Optometry Services

We will refer you to local optometrists to provide you with primary eyecare.

 

Why Should You Have Your Vision Checked Regularly?

Besides the normal developmental process of our vision system there is also the heavy use of screens today which can affect gradual changes in our vision system.

 

Each decade of life has specific concerns we watch for!

 

 

Children (to age 19 years)

  • As your children grow and develop, the vision system also develops. 

  • From infancy, we learn to use our eyes just as we learn to walk. Most often visual development happens spontaneously, but as high as 20% of the time, it does not. 

  • When vision development lags behind  high visual demands in a school setting, this is a set-up for struggling in school starting in the early grades.

  • Routine eye checks will help spot poor visual development.

  • Binocularity or eye teaming issues emerge here, and this is all part of poor visual development.                                                      

  • Myopia or nearsightedness often emerges now.  The option of wearing contact lenses starts here.

  • Eye disease is rare in this age group but it is not unheard of and early detection is best.

 

Early Adult ( age 20 to 39)

  • With heavy screen demands, spectacle prescriptions can change during these years.  Optimal visual acuity and comfort can be provided with the right spectacles.

 

Adult ( age 40 to 49)

  • At this stage, the need for reading glasses starts to happen.

  • Dry eyes can be an issue that make your eyes feel stingy and occasionally blurry especially with screen time.

 

Older Adult ( age 50 and up)

  • Eye health checks get more important, as often the changes are very subtle, so regular eye checks can alert you to a developing condition faster than when eyes are checked rarely.

  • With subtle eye health changes noted, you receive a head’s up about something that is going on, and what you can do for prevention.

  • Mild cataracts can start happening here, which make one see more glare at night.

  • One may notice that their vision is not as good as it used to be; this could be a spectacle change or mild cataracts.

  • You receive a Glaucoma check every time you come in for a full eye exam; this is a fairly common eye disease that you don’t know you have since it develops rather gradually, with  gradual loss of peripheral vision.

  • Your macula is assessed each time for macular degeneration, another  common eye disease.   This condition causes blurred vision that does NOT go away with glasses.

 

If an eye disease is found, we are able to prescribe eye drops for infections or inflammation. If we find a disease that requires further treatment beyond our scope, we will refer you to a group of very capable ophthalmologists in the region and co-manage your case with them.

 

If you like the idea of eliminating glasses AND contact lenses from your life, we can talk about Laser vision correction and determine if it is right for you.  We manage your case before and after the actual laser vision procedure in cooperation with the Laser Centre.   

 

 

How efficiently is your vision system functioning?

This is a consideration in all ages.

Besides how clearly you see, we assess how comfortable and efficient your vision is.  For instance, do you get headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, double vision when you read? Eye teaming or binocularity can be the problem with these kinds of symptoms, and we also check this out in all ages.

 

We provide specialized assessment and treatment for people who have had concussion, whiplash and brain injury. We also provide special assessment and treatment for learning-related vision problems including ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, reading and tracking challenges.

 

Vision Therapy Can Assist With Many Challenges!

Not every vision problem is correctable with glasses. Sometimes vision therapy is the treatment required for better visual functioning.

 

Vision Therapy is an individualized program of vision activities carried out in a particular sequence to improve your visual system through the scientific process of neuroplasticity!

 

Vision therapy programs can also be designed to reduce your dependence on glasses.

 

Conditions that are helped by vision therapy include (but not limited to):

  • Amblyopia or Lazy Eye

  • Convergence Insufficiency (near vision disorder)

  • Diplopia (double vision)

  • Lack of Stereopsis (two-eyed depth perception)

  • Strabismus (cross-eyed, wandering eye, eye turns, etc.)

  

Light Colour Therapy

 

A very important part of the vision therapy program at The Eye Clinic, is optometric syntonic phototherapy, a very powerful application that helps speed up progress in a vision therapy program. The child looks at a light of a particular frequency (colour) for 20 minutes a day 5 days a week, preferably just before going to bed. Most kids are quite happy with this part of the therapy, especially if a caregiver reads to them while they stare at the light therapy unit provided.

  

Light of different frequencies (or colours) have different effect on the visual system.  Some colours stimulate, others relax and other colour combinations, stimulate AND relax the visual system at the same time. The colour choices are based on the original diagnoses of the visual skills evaluation. The colour filters may be changed as the visual system changes during a vision therapy program.  

Approximately every eight weeks, the optometrist in charge of the vision therapy program will evaluate your child’s progress. Sometimes, we will start to see changes as early as that eight weeks.