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Dr. Tavel's Vision Blog would like to clear up a confusing eye health myth once and for all.
Eye Health Myth #2 from EyeCare America is something I again have been told growing up by my parents and this time grandparent’s too-eating carrots help your vision and eye sight.  This is TRUE!

My parents and grandparents were right with this myth as carrots do help maintain good sight.  Being rich in Vitamin A and beta-carotene, carrots help our eyes adjust to light from outside conditions to inside conditions as well as keep eye membranes moist for the best eye sight.  Vitamin A is commonly called retinol.

Not a carrot fan?  Nutritionists, Indianapolis optometrists, and eye care doctors across the state agree that there are plenty of other foods rich in both Vitamin A and beta-carotene to help your eye sight.  Other top sources of Vitamin A are egg yolk, cheddar cheese, and fortified milk.  Beta-carotene can be found in other fruits and vegetables with deep orange or yellow colors like cantaloupe, mangos, peaches, sweet potatoes, and apricots.  Pumpkins too have beta-carotene so as we enter into fall enjoy some pumpkin treats common this season to help your eyes.

Help dispel this myth and eat carrots!  Carrots may not completely be the answer though and you may need to buy eye glasses or contact lenses in Indianapolis or your home city to see clearly.  Carrots tend to be the best food though to help maintain good vision simply because they have both Vitamin A and beta-carotene.

Myth #2 is dispelled!

Blog By: Lauren Tavel

Showing your farm animals or simply working at the state fair takes a lot of hard work. The past few days (weeks really) Indiana has been overwhelmed with humidity, heat advisories and bright sunlight while those Indiana farmers and state fair employees stand around the Indiana State Fair without air conditioning all day and night!

Last week when I went to the fair, I only got a hint of what they have to cope with every day. Everyone was squinting.  As I began eating my ear of corn and walking around with my Purifier polarized sunglasses on, I looked at everybody’s faces. Tinted lenses only reduce the amount of light our eyes can notice and help our eyes to avoid squinting, but they don’t block out that blinding glare. Why waste the money on sunglasses that don't completely work for you? Clip-on’s and Fit-over’s are a hassle to those who are on the move for most of the day like those at the fair. And that’s only the beginning of why Purifier polarized lenses are the way to go for sunglasses.

I have a friend that shows dairy cattle at the state fair. He knows polarized Purifier lenses are the best for all outdoor activities. His Purifier lenses change from a copper color to fight the road glare while driving providing sharper and clearer images on the way into Indianapolis, and then become a dark reddish brown color to better block the bright light when outside in the sun.  His sunglasses when outside help to create more vibrant and alive colors in the fair conditions while unloading his cows into the cattle barn. Polarized Purifier sunglasses also protect your eyes from harmful UV radiation.

Being at the fair all day, I noticed how much polarized Purifier lenses become a necessity around 6 o’clock as the sun sets. Can you imagine having to work all day in the blazing heat on top of the reflecting light off the pavement?  All of the garbage collectors, policemen and first aid workers at the fair riding around on the golf carts would benefit greatly from Purifier polarized lenses. Polarized lenses can help them get around the fair crowd safely. Without the glare, they would be sure not to hit anyone!

So bring on the sunshine Indiana and remember to wear Purifier polarized sunglasses at the fair! 

Fair ends on Sunday!  The bright sun doesn't leave when the fair does though so be sure to block the glare from your eyes and wear Purifier polarized sunglasses!
 

Blog by: Lauren Tavel

Your eyesight is vital. As one of the five senses we value, it is important to care for your eye health and prevent any vision loss. The first step in doing so is choosing an eye doctor that’s best suited for your needs. Whether it’s simply scheduling annual eye exams to check for diseases and infections, or getting glasses and lenses or premium contact lenses, you want an eye doctor that is qualified, has the right training and experience, and offers the services you need.  An eye care doctor should be knowledgeable, and show genuine care for his or her patients’ health.

Either your optometrist (OD) or ophthalmologist (DO or MD) should be certified through an accredited medical institution and should be licensed to practice through the state board of optometry or state medical board. Out of Dr. Tavel’s twenty-two eye care doctors, we have twenty one certified optometrists and one ophthalmologist that are licensed to practice. Our Columbus eye doctors are optometrists as well as our Bloomington, Indianapolis and Anderson eye doctors.  Our ophthalmologist, Dr. Regenstreif, works at our Kokomo location.

But which one is right for you; an optometrist or an ophthalmologist?  Both kinds of doctors can help you take care of your vision and protect your sight for the future.  Optometrists specialize in vision services such as eye examinations, treatment of conditions like amblyopia and strabismus, and diagnose conditions such as glaucoma, macular degeneration, and conjunctivitis. Optometrists can prescribe medications for specific eye conditions, prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses and can aid in diagnosing eye diseases and injury prevention services.  An ophthalmologist provides complete vision care including eye exams, medical and surgical eye care for instances such as glaucoma, iritis, chemical burns, cataracts, crossed eyes, tumors, trauma and more. They can diagnose and treat eye conditions related to diseases like diabetes, arthritis or brain conditions, offer eye disease preventative services and some offer plastic surgery.

So which eye care doctor is right for you? Come in to any of our Indiana vision centers and talk to our doctors for more information on eye health. At Dr. Tavel we aim to do much more than correct your vision; we also help you protect your vision. We go beyond the standard eye exam because we care about your health.  Choose one of our many qualified eye doctors today!

Blog By: Calli Connor, Fisher's Office

“We had a patient come in who has been a Dr. Tavel patient for years. She mostly wears contacts lenses because she absolutely hates wearing her glasses as her prescription is so different for each eye. This patient actually had no Rx in one eye and was extremely farsighted in her other eye, making one of her eyes look extremely magnified when she did wear glasses. So I explained to her that there are special lenses called Kodak Aspheric lenses that will help lessen the magnification on her eyes and balances the lenses out for her comfort. The patient agreed to try out these lenses with a plastic Ted Baker frame (the Ted Baker B825-Razor Fish/ Clear Brown), and upon receiving her glasses she was so excited that she went around the office showing all of the patients how great her glasses looked, and how her eyes looked the same! She now wears her glasses more than her contacts and can see clearly while also having a new fashionable look.”

Glasses are a great fashion accessory especially for back-to-school and the start of fall.  Find a pair and change your look today at Dr. Tavel!
 

Contact lenses-a harmful medical device?  Apparently so according to a study released by the U.S.  Food and Drug Administration last week, contact lenses topped the list of medical devices causing injuries to children.  About 34,000 eye problems related to contacts were reported in the study which said 70,000 children go to emergency rooms each year from injuries and complications from medical devices.

Contact lenses, placed directly on the eye, were reported to cause infections and eye abrasions in children coming into the emergency room.  Injuries such as these are usually preventable with correct contact lens wear and compliance.  Contact lenses are overwhelmingly popular with younger crowds as they don’t make a sometimes dramatic fashion statement like glasses can.

Complying with contact lens wear is one of the ways injuries like those reported can be omitted.  Routinely cleaning lenses and not wearing them for prolonged periods of time reduces any risk for injury but sometimes tasks like these prove difficult for young contact wearers.  Allaboutvision.com offers a handy guide for contact basics and how to take care of your eyes when wearing contact lenses.

Children though may do best with daily disposable lenses that are easier to maintain as cleaning lenses is removed from their routine.  Lenses like these however cannot be worn for extended periods of time and must be thrown away.  Talking with your eye care doctor about lifestyle and expectations for your contact lenses can help choose which type is best for you and leave you injury free!
 

School buses will start making their daily stops very soon here in Indiana as school doors open and summer officially ends.  For many students in Indianapolis school begins the second week of August and for many others like those in Anderson, Bloomington or Columbus, Indiana school will start shortly afterwards.

As backpacks are being brought out of their summer vacation spots and dusted off or newly purchased, many school supplies are being purchased to use for the long days of studying ahead.  Sports practices have begun which typically coincide with routine physicals to ensure student athletes are healthy to participate.  But what about the health of students eyes and routine eye exams?

Overlooked at times in this rush for back-to-school, vision eye centers and eye examinations should top the list for returning students as they prepare to hit the books and playgrounds for the school year.  Their eyes will need to be able to focus on academic material on the chalk board, text book, or computer screen.

A children’s eye exam can help detect if glasses or contacts are needed for reading or even prolonged use of a computer screen.  Nearly 1 in 4 students has a vision problem that could hinder their performance in school. Vision problems can be detected by a  member of Dr. Tavel’s team of eyecare doctors during a children’s eye exam and fixed with glasses or contacts.

Find a Dr. Tavel location near your school and make sure your student’s supply of sight is ready for school to begin!

 

Blog By: Lauren Tavel

End of July, beginning of August… it’s definitely school supply or dorm room shopping season. For those recent high school graduates, not only are many of you shopping for your first year of college, you’re shopping for a new home away from home. I learned this last year as I moved into dorms at Indiana University Bloomington (IUB) to begin my freshman year.  While I really wanted my dorm to look cool and fashionable, I learned quickly that you also want it to be practical.  After all, you will be doing a lot of your “living” in your dorm room like waking up for 8 am classes, hanging laundry, watching movies, eating snacks, studying late at night for midterms and writing ten-page papers for hours in a pretty compact space.  You want to make the most of it and fill your room with practical things.

So as important as it is to get plastic drawers, note cards, pens, a shower caddy along with towels, pillow shams and comforter, one of the most important pieces of advice I can offer an incoming student would be to get your eyes checked before school starts to help you see your awesome dorm room and of course all of your text books clearly. At IUB (and many other universities) the library is open practically 24/7, with few exceptions. I cannot count the number of nights I have spent sitting on the quiet study floor for hours staring at my computer screen and reading. There never seems to be enough hours in the day to get everything I wanted accomplished and many hours of sleep were sacrificed for good grades. However the greatest time investment I made last summer was getting an eye examination by a Dr. Tavel optometrist. From getting a back-to-school eye examination, I was prescribed for glasses to help my eyes stay focused when they are tired to help avoid headaches when I’m studying late hours.  One of the best school supplies I bought were some fun glasses to fit my style. So while getting to your closest office supply store first for the best deals on pens, folders and planners before they run out is definitely a top priority with back to school shopping, be sure to stop in to Dr. Tavel and visit an eye doctor so you too can pick out the best looking eyeglasses and premium contact lenses before you go back to school.

Starting today at all Dr. Tavel locations you can get two pairs of glasses and an eye exam for $99.98-one of the best Back-To-School deals in Indiana! Get ready for a great year!
 

I want your love, and I want your revenge; You and me could write a bad romance.  Infamous song lyrics by pop-music artist Lady Gaga to the global chart topping hit song “Bad Romance;” a song that has helped make Lady Gaga one of the most popular artists today all over the world. 

Tonight at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Gaga fans will get to see the American star perform in a show that according to the star’s website will still have the disco balls, hot pants, sequins, and stilettos, known favorites of Gaga, but with a more fine tuned approach and a fierce structure. 

Hoosiers are bound to hear the hit, “Bad Romance” tonight, a song that has many young fans risking their eye sight to mimic the star’s music video cartoon eyes.  Gaga’s eyes in the song’s music video appear to be large and circular, inspired from Japanese cartoons “Anime” and young girls everywhere are buying illegal contacts to make this fashion statement.

Called “Circle Contact Lenses,” these contacts cover a portion of the whites of the eye making the eye appear large and round like a cartoon’s.  According to an ABC News report, these lenses are not FDA approved which has many eye care doctors concerned about their popularity and usage, especially among young Gaga fans who are illegally buying the colored lenses online for $20 and changing them in and out like earrings.

Wearers of these illegal contacts run the risk of potentially losing their eye sight if worn for extended amounts of time or if fitted improperly which could scratch the cornea damaging vision. It is impossible to have these “Circle Contact Lenses” fitted properly as they are bought online and not prescribed through an optometrist.  Quite the risk for making a fashion statement, but one that many are making as they sing along Rah, rah ah, ah, ah; Roma, roma, ma; Gaga, ooh, la, la; Want your bad romance.

Being new to the optical industry I have faced quite the learning curve when it comes to the vocabulary used with frames, styles, lenses-just about everything.  Coming into the field, however, I do know that glasses can make or break an outfit sometimes and can truly be worn as a fashion statement.  A pair of glasses can help define an owner’s personality as they help them see their world and while doing so the glasses give the owner a way to express themselves.  The lenses technically help the owner see and the frames hold the lenses and together it makes a pair of glasses.  Voila!

Simple right?  It would seem but there is a lot more that goes into getting a pair of glasses; it goes beyond any frame style or lens prescription and it starts with each patient’s personal lifestyle.  Something each Dr. Tavel patient completes upon coming to an office is a case history form.  This form would seem to be a standard data collection form found at any medical office but upon looking further it is not. 

Glasses or contacts are something you wear (usually) every day; they impact your physical appearance as others see you and they help you see clearly.  To this end, the Visual Needs Assessment found on the Dr. Tavel case history form is valuable to fill out completely as it asks questions like “what type of work do you do?” and “what are your hobbies?”  Answering these questions with as much detail as possible is key to help ensure you get appropriate eyewear fit for your lifestyle.  For instance, I love to run outside and will soon be training for a marathon.  Writing that on the case history form and telling my optician helps me learn about Dr. Tavel Purifier sunglasses that will reduce any glare I see while training. 

“Do you participate in: basketball, football, watching TV, driving, etc?”  You bet I do, so by marking these down on the form I can have another conversation about my lifestyle with the optician.  Finally “Do you use a computer, power tools, welding/industrial equipment, chemicals, other?”  On this one I honestly only use a computer daily (although at times when I feel quite adventurous I attempt to use a power drill to fix something in my apartment).  Answering this question helps my optician know what kind of things I’ll need my glasses for so in my case a specific pair of computer glasses would be ideal for my extended screen time at work.

Filling out the Dr. Tavel case history form and talking about these kinds of questions with my optician is clearly imperative to make certain I choose the right type of glasses fit for my life.  It also helps Dr. Tavel provide me the Best Eyecare, Best Eyewear….and that is a promise from the doctor!
 

School has been let out for the summer and if the month of July is anything like the month of June in Indiana we can expect HOT days and stormy nights.  Summer days for many kids are full of afternoons at the pool, playing outside, playing video games, and watching movies.  Days full of fun! 

But too much fun can have harmful effects such as sunburn, cuts and bruises, and from inside play like with video or computer games possible eye strain.  Video games are definitely a crowd pleaser among kids as they are typically interactive, molded to a player’s preferences, skill based, and can spark the imagination to a fantasy world by just the click of a button.  Too much “screen” time though can cause eye strain which can be induced by poor posture and lighting in a room as well as the extended time staring at a screen.

Eye strain according to ehow.com includes symptoms such as eye dryness, sore or itchy sensations, sensitivity to light, and blurred or double vision.  Children and adults alike are prone to symptoms such as these from staring at TV or computer screens for long periods of time, yet children’s increasingly excessive screen time use (peaking in the summer months) makes them much more prone to this kind of eye strain.  The recommended screen time use specifically for video games is one hour with breaks within the hour to avert eyes away from the screen to focus on something else. Taking these breaks will help reduce eye strain symptoms and possibly eye strain all together.

Best cures for eye strain?  Get up and go outside!  If inside, board games, books, arts and crafts can keep kids occupied with less focus on screens that cause the eye strain.  Visit an eye center.  By visiting an eye care doctor and getting an eye examination, eye strain can be reduced if glasses or contacts are needed and eyes can be checked to ensure proper sight for future video games and the other fun activities summer brings.  Also coming in for an eye exam this month ensures that once school begins again your student not only see’s properly at home with homework and fun video games but inside the classroom.

Blindness or low vision affects 3.3 million Americans over the age of 40, or 1 in 28. This figure is projected to reach 5.5 million by the year 2020. The study identifies age-related macular degeneration (AMD), glaucoma, cataract and diabetic retinopathy as the most common eye diseases in Americans age 40 and over.

Worse yet, another study shows that most Americans don’t know the risks and warning signs of diseases that could cause blindness. In the "Survey of Public Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Related to Eye Health and Disease," sponsored by the National Eye Institute and the Lions Clubs International Foundation, 71 percent of respondents said that eye sight loss would have the greatest impact on their day-to-day lives, but only eight percent knew that there are few early warning signs of glaucoma.

The answer is pretty simple, get in to see your Indianapolis or Indiana eye doctor and follow the mantra of "check yearly, see clearly."

To celebrate Dr. Tavel's newest Indiana Vision Center, we are offering a Grand Opening Contact Lens Sale at all Indianapolis Optical locations as well as all Vision Eye Centers across Indiana.  This sale is spectacular for anyone who currently wears premium contact lenses or for anyone who is interested in wearing contacts for the first time.  For $99.98, we are offering the following:

• Comprehensive Eye Examination
• Contact Lens Fitting Exam
• 2 boxes of Acuvue Oasys premium contact lenses
• One month supply of contact lens solution
• Fashion Sunglasses

Thursday afternoon in my Astronomy course, I sat with a friend of mine who happens to be color blind. Now, if you know anything about astronomy you'll probably note that it has a lot to do with the visible light spectrum, the spectrum of colors that appears when white light is broken down by  a prism (ROY G. BIV ring a bell?).  Anyway, as we were viewing the array of colors produced by various elements, my friend turned to me and said "this would be so much easier if I had normal vision."

Normal vision? What does that even mean? Being able to see colors? Getting a regular eye examination? Not having to buy eyeglasses? There are so many dimensions to "normal vision" that it's hard to decide what exactly that constitutes.  

The truth is, "normal vision" does not mean "perfect vision."  According to the Vision Council of America, over 75% of the population wears some sort of corrective lenses.  This means, the norm is not perfect vision, but corrected vision. However, normal vision can go awry relatively quickly without having regular eye exams. But, if you follow the simple rule "Check yearly. See Clearly."  you can count on having true normal vision for a long time.