What a game. Colts/Pats. Night game, national television and all the hype and hoopla. When it comes to big games, you are always hoping for a great one but never know if it is going to happen or not. Well, this one was great. We were down for a big part of the game and it seemed like there was no way we were going to win. A little bit of luck and a questionable decision led to the
Indianapolis Colts pulling out a win at the last second thanks to a touchdown pass from Peyton Manning to Reggie Wayne.
The game was great, the atmosphere was fantastic and the show of support from local Indianapolis and Indiana residents was phenomenal. I ran into several friends at the game and some old college friends from South Bend and Elkhart that I haven't seen in years. The interesting part about the night was that more than one of my buddies brought up their health savings plans or flex spending accounts and were asking about getting in to use that before the end of the year. We are at the biggest football game of the year and these guys want to talk about their health insurance plans!
It shows you how important it is to use health benefits before they expire. The great part about these plans is that you can use them for many health related reasons, specifically eye care. These plans can be used for eye examinations, contact lens fit examinations, purchasing frames and lenses and purchasing premium contact lenses. One of my friends from Columbus, Indiana was planning on using more of his health savings for the baby they had this year. When they didn't use as much as expected, he now has some funds that HE HAS TO USE. The great part is that now he can come to Dr. Tavel Family Eye Care and get the prescription sunglasses that he has wanted for some time.
This is a great opportunity for anyone with a plan like this. Go see your Indianapolis eye care doctor or come in to any of our Indiana Vision Centers before the end of the year and we will be sure to take care of you.
My 5 year old son had his final soccer game of the season last Saturday in Indianapolis. It was a great game and actually went to a shoot out at the end to decide the game. Okay, these are 5 and 6 year olds so there was no goalie and they basically had to kick the ball straight into the goal from 30 yards away, but nonetheless it was pretty exciting. Our team lost, but as with any youth soccer game the focus was more about getting their medals and what the snack of the week was.
It was a great fall day in Indiana and I got some sun, which is rare for early November. It got me thinking about how most people are unaware that extended exposure to the same harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays that affect their skin can also harm their eyes. While outside on Saturday, all of the children's eyes were exposed to the sun's rays. Some of the parents on the sidelines had sunglasses on, while others were wearing hats, which are both helpful in blocking UV rays from reaching the eyes. When I am outside, I typically wear contact lenses that block UV rays and I also wear polarized sunglasses, which are great for absorbing and blocking UV rays, while also reducing glare from the sun.
The next time you and your children are playing outside, stay focused on the health of your eyes by wearing sunglasses, brimmed hats or premium contact lenses with UV blocking. If you don't have these items available, make sure you go to your Indianapolis Optometrist, Eye Doctor or a local vision eye center.
When I used to think of Transitions lenses, I would think of a kid I went to elementary school with. Whenever he would come back in from recess, it would take FOREVER for his glasses to go from dark to light again. On top of that, his lenses would never fully go back to a clear state. He always seemed a bit frustrated with his lenses and it made a lasting impression upon me, that I haven't been able to truly shake until now.
The Transition lenses of today are much more efficient. They adjust very well to lighting conditions, going from clear indoors to sunglass-dark outdoors. These lenses are great in that they change much quicker than they used to and the lenses will get very clear inside. The nice part about Transition lenses is that they also help reduce eye strain and fatigue as you don't have to squint so much once you walk outside into the sun.
I recommend that anyone who intends to buy eye glasses, and doesn't want to buy an additional pair of prescription sunglasses, give Transitions lenses a test drive. You will be surprised at how convenient these lenses are and how comfortable they are for your lifestyle (assuming you go outside!). The next time you see your Indianapolis eye doctor, ask him or her their opinion on Transition lenses and you will likely find that the best eye doctors recommend them.
This past weekend I went on an annual camping trip with a group of friends down to Jasper, Indiana. We have gone for seven years now and the trip has become pretty standard in that we drive down on Friday night, eat at The Chicken Place in Ireland, IN, then camp out for the night. We wake up on Saturday, hang around the campsite for a while, then go play a round of golf at Sultan's Run (which is a PHENOMENAL course if you haven't played it yet. See the 18th Green below). After golf, we head over to the Schnitzelbank restaurant for the finest in German fare before retiring again to the campsite to sit around the fire.
The nice part of this trip is that I didn't have to worry about my contacts since I wore some daily disposable contact lenses. Daily-wear contact lenses are great because I didn't have to worry about solution, I didn't have to worry about taking my contact lenses out at night and putting them in a case, which is kind of tough to do when you are in the dark tent. I pop in a fresh pair of lenses in the morning, wear them all day and take them out at night when I am ready to go to sleep and throw them away. When I wake up the next day, I put in a fresh pair of daily-wear contact lenses and I am good to go. This is really nice when camping, by the way because there is nothing better than fresh contacts when you have been sitting by a camp fire all night!
Today being the first day of October, it hit me that fall is upon us and before we know it, winter will be as well. Now that we are in the fourth quarter of the year, it is a great time for people to start thinking about using their flexible spending accounts (FSA) before the end of the year. Most FSA's can be used to pay for vision expenses and many plans have an FSA debit card that make it very convenient to use your FSA funds for vision services and materials. The great part of this is that Dr. Tavel accepts all FSA debit cards and will be happy to provide you with the necessary invoices to help facilitate the claims process.
The advantage to using your FSA at Dr. Tavel is that you can use your pre-tax dollars on necessary vision services and materials, whether it be eyeglasses and lenses, premium contact lenses or an eye examination and a contact lens fit. The only potential disadvantage to an FSA plan is that you are typically going to face a 'use it or lose it' scenario whereby you have to use the funds in your account by the end of the plan period (in most cases the end of the calendar year). With Dr. Tavel, this is not a problem. We have 19 offices throughout the state of Indiana that are open on weekends and several late days throughout the week so you can be sure to find a convenient time for an appointment.
Last Friday, Team Tavel spent the morning at Duke Realty's annual employee Health and Wellness Fair. I received a call from their office and they wanted Dr. Tavel to attend as the primary eye care provider for their employees. We gladly accepted and took some equipment to be able to do a vision screening for any employees that came by our tables.
This was a great opportunity as we were able to screen vision for almost 100 of Duke's employees. The overwhelming outcome of these screenings is that most of the employees need to come to Dr. Tavel for an annual eye examination. While there were a few employees who regularly take advantage of their health care insurance and see their Indianapolis eye doctor, most people don't. There were several people who admitted they hadn't been to their Indianapolis optometrist in 5 plus years!
This never makes much sense to me. First, most employers like Duke offer vision insurance whereby employees can get an annual eye examination for free or for a nominal co-pay. Second, eye exams are so much more than just telling you what your error of refraction is. We had some people say they haven't had problems seeing so they haven't had a need to see an Indiana eye doctor. This is one of the biggest misconceptions about seeing Dr. Tavel. Our eye examinations are done by the best eye doctors and they examine for multiple common eye diseases as well as several age-related eye diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts and diabetic retinopathy.
Overall, it was a great opportunity to partner with a great company and educate, inform and screen vision.
I was watching the Colts game on Sunday night with some friends when someone commented on my glasses and asked what kind they were. I told him that I was wearing a Ted Baker frame and he started asking what kinds of frames we carry. I explained that we carry a wide variety of brands with a wide variety of styles of eyeglasses including Columbia, Fendi, Cazal Eyewear, Kishimoto (great, durable and sleek looking Barely There frames, by the way), Vannie Eyewear, Harve Benard, Baby Phat, Phat Farm, Lulu Guinness, Vera Bradley, Laguiole Optique, Axebo, and many others. I also explained that you could get most of these brands in sunglasses as well with a polarized prescription or non-prescription lens. Also, we have some great brands in sunglasses, such as Rudy Project for athletic wear sunglasses and Ed Hardy sunglasses as great fashionable sunglasses.
This got me thinking about how unique the eye care industry is. When you think about eye care, you typically think about having an optometrist examine your eyes for health reasons and also for refractive error. That side of the house is much more medical in nature. However, when it comes to glasses and lenses, you think about fashion and when it comes to fashion, people think of brand names. Patients want to go to the best eye doctor, get the best eye examination possible in Indiana and they ALSO want to go to an Indiana Vision Center where they can buy eye glasses that are going to look great, have a solid brand name and make a fashion statement. As an optical provider, it is our job to pull all of these offerings together into one comprehensive package, which is what you will find at Dr. Tavel.
If you're ever in my situation and you find yourself having to stay up all night reading a 20 pound text book about Business Law while simultaneously taking notes on the computer screen - you may also find yourself wondering why the words keep getting harder and harder to see (let alone comprehend) and, if there is anything in the world that could possibly better your situation. Well, lucky for you - I have just the thing.
A few things to be learned here:
1. All-Nighters suck & coffee is wonderful.
2. After lengthy periods of time looking at small text, like the letters in a text book or those on a computer screen, you may begin to experience blurred vision.
So what does this mean?
Your eyes are most likely strained from shifting your focus from the text book to the computer screen and back.
What can we do?
Computer glasses and lenses are a great option for this situation. What makes computer glasses unique is that they contain a prescription for optimal intermediate distance viewing (a little farther than reading distance, but closer than driving distance), and combine it with the Anti-Reflective coating that helps reduce glare from the screen which can cause headaches and increased eyestrain.
Eye care doctors in college towns, like our Bloomington Eye Doctor, suggest computer glasses quite often to students to help with focus on school work.
And the benefits are:
With a simple eye examination you can get your intermediate distance measured and, of course, a pair of computer glasses. You'll experience reduced eye strain, fewer headaches, increased ability to focus, and hopefully better grades as a result!
Time to get back to school work!
There are a variety of eye health warning signs, each of which should be monitored consistently. The best way to detect problems with your eyes is to have a regular eye examination with your eye care doctor. Please see your Indiana Eye Doctor if you have any of the following eye health warning signs:
- eye pain or discomfort
- blurred vision
- colored halos around lights
- large amount of spots and floaters
- inflammation of eyelids and/or eyelashes
- sudden noticeable changes in vision
- weakening of color vision
- tunnel vision
- physical changes in the eye
We recently modified and updated our website with a new version of our contact lens e-commerce site. This is a great benefit to our existing patients who want to order premium contact lenses on-line. When a Dr. Tavel contact lens patient comes in to see one of our Indianapolis Optometrists or an Optometrist at any of the other Dr. Tavel vision eye centers, you are going to not only get a comprehensive eye examination and a contact lens fit, but you will now be able to walk away with a user name and password to easily re-order your premium contact lenses through
www.drtavel.com.
Why is this important and how is it any different than ordering contact lenses through another on-line provider? When you go to
www.drtavel.com to order contact lenses on-line, you can be sure that the lenses you are ordering are for your exact prescription without the hassle of having to input the Rx from the side of their contact box. Your unique login will pull up the information and exact prescription given to you by your Indianapolis Eye Doctor or your Indiana Eye Doctor. It is as simple as logging in, plugging in how many boxes you would like and having them shipped directly to your home.
The biggest question is going to be how we compare to the other on-line providers on price. At Dr. Tavel Family Eye Care, we offer some of the best prices on contact lenses anywhere. We are incredibly price competitive so you can be sure to get the RIGHT contact lenses at the RIGHT price, every time with the convenience of having them shipped directly to your home. So whether you wear Acuvue Oasys, Air Optix Aqua, Purevision or another premium contact lens, feel free to come to us for your Indiana eye care needs.
I was in our Anderson vision center the other day and I heard a patient as one of our opticians if she could rub off the anti-reflective (AR) coating on her lenses. She had heard from someone that she shouldn't get AR because it would rub and peel off and ruin her lenses.
Being around eye doctors and in our Dr. Tavel Family Eye Care stores, I hear all kinds of rumors and myths about eye care and products, specifically glasses and lenses. This is one myth that at one point might have been true years ago. The reality is that AR coatings have come a long way in terms of the technology that is used to create this coating. The current process is that the AR is put on the lens through a process of stacks so there are multiple layers of coatings that go on the lens, making it very resistant to wear and tear. In addition, most manufacturers of AR coatings will test their lenses with thousands of rub cycles back and forth to make sure the lens will stand up to cleaning and wear and tear.
So if you are staying away from an Anti-Reflective lens coating because you are afraid it is going to rub off, then you are staying away for the wrong reason. And if you want to buy the best eye glasses possible, then you will want to make sure AR is part of the package.
Annual eye exams are very important for everyone and they are especially important for those with diabetes to monitor for any visual signs of diabetic retinopathy.
What is Diabetic Retinopathy?
This is the end result of diabetic damage to the eye. Diabetes can cause damage to blood vessels throughout the body, with blood vessels in the eye being especially vulnerable. When the blood vessels in the retina become damaged, they leak and bleed and cause fluid to build up within the eye.
How Do I Know if I have Diabetic Retinopathy?
The early stages of Diabetic Retinopathy have very few symptoms. As the condition gets worse, you may experience floaters, blurry vision or sudden loss of vision. This is why annual eye examinations by your vision doctor are so important. You may not even know you have early signs of this because you don't feel any different. It is only when you have the symptoms that you notice there is a problem and then it is much more difficult to treat.
How is Diabetic Retinopathy Treated?
When monitored and spotted by an eye care doctor, diabetic retinopathy can be treated with laser therapy at the early stages by a qualified vision doctor. When this gets to the stage where symptoms are noticeable and it is much more advanced, surgical intervention is typically required. Annual eye examinations for those with diabetes are a perfect example where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
I recently read an article by Science Daily that found that uncorrected vision costs billions of dollars in lost productivity annually. Their research estimated that there are 158 million people in the world that suffer from uncorrected refractive error and that the annual loss in productivity is around $269 Billion. Yes, that is Billion with a B.
Let's think about this for a moment because there are a few key words in this research that stick out. First of all, the billions of dollars sticks out. Then think about the fact that this is an ANNUAL amount of productivity loss. It doesn't take too many years to hit the Trillion dollar mark. The second key point is that this is due to refractive error, which means we are not talking about uncorrectable eye problems or major eye diseases. This has to do with vision impairment because people are not wearing glasses. In some cases, they haven't had it corrected because they may not feel as if they have trouble seeing or that "it isn't bad enough for me to go see a vision doctor".
This research makes a very compelling argument that everyone should have an annual eye examination with the best eye doctor possible. Seeing better and having great vision is imperative when it comes to being as productive as possible. Whether you need glasses and lenses or if you prefer to wear premium contact lenses, you should make a point to get an annual eye examination with your optometrist to ensure that you aren't one of the millions of people with uncorrected vision impairment.
Last Saturday, Team Tavel spent an amazing day down on Mass Ave in downtown Indianapolis doing a combination of promoting Rudy Project performance athletic eye wear and supporting the athletes riding in the 2009 Mass Ave Criterium. The weather was perfect and the attendance for the event was at record levels. For those that are unaware of the event, it was a bike race on the streets of downtown Indianapolis, going from Mass Ave to Vermont St to East St and north on East to Mass Ave. These men and women were MOVING! The Dr. Tavel/Rudy Project tent was at the start/finish line and when the racers went by in a big pack you could feel a big gust of wind following them as they rode by.
The Dr. Tavel Optical Group sponsored this event for two primary reasons. First, we have been a part of the Indianapolis community for almost 70 years and we love to support the community in which we live. The Mass Ave Criterium is in its infancy and we want to see this event succeed. The second reason we sponsored this is because we carry a large variety of Rudy Project sunglasses, which is one of the best athletic sunglasses available in the world. Rudy Project sunglasses have many options for a variety of sports. Cyclists love these glasses because they are unbelievably comfortable. You can bend the end of the temples to fit your head and ears, which is important when wearing a bike helmet. On top of the comfort, Rudy Project sunglasses have the best lens options you can imagine. First, they have shatter resistant lenses, they have polarized lenses and you can get a photochromic lens option as well. This is great for those riding on the road because the polarized lens is going to keep the glare from the sun out of your eyes, giving you a very clear view. The photochromic lens option is going to be critical for those going on long rides, as the lenses will adjust to the amount of light. On a cloudy day, the lenses aren't very dark and on a bright and sunny day your lenses are going to adjust accordingly and offer you a great visual experience so you can focus on riding or whatever other activities you are engaged in.
The great part of our Rudy Project brand of sunglasses is that you can get them at any Dr. Tavel location (Indianapolis, Anderson, Bloomington, etc...) AND you can get them with a prescription in the lens. Dr. Tavel can easily put your Rx in the lenses so you can get ultimate comfort and vision while wearing technically cool eye wear. That is why we are the best eye doctor in Indianapolis, offering the best eye glasses and lenses, even in the form of sunglasses!
This morning in Indianapolis it absolutely poured rain! I was on my way in to work and hit all sorts of obstacles because of the crazy thunderstorm that is going on right now. I drove through a 2 foot deep puddle, was rerouted due to a lightning induced fire, and hydroplaned several times. How anything could be on fire in all this rain, I have no idea. But it was.
As I drove up Kessler Blvd. I noticed myself squinting and slowing down to almost 15 miles per hour to make sure I was staying on the road. It occured to me that if I hadn't been wearing my glasses I probably would've been in the ditch.
This situation is certainly a scary one, but its a good note to remind you how important it is to have an eye examination.
There are so many obstacles (both natural and man-made) that make it difficult for our eyes to function properly that can be eased with customized lenses.Dr. Tavel and his associate Indianapolis optometrists are consistently prescribing premium contact lenses and the highest quality eyeglasses Indianapolis has to offer. Be sure to schedule an appointment for you and your family at any of our convenient Indiana locations.
www.drtavel.com/schedule/
With school just a couple weeks around the corner our Indiana eye doctors are seeing hundreds of students a week! The schedule is getting tight, so the time to schedule an eye examination is now!
Is your child headed off to college? Dr. Tavel has Indiana vision centers in nearly every Indiana college town. Our Bloomington eye doctor (as well as our Columbus eye doctors) is happy to help the Hoosiers all year round! If your kid is a Ball State Cardinal up in Muncie, we have a brand new location there too! Our Anderson vision center, Fishers location, as well as 11 other Indianapolis Optical locations are all ready to help your student prepare for the upcoming year.
Got Contacts?
You can now have your college kid re-order her contacts online at
www.drtavel.com/contacts/order.php.
We want to make the transition as easy as possible for everyone! As we like to say, let our family serve your family. Trust your vision to Dr. Tavel.
Go Hoosiers! :)
ABC 7 - a TV station out of Chicago published a wonderful article titled "Detecting Disease Through the Eyes" on July 15th. This couldn't be any more relevant.
The introduction reads:
"July 15, 2009 (WLS) -- Most people think of their eye examination as time to update their lens prescription or catch the beginnings of eye disease like glaucoma, but few people know
an eye exam can catch early signs of diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure and brain tumors."Absolutely right! Few people realize that an eye exam can quickly identify so many life threatening diseases without being invasive at all. There are no needles involved, we won't strip you down and put you on a scale, and we certainly won't sit you in the exam room and make you wait 20 minutes for the doctor to arrive.
As the most prominent Indianapolis Optometrist and most well known Indiana Vision Center, Dr. Tavel is proud to say that our staff is highly educated and thoroughly trained to be positioned as the medical expert when it comes to eye care.
Let our family serve your family. Trust your vision to Dr. Tavel.
For the full article:
abclocal.go.com/wls/story
In considering the elements of eye care, terms can get a little confusing. Fear not! Dr. Tavel is here to help.
The Ophthalmologist: This individual is a medical doctor who specializes vision care. What differentiants this individual from regular vision providers is that he or she may perform eye surgery.
The Optometrist: This is the professional who specializes in eye examinations. During this exam the doctor will test for diseases, visual acuity, and prescribe premium contact lenses or glasses. (Dr. Tavel and his associates are Indiana eye dcotors aka "optometrists")
The Optician: These are the men and women that fill the doctor's prescription, fit glasses and lenses, and train the patient to use contact lenses. (In all of our Indianapolis Optical locations (You can find Dr. Tavel opticians smiling and ready to help in all of our state-wide and Indianapolis optical locations.)
This weekend brings the 16th running of the
Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Indiana. Having been to the race and to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for a few other races, including the Indy 500, I have many fond memories of the Speedway and the event. One of my favorite memories is going there with a college friend of mine and selling earplugs. With the noise of the cars at such high decibels, most people attending the race need earplugs for protection. This was pretty obvious and we made quite a bit of money selling these (it seemed like a lot of money to a couple of broke college kids, anyway).
Between earplugs and suntan lotion, there is a lot of focus on protecting various body parts, such as the ears and the skin. What amazes me is that there isn't as much of a focus on protecting the eyes. Yes, there are plenty of sunglasses at the Speedway, but most people don't understand the need for UV protection as it relates to the eyes. UV radiation can damage the skin of the eyelids, the outer part of the eye and can also contribute to the development of certain types of cataracts. This can be very dangerous to your eye care so make sure when you purchase sunglasses that you purchase those with UV protection details on the label. The best eye glasses to wear in the sun are polarized sunglasses with UV protection. Not only are you protecting your eyes from dangerous UV rays, but you are reducing glare for better visual quality. Enjoy the race and keep in mind that you need to protect ALL parts of your body while out in the sun.
3.jpg)
Powered by Compendium Blogware