Dr. Tavel Vision Blog

This coming November, Delta Gamma at Butler University will be hosting its 32nd annual philanthropy event, Anchor Splash. All donations go to Service for Sight, Aid to the Blind; and more specifically, Indiana School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, BOSMA, and ORBIS (all local organizations). Since Dr. Tavel is in the eye care industry, we had a very special interest in the event.

BOSMA’s slogan does a great job of explaining the motivation behind the services they provide and the cause which both Delta Gamma and Dr. Tavel so strongly support. We are “dedicated to empowering people who are blind or visually impaired by creating opportunities that lead to the achievement of each individual’s employment, economic, social, and self-determination goals.”

Dr. Tavel creates such opportunities by providing extensive eye examinations, thorough follow up visits, premium contact lenses, and glasses and lenses of superior quality all within an affordable price range.

We feel that the gateway to every day opportunity is the gift of sight; it allows you to live independently, see your children grow, appreciate nature, and so much more.

As a result of hard work by our genuine, caring opticians and extensive knowledge of our doctors Dr. Tavel is able to help you protect this gift and use it to take advantage of all the opportunities of life.
 

I have officially justified the fact that I devoured a huge serving of strawberry shortcake for lunch on Friday at the Indianapolis 43^rd Annual Strawberry Festival. Research shows that fruits rich in Vitamin C (like strawberries) are essential to good nutrition which is directly related to the functionality of your eyesight as you age.

Wouldn't it be nice to come out of an eye examination with a prescription for strawberries? I think we should get this trend started with Indiana eye doctors and just pass it along. Forget glasses and lenses, forget premium contact lenses, you need to eat more strawberries! Sounds good to me.

At Dr. Tavel we’re doing a little updating and we want you to help us out! We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access all the information you need on our website; so we want your input!

Already we have had some really great suggestions as to how we can improve our site to make it more convenient for you. A great suggestion by one patient was to add some optical-related articles to our website and we’re happy to announce that this page will be up and running soon!

What sort of information would you like to be able to find on the Dr. Tavel website?

Are there tools or functionalities that we could offer that would make doing business with us online better for you?

“So wait, you’re telling me that even though I already had an eye exam, now I have to pay to have another one just to get some contacts?”   Yes. That’s what we’re saying and we think you’ll agree that its well worth the money in the end...read on.

Contact lenses are a medical device given by prescription only. In order to optimize your contact-lens wearing experience you must have an eye examination specifically for contacts. During this examination additional measurements and information are gathered so that the doctor can evaluate what kinds of lenses best suit your eyes and lifestyle.

The doctor will be able to find a brand that works in accordance with your eyes; Such as AIR Optix and ACUVUE® OASYS™ for Astigmatism or Freshlook Colors for those seeking a little edge. 
           

 Without the proper exam and information, eye doctors can not determine which premium contact lenses will help you see most clearly and be the most comfortable for you. This can mean several things: discomfort, swelling, dry eyes, itchy eyes, and in some rare cases permanent damage to the tissues of your eyes!

In the end, a few extra dollars and a few extra minutes could be quite beneficial, don't you think?

My 14 year old sister has a little glasses prescription that requires her to wear glasses. She looks really cute in them, but according to her it’s “not her style anymore.” She wants to get contacts but we all know that she won’t take the time to take proper care of them.

I know this because when she came to visit me at school I took her to see the Bloomington eye doctor at Dr. Tavel where they gave her a free trial pair of contact lenses for a week. In that week, she tore them both while putting them in and taking them out, had them replaced, and then finally just lost them altogether. These were not junk lenses either… all trial pairs dispensed are premium contact lenses! This was a pretty good indicator that she probably wasn’t going to be able to venture into the world of contacts.

She’s still wearing her glasses today, but have I got some great news for her. I found a brochure for Focus DAILIES premium contact lenses. These are contacts that you put on in the morning and throw away at night; this means no cleaning, no handling, no problems! I’m pretty sure this is the perfect solution for beginner contact-wearers.

You’re probably thinking they are crazy expensive but in reality, for around a dollar a day you get a whole years supply. Not too shabby!

Different fashion sends different messages about your lifestyle, so what are your glasses saying about you?

Smart, yet Edgy?


Baby Phat 549113
Professional & Put Together?

Phat Farm 488713

Artsy Trend-Setter?

Axebo 536811

Sophisticated & Versatile?

Ted Baker 572313

Going Green?


Laguiole 556114

Business Savvy?

Vera Bradley 528012
You deserve to send your own message with your style. So when you buy eye glasses come see Dr. Tavel. We'll do whatever it takes to help you find the perfect pair of glasses and lenses (or premium contact lenses, if that's your preferred style). Schedule your appointment for your eye examination today. (www.drtavel.com/schedule/)

If you haven’t already, add “attend a really awesome country show" to your bucket-list.

I decided this would be an entertaining way to spend my Saturday night; so I grabbed a couple of my guy friends and drove over to Noblesville this weekend. It ended up being a great idea. Rascal Flatts puts on an amazing show! (You can see we got into the theme a little bit..hats, boots, my belt buckle..it was great.)

While we were waiting in the never ending line to get a cold piece of pizza, I watched an elderly man take his glasses off and use his very 90s teal and orange windbreaker (tied around his waste in the same fashion as most 1993 school kids) and use the sleeve to “clean” the dust and smudges off his glasses and lenses (CRINGE!).

Here are a few guidelines from your vision doctor to cleaning your lenses.

1.       If there is loose dirt or little grimy pieces on your lenses its better to rinse them with warm soapy water so you don’t scratch your lenses with any of the pieces.

2.       That said, by soapy, I do NOT mean dish soap, glass cleaner, Windex or anything like that. If you’ve been using these things on your glasses STOP NOW!

a.       A huge mistake often made is cleaning with Windex, dish soap, or other glass cleaners. DON’T DO THIS. Using liquids with all those chemicals can cause unintentional removal of any coatings you may have on your glasses! The chemicals in these products can end up eating away at and eventually destroying your anti-reflective coating or any other coatings you might have on your lenses. Use a solution (like Dr. Tavel’s Optical Spray) formulated for lens cleaning.

3.       If they’re smudgy its best to use a microfiber lens cloth (available in many patterns, pictures, shapes, and sizes at Dr. Tavel) or an old soft T-shirt to gently rub the lenses. This should do the trick.

4.       Don’t use a windbreak, don’t use jeans, don’t use wool, and in general don’t use scratchy material. This can cause little scratches in your lenses that will be noticeable when you look through your lenses.

In sum, if you were to go to into any Indiana eye center they would tell you the same thing: soapy water (not dish soap or Windex) and a soft towel. OR. Soft lens cloth or old t-shirt. End of story.

So what is the point of going to the vision doctor anyway? If your eyes are going bad you don't need the best eye doctor in the world to tell you that, you’ll know right? Well, in some cases yes; but did you know that by just looking into your eyes, an optometrist can often predict whether you’re at risk for diabetes, multiple sclerosis, hypertension, stroke, or even heart disease?

This is yet another reason it is so important to go every year (or every other year) and visit your eye doctor. There are so few people who visit an eye doctor before they have symptoms…but by then, it could be a little late. According to the World Health Organization, 75 percent of the world’s blindness could be prevented! That’s huge! All you have to do is go in and have a thorough eye examination. (www.drtavel.com/schedule/) This means going beyond a simple prescription check, but actually testing the muscles of the eye, testing your retina, and even testing for glaucoma, among other things.

You should also remember that bringing in your kids for a complete children’s eye exam is vital to protecting their health as well. Research done by the Vision Council notes that 1 out of every 4 children has an undiagnosed vision impairment. Don't let that happen to your children.

In my opinion, its better (and safer) to start visiting Dr. Tavel's Indiana eye doctors regularly at an early age so that you can detect and start treating any issues even before symptoms start to show up.

A quality eye examination can make a world of difference. Don't wait until it's too late; protect your vision and your health. Check yearly!
 

I recently returned from college in Bloomington, Indiana where, like most other students, I made use of the wonderful bus system instead of bringing my car to campus (yay for going green!). However, I’m back now and back behind the wheel driving to work by day and out to do whatever by night.

I started to wonder if they had taken away some of the street lamps or something because all of a sudden it seemed to have gotten really, really dark outside in Indiana. I couldn’t see anything! I got home and asked my dad if he thought it had gotten any darker this summer only to find out that they had in fact added streetlights in certain areas.

In search of a culprit for my apparent night blindness I of course pointed the finger at my headlights. No dice. They had been changed right before I got home. So, I figured I ought to set up an appointment and expect to be prescribed some high tech crazy military night goggles or something of the sort and hope for the best.

I scheduled an appointment with one of the many eye doctors here at Dr. Tavel. After my eye exam I found out that I wasn’t crazy, but I needed some glasses with an anti-reflective coating to help reduce the glare of the streetlights and other people’s headlights as well as a little prescription; and let me tell you, these Dr. Tavel Indiana eye doctors really know what they're talking about because I can see now!

 You really can’t know for sure what the problem is unless you get a full eye examination. I never would have guessed that I needed to buy eye glasses or even that my eyes were the problem; so its probably a good thing someone told me.

Lesson here? If you're having trouble seeing at night, come in and see us! Its cheaper to pay for glasses and lenses than it is to pay for car damage if you wreck in the dark.
 

                                                                                     If you see this, its time to see Dr. Tavel 

Did you know that of all the muscles in our body, the eye muscles are the most active? So it only makes sense that we check them out as frequently as possible to make sure they’re in good working order. When people have issues with other muscles they rarely hesitate to go see the doctor because aches and pains are flat out annoying.

 Eyes are no different, except aches and pains are often felt in your head not your eyes and even more often there are other more subtle effects that patients seem to find all sorts of other explanations for. (Trust me, after spending 3 years answering phone calls of complaints, and working in the eye doctor’s office hearing the “oh! It’s my eyes? I just figured the quality of the newspaper was getting continually worse…” I can tell you that people come up with some of the most ridiculous things.) Here is the truth; if you have any of these issues it’s a telltale sign that you need to get an eye examination.

1.       Blurry vision. This should be the big red flag. Blurry near or far is never good and could potentially put you in danger!

2.   Visual “floaters” are another red flag. These are sometimes small specks or fine dark lines that appear within the eye that can often be seen against a bright background like the sky. Often these are no threat to your vision, but they can also identify a retinal tear. 

          3.    Poor Night vision is another dangerous one. No, it’s not just because it all of a sudden got really, really dark outside in Indiana. No, you’re headlights are not going out. It’s your eyes! You may need a pair of glasses with an anti-reflective coating or a small glasses prescription to help you see more clearly.

           4.    More headaches (and more serious headaches) could indicate that your eyes are stressed. You can take all the Advil in the world but chances are you won’t find relief until you come into the office for an eye exam. They’ll let you know it’s nothing that a pair of quality glasses and lenses can’t fix.

These are only a few of the many little things to watch out for (get it? Watch out? Haha) and if you notice any of them you shouldn't’t hesitate to call and set up an appointment (www.drtavel.com/schedule/) with any of our Indiana eye doctors. You’ll be glad you did.

There was a great article in 20/20 magazine called “Kids VS. The Computer Screen” not too long ago that really emphasizes the importance of children’s eye exams. As technology has begun to play an increasingly present role in our society, children are spending more and more time looking at computer screens and TV screens.

This poses a new threat to the ocular health of children. As children stare at the screens to check facebook, e-mail, play video games, etc. they tend to blink less causing dryer eyes and sometimes blurred vision. This can cause the crystalline lens of the eye to get “stuck” in the near position and make it difficult for distance viewing. As a result a child would need a little plus power in their eyeglasses. Detection of this issue requires a thorough eye examination by a vision doctor.

Dr. Tavel locations around Indiana take pride in their ability to provide extensive children’s eye exams as well as fashion frames (PEZ, Jalapeño, Major League Baseball, Kidco, and more!) for kids of all ages. Our locations have the best eye doctors and highly professional staff all across Indiana; from South Bend, to Indianapolis, right on down to Bloomington and Columbus.  

 Ladies and Gentlemen, start your engines! Memorial Day Weekend has arrived and that means its race time! There is nothing more exhilarating than sitting in the stands watching those cars race by at over 200 miles per hour right in front of your eyes at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I was invited yesterday to go to both the Indianapolis 500 Festival Parade downtown on Saturday and the 93^rd running of the Indianapolis 500 race on Sunday and I just can’t wait.

Not only will I get to see amazing drivers like Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe, Danica Patrick, and Marco Andretti, but I’ll get to see them clearly and in race-day style because of the new glasses and lenses I ordered last week (obviously from Dr. Tavel).  They really couldn’t be more perfect.

I know that stylish glasses are not necessarily at the top of people’s agenda for this particular event, it’s really more about staying cool and soaking up the ten seconds of 200 mile-an-hour glory whizzing by on the track. But to ensure that I got a little bit of both, and to ensure that this supersonic moment is crystal clear, I got Purifier lenses, a top of the line Dr. Tavel signature lens that significantly reduces the glare of the summer sun by eliminating reflected light (Dr. Tavel (and Vision Values by Dr. Tavel) is the only Indiana eye center that carries this lens). The fact is, with these lenses everything is sharper, clearer, and all the colors are more vibrant and alive!

Ready for the best part? The frame is one of Dr. Tavel’s “TryChange” brand frames that allow you to actually change the temples and the bridge of the frame and replace them with different ones to match whatever you’re wearing! The particular frame I got for this weekend is a checkered pattern (of course) to get in the racing spirit. Needless to say, I’m ready to race!
 *This is one of many TryChange frame & lens combinations available at Dr. Tavel. Drop by any of our stores to check them out!

**Once you have an eye examination and order TryChange glasses, you're welcome to come into any of our locations to purchase additional "wishbones" (wishbones are the temple & nose peice combinations that create the frames) whenever you're in the mood for a new style.
 

        I was sitting at Applebee’s today on my lunch break and noticed the waitress’s adorable black glasses. I let her know I thought they looked great on her and she responded with “oh thanks! So nice of you to notice.” It kind of made me laugh because really, how could someone not notice? 97% of the time you’re communicating in person with someone they’re looking at your face!
         When you buy eye glasses, you’re buying the most noticeable accessory a person can wear. That’s the reason designers make such creative frames. For some a simple square metal frame does the trick, for others a bold red plastic frame (try our ONO collection!) creates the perfect accessorized look. When you come in to a Dr. Tavel Family Eyecare location and browse our wide variety of frames, you’ll notice that we carry a little bit of everything. We believe in choices…lots of choices, and so should you!

  You wouldn’t wear high heels to the Indy 500, nor would you wear tennis shoes with your graduation dress. People buy tons of different shoes and half the time no one even notices! Glasses, on the other hand, are one of the first things people see on a person. So after your eye examination, why not pick out 2 or 3 pairs of glasses and lenses?

 If you’re going to wear the Ed Hardy sweat suit, why not sport a pair of Ed Hardy sunglasses too? If you’re dressing up for church why not dress up your glasses too and put on a pair of Fendi frames? Going fishing? Grab a pair of polarized Rudy Project sunglasses to help you reduce glare on the water! You get the idea.