wrong power, or different power between the eyes. Some lenses were not even near the power they claimed to be
  • Poor optical quality (like a disposable camera lens compared to a good quality camera lens)
  • Induced prism, meaning that the lens may move the image up, down, or sideways

It is safest for your eyes to wear optical-quality prescription lenses that have been custom made for you. Otherwise, you are looking through a slightly distorted lens, that most likely isn’t the right power for you, and the optical center isn’t right for the distance between your eyes (so you’ll have to turn your eyes inwards and look cross-eyed, or outwards to look through the readers). Most people have a small amount of astigmatism, or an imbalance between their eyes, so to see your clearest, and have your eyes focusing on the same plane while you study or work on the computer or at your desk, you need a pair that is made from an eye exam where the doctor has measured your eyes.

Wearing the wrong prescription, or poor quality lenses affects your productivity and comfort while reading.

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Posted in 90048 Optometrist, Aging Eyes, Computer Vision, Contact Lenses, Dry Eyes, Eye Exercises, Holistic Vision Care, Hollywood Vision Center, Los Angeles Eye Doctor, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Presbyopia, Strabismus/Amblyopia/Lazy Eye/3D Vision, Vision Therapy, Wellness Care | Comments Off

How Does Computer Use Cause Eyestrain?

Sunday, May 13th, 2012

 

Eyestrain associated with computer use, or even prolonged reading and desk work, can be caused by 2 major factors: Eye muscle pain and dry eyes.

Eyestrain during prolonged and visually demanding computer work taxes the orbicularis oculi muscle. It’s like doing physical labor for a prolonged period. When you use the same eye muscles for hours, even half an hour, your eyes get tired. There is increased blood flow to the muscles 6 extra-ocular muscles around your eyes. These muscles are “exercising” as they precisely coordinate and move the eyes across thousands of words and lines of print. Simultaneously, the accomodative muscles must focus very rapidly to fill in the gaps so that the rapidly flickering screen appears stable, even though an electron beam is sweeping across the computer screen to refresh the pixels to form words and images.

It is easier on the eyes to read printed matter, or even a Kindle type device, because the print is stable, and not flickering.

The eyes also dry out more while working on the computer because blink rate slows down to minimize disruption of the image to the brain. The less you blink. the less interruption to your concentration, and therefore comprehension and processing of what you are doing. Beware of using over-the-counter artificial tears that only replace tears. Your eyes tend to feel good for 15-20 minutes, then more dry and sticky after the artificial tears drain out of your eyes. I recommend homeopathic drops that not only replace tears, but also stimulate tear production.

Take visual breaks every 20 minutes to decrease eye strain, make sure you are wearing a prescription that is less than a year old to correct for astigmatism and refractive or optical problems, and use homeopathic tear drops to stimulate tear production.

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Posted in 90048 Optometrist, Aging Eyes, Computer Vision, Contact Lenses, Dry Eyes, Eye Exercises, Holistic Vision Care, Hollywood Vision Center, Los Angeles Eye Doctor, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Wellness Care | Comments Off

Your Eyes Age as You Grow Older so Don’t Take Yours For Granted!

Wednesday, March 9th, 2011


Your eyes change as you age, and there are things that you can do at every age to help your eyes gracefully, and see your best. Don’t wait until you can’t see before you visit your optometrist. By then, the problem is probably advanced, and may be irreversible. Most eye diseases have no warning signs because you don’t have pain receptors in the retina in the back of your eyes.

First of all, mommies & daddies: start checking your baby’s vision at 6 months old, since vision guides development, and prevents vision loss from a lazy eye. Have your children’s eyes checked every year since there is a strong relationship between learning and vision. If your child isn’t seeing correctly, or they have a tracking or eye teaming problem, this will interfere with their academic and athletic performance. Please do not avoid bringing your children in for an exam at an early age because you are worried about them wearing glasses. You can do a lot more harm by allowing a vision problem to go uncorrected, and we can fit children as young as 8 years old with contact lenses. Check out the CLIP and ACHIEVE studies which show how contact lenses in young children can improve their quality of life. Regarding infants, we can fit them with special contact lenses and teach you how to care for your child’s eyes.

In your 20’s and 30’s many of us feel like we are invincible, but we aren’t. Now is a good time to make sure you are doing the right things for your eyes and your overall health. Be sure to eat healthy foods, stop smoking, wear sunglasses to protect your eyes from sun damage, and find out if a prescription can help you see better at the computer, driving, or playing ball. I know this for a fact since I was the Team OD for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The better you see, the better you’ll be!

In your 40’s you start losing the ability to see close up: this is called presbyopia. See your Optometrist about doing eye exercises to keep your eyes flexible so they can zoom in and out between close and near objects. There are even homeopathic remedies you can use to slow down aging in your eyes. And then of course, keep getting your eyes checked EVERY YEAR! 1 of 4 over 40 have some level of vision loss so don’t just sit there – do something about it.

60+ years old: Your eyeballs have been around for a long time, and they start degenerating, just like the skin on your face is aging. Health problems like hypertension and diabetes affects your eyes. Half of us will develop cataracts, and the risk for glaucoma and macular degeneration increases significantly. But you don’t have to take it lying down: eat healthy, have your eyes checked yearly, BEFORE you start to lose vision. There are so many ways your OD can help you keep your eyes healthy, so you can keep enjoying life, and watch your grandchildren, and grandpets (!) grow up.

Let me tell you what to look for:
• Gradual loss of central or peripheral vision
• Distorted vision or loss of color vision
• Dim, blurry, cloudy or foggy vision

Most people spend more time buying shoes or watches than they do caring for their eyes. People look at your EYES when they talk to you, and your shoes don’t help you see how beautiful life is! Your eyes are your most important sense: RESPECT your eyes, and have your eyes checked every year!

I’m a firm believer in wellness and preventive care. Like going to the dentist: don’t wait until a tooth falls out, or like eating right, and exercising keeps your body healthy. It keeps your eyes healthy also, as well as annual eye exams to catch and treat problems before they harm your vision. Your eyes are one part of your body where it’s important to have them checked before you notice vision changes because by then, it may be impossible to reverse any loss.

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Posted in 90048 Optometrist, Aging Eyes, Beautiful Eyes, Children's Vision, Contact Lenses, Holistic Vision Care, Hollywood Vision Center, Los Angeles Eye Doctor, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Presbyopia, UV400 and sun protection for eyes, Wellness Care | No Comments »

Why is it harder to read after 40? Presbyopia

Friday, January 7th, 2011

Just when your career and life are really starting to take off, your eyes seem to be slowing down. Reading and viewing close objects becomes progressively more difficult in your 40’s because of a natural aging process called presbyopia.

Presbyopia makes reading more difficult because of a decreased ability to change focus, especially from far to near. As you age, the lens in your eyes becomes more rigid, and the muscles gradually lose their ability to focus at near.

The signs of presbyopia are:
• Small print is difficult to read
• You need to hold things further away to read
• You need more light to read
• Reading is easier without glasses or contact lenses if you are nearsighted

You can slow down the progression of presbyopia by doing several things:
1. Accommodative exercises: focus between a distant and very close target as fast as you can for 5-10 minutes every day. This increases your eye’s focus flexibility, strength and stamina.
2. Homeopathic remedies: This can slow down, and even reverse the aging process of presbyopia and cataracts. We can prescribe these for you after examining your eyes.
3. Wear sunglasses or glasses with an ultraviolet filter to slow down the aging effects of the sun on your eyes, and to minimize wrinkles around your eyes.
4. Taking anti-oxidant supplements to minimize lens oxidation, which can increase the rigidity of your eyes’ focusing lens. Green leafy vegetables, and orange-colored fruits and vegetables are also good sources of anti-oxidants.

Inevitably, you will need a special prescription, or bifocal lens for reading, even if you had refractive surgery. Options to help you read include:
• Progressive lenses (no-line bifocals)
• Reading glasses
• Adjustable computer glasses
• Bifocal contact lenses
• Mono-vision contact lenses or refractive surgery

We practice in a holistic manner, and are always looking for ways to help our patients age gracefully through diet and exercise, not only for your body, but also for your eyes.

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Posted in 90048 Optometrist, Aging Eyes, Beautiful Eyes, Eye Exercises, Holistic Vision Care, Hollywood Vision Center, Los Angeles Eye Doctor, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Nutrition for Eyes and vision, Presbyopia, UV400 and sun protection for eyes, Vision Therapy, Wellness Care | No Comments »

Lady Gaga Eyes: Circle Contact Lenses

Friday, September 10th, 2010

Pop culture trends are creating some dangerous vision problems.

Lady Gaga’s fans are putting their vision at risk by attempting to copy her huge, anime-style eyes as seen in the Bad Romance video. Although Gaga’s gigantic peepers were computer generated, fans are copying the look with illegal Circle contact lenses obtained without a prescription on foreign websites.

These contacts are larger than normal lenses and cover more of the sclera or white part of the eye to create an exaggerated appearance of the eyes. They can cause significant, permanent damage to the eye if they do not fit your eyes properly. This requires a contact lens evaluation by an Optometrist. Potential problems include impaired vision, conjunctivitis (pink eye), swelling, redness, corneal abrasion, scarring, and insufficient oxygen due to the larger, tighter contact lenses that allow less tear exchange and oxygen to the eye. No beauty fad is worth damaging your eyes or causing an infection.

There are safe and legal soft contact lenses with the dark limbal ring, but these lenses are going to be discontinued by the manufacturer as of 10/31/10. You do need a prescription for these lenses, and yes, they look fabulous on your eyes!

This You Tube video describing how to create the “big eyes” from Lady Gaga’s video has received more than 9 million views. Many girls who obtain these Illegal Contact lenses do not care for them properly, and use them for longer than they should be worn for which can also hurt your eyes. Remember, contact lenses are medical devices, not make up.

Here’s a recent interview on the KTLA Morning News about this and other related topics.

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Posted in Beautiful Eyes, Children's Vision, Contact Lenses, Hollywood Vision Center, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Pink Eyes, Wellness Care | No Comments »

Eye Tips for Travelers

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

To minimize vision-related mishaps wile traveling, Dr. Brisco recommends the following:

  1. Bring an extra pair of contact lenses or glasses in case you lose, tear or break yours. It is often difficult to find an eye doctor quickly while away from home.
  2. Wear glasses, instead of contact lenses, while flying. The dry air in the plane’s cabin air can make your eyes feel dry and scratchy.
  3. Put your name and address on your eyeglass case so it can be returned to you if you misplace your glasses.
  4. Bring ophthalmic antibiotic drops if you are traveling to a remote area in case your eyes become infected while camping, hiking, swimming in the ocean, etc. Schedule an appointment with Dr. Brisco before your trip for a pre-trip eye health evaluation, to prescribe antibiotics for your medical emergency kit.
  5. Bring wetting drops for moisturizing your eyes while on the plane (especially on long flights). The drops will also be useful if you are in a dusty environment, such as while on safari or on dirt roads.

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The Many Causes of Red or Pink Eye

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Conjunctivitis

Pink Eye

A red or pink eye — although usually painless — is visually disturbing. When people look at you, they look mainly at your eyes. People judge your health and well being by how your eyes look.
Eyes look red when blood vessels near the surface of the eye become enlarged and dilated. If you have red eyes, it is important to find out why. Red eyes have several primary causes including: irritation, infection, allergies, or underlying health problems.

There are many possible causes of red eyes; therefore, it is important to have an Optometrist examine your eyes to determine the cause and best treatment. Here are some of the most common causes:

• Allergies: Dust, pollen, mold, environmental (smog, pollution, etc.)
• Infections: bacterial (may have mucopurulent discharge and crusting), viral (may have runny nose, sinus congestion, swollen eyelids). Both are very contagious.
• Sexually transmitted: Herpes Simplex, Chlamydia
• Dry Eye: insufficient tear production, hormonal, age, systemic health problems
• Excessive UV/sun exposure: tanning beds, sports: skiing, surfing, etc.
• Environmental: smog, chemicals, wind, blowing dust
• Eye strain: prolonged computer work or visual tasks decreases blink rate
• Lack of sleep
• Contact Lens wear: wearing contact lenses too long, or not replacing lenses as prescribed
• Uveitis: is an inflammation of the middle layer of the eye where most of the blood vessels are. Symptoms include redness, pain, blurry vision, floaters and light sensitivity. Uveitis can be caused by health problems such as autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis. Uveitis can also be associated with AIDS, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, herpes zoster, and syphilis. Uveitis should be treated quickly because other complications, such as glaucoma, cataracts, or retinal and choroidal scarring, may occur if it left untreated.
• Blepharitis: a chronic infection and inflammation of the eyelids
• Lid Lice (Pthiriasis Palpebrarum)
• Smoking marijuana, drinking alcohol
• Acute Angle-Closure Glaucoma: Acute angle-closure glaucoma is a serious medical emergency and must be treated immediately.
• Subconjunctival Hemmorage: It can be caused by a Valsalva maneuver such as hard sneezing, coughing, intense straining, vomiting, trauma, high blood pressure, diabetes and sometimes from certain blood disorder problems
• Injury:Corneal abrasion, ocular trauma, sports injury
• Corneal Ulcer or Infection: The cornea has no blood vessels of its own. When the cornea becomes infected, surrounding blood vessels enlarge to bring immune system-related cells to help fight the infection.
• Frequent Use of Eye Drops: Constant use of one of the “get the red out” eye drops can cause over dilation of the eyes’ blood vessels. A rebound hyperemia effect can occur when you stop using the drops because the body becomes accustomed to being chemical constricted by the eye drops. After the effect of the eye drop wears off, the blood vessels sometimes dilate larger, causing the eyes to appear even more bloodshot

If you have a red or pink eye, see your Optometrist immediately. In case your red eye is contagious, be careful not to spread the infection. Wash your hands often, do not share linens, do not share make up, and do not go swimming. Discard any liquid make up that you are using, and soft contact lenses.

Do not use medications prescribed for someone else, or leftover from an old infection. The medication may not be appropriate for your current condition, and the bottle may be infected from touching the eye during previous use.

If you, or your child, are experiencing other symptoms such as coughing, runny nose, earache, the symptoms may be caused by the same bacteria, and you may need an oral antibiotic in addition to the treatment for your eyes.

The bottom line is that pink or red eyes can be caused by many reasons. Make an appointment immediately with your Optometrist to determine the cause and best treatment for you or your child.

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Posted in Beautiful Eyes, Children's Vision, Computer Vision, Dry Eyes, Glaucoma, Hollywood Vision Center, Los Angeles Optometrist, Los Angeles Vision, Uncategorized | No Comments »

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