Talking about the last 20 years.

Claire McDonald (L) and Sally Adams

Claire McDonald and Sally Adams reflect on the last twenty years practicing optometry in Warkworth.

Sally Adams (SA): When you were setting up the practice what was the main driver?

Claire McDonald (CM): There was tremendous appeal in being able to follow the entire process through. To examine someone’s vision, then provide a solution (glasses), and anticipate seeing them again in the future really interested me. I was strongly influenced by my early working experience with optometrists who had been in their practices for many years, had long term relationship with the people who came to them, and took pride in doing a good job with care.

CM: What appealed to you about optometry at the start?

SA: I started wearing glasses and eye patching therapy from 4 years old so I grew up with optics. I guess I understood first hand how optometry was a way of helping people.

CM: What do you enjoy about your role as an optometrist?

SA: Helping each person make a positive difference to their day to day life through the way they use their vision.

CM: During the last twenty years our ‘scope of practice’ has changed a lot, especially training to be therapeutic optometrists, who can treat different types of eye problems. We used to refer these cases to the Eye Clinic or GP. How did you find the study?

SA: Study was a challenge to balance with 2 young children, then aged four and seven, as well as work! But the greater depth of knowledge is invaluable in my day to day practice, and I realised an ability to take on new challenges.

CM: I agree, it was a big step to be back at University, nerves around exams had not diminished! We were suckers for punishment though, continuing beyond the required papers to complete Post Grad Diplomas!

SA: Yes that was an achievement. Then that study spread into my learning in behavioural optometry and vision therapy.

CM: I see that first hand; behavioural optometry and vision therapy has expanded and changed the way you work. Added new strings to your bow alongside our more typical caseload.

SA: Yes I guess it has been the same for your with Ortho-K* and Glaucoma.

CM: Exactly. With Ortho-K it has been exciting to add new technology to skills and experience in fitting contact lenses and realise we can make a real difference in myopia control for young people. Science and research is giving us some powerful clinical tools which are already here, not some future yet to be developed solution.

SA: How have you found working at the University of Auckland Clinic seeing Glaucoma patients?

CM: It is good to go and work in a different environment, keeps my skills up I guess. I can see now optometry fits in Glaucoma management, alongside Ophthalmology.**

SA: Twenty years is bit of a milestone here on the main street of Warkworth, it begs the question how much longer will we be here?

CM: I think there is still passion in our work, I think we’ll be here for a while yet.

*Rigid contact lenses worn overnight to correct vision

** Ophthalmologists are Doctors who are Eye Specialists

Avatude - Blue light filtering glasses

Not all blue light is bad - some exposure is good for our health. 

Sunlight is the main source of blue light but there are also man-made sources. Fluorescent and LED lighting, flat-screen televisions, computers, smartphones and other digital devices all emit significant amounts of blue light. The amount of blue light from these devices is small compared to what comes from the sun. But the amount of time that people spend, with a these devices at close range, raises concerns about possible long-term effects of blue light over-exposure on eye health.

We are mindful of potential long term health effects of prolonged exposure to blue light, and the short term disruptive effects blue light may have on our daily circadian rhythms. Blue light exposure is implicated in eye strain symptoms, dry eyes and can interfere with sleep patterns. We experience comfort and relief when it is filtered out. This is an easy step if you are already wearing glasses, but what if you don’t need personalized prescription lenses?

 Avatude are glasses with optical grade, blue light filtering lenses. These are going to prove popular for anyone spending long hours on screens, including children. Available in a variety of frame styles, sizes, powered and non prescription lenses – there is something for everyone.

Computer games to help visually Impaired

A new computer game could help visually-impaired children lead independent lives. Better still, Eyelander is freely available online.

Computational neuroscientist Jonathan Waddington, from WESC, and Timothy Hodgson, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Lincoln’s School of Psychology are the game developers. Eyelander is designed to help young people with visual field loss caused by Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) – usually the result of a brain injury rather than damage to the eye itself – to use their vision more effectively.

The game trains players to move their eyes more efficiently by finding the correct colourful shape in a range of competing colours and shapes at different positions. They are led by an animated avatar and encouraging words motivate players.

According to the developers, this kind of activity is often not viable for children with functional vision problems because of complications viewing screen graphics.

Through regular practice, the exercises can improve performance in daily activities such as walking more safely in a crowded environment. Researchers believe that playing 10 times over four weeks may give users improvement in their functional vision.

“Functional vision is used to perform everyday tasks such as safely crossing the road or finding a book on a bookshelf, but when the visual pathways between the brain and the eyes are interrupted, the messages aren’t correctly relayed and the visual field becomes reduced,” said Mr. Waddington.

“We wanted to take existing therapies used to rehabilitate adults with visual field loss and make them more engaging for younger participants. We developed a prototype game with input from the residents of our school, and spent two years testing it with NHS patients before working with a professional games developer to create a browser game.”

The WESC Foundation is now asking for visually impaired young people to play the game and take part in further research to advance their understanding of the complex challenges faced by young people with visual field loss. Anyone can register to play the game free online. With parental permission, data collected will be analysed by the WESC research team to determine the impact of completing the therapy.

Prof. Hodgson said: “We are very hopeful that this game will provide not only a real solution to help people live a fuller, more adaptive life, but also offer a bit more fun for the eye training tasks they have to do.”

To take part in the trial, contact JWaddington@wescfoundation.ac.uk

To play the game, visit www.eyelander.co.uk.

Recycle Your Contact Lens Packaging - Leave It With Us

Plastic bags and packaging are much talked about at the moment! So if you want to reduce your plastic waste this year remember we can recycle your contact lens packaging. These are small items but every little bit helps.

Most disposable contact lens blisters are classified #5/PP Plastic, a designation shared by a wide range of medical and food packaging. Save these and drop them in to us for recycling. 

The cartons and cardboard packing are recyclable paper and can go in your regular household collection. The small piece of foil topping is the only part of packaging which should be discarded. Remember used contact lenses themselves go in the bin - not down the sink. Just one more way we can help protect our environment.

Peeps

We love Peeps!. This handy, easy to use glasses cleaner is compact for your pocket, hand bag, car, desk, wherever! Grease and fingerprints on your lenses are gone in seconds

How does it work?? Peeps use unique carbon pads which absorb oil. The technology is literally out of this world - it was used for cleaning lenses on the Space Station. The pads in Peeps recharge and work up to 500 times.

Does blurry distance vision mean you are short sighted?

Behavioural Optometrist Sally Adams shares Vision Therapy case notes. 

Paul, aged 8 years, came to see me because he could not read what his teacher had written on the board, and he was having headaches. His eye examination showed he was not short sighted, even though his  vision was blurry to the extent he would have failed the driving vision test, and his 3D vision was reduced.

Paul’s focus was not flexing normally and his eye movements for reading were not smooth. So he was not focussed on where he was looking, making reading a struggle.

Vision therapy for Paul was two fold; he started using reading glasses to reduce focusing stress, combined with vision exercises to improve the flexibility and accuracy of his focusing and eye tracking system. Within only a few weeks Paul’s distance vision returned to better than 20/20, his 3D vision returned to normal, and his headaches had reduced.  The next step was to help him maintain this improvement so he would not suffer with the same problems again. He worked through 12 sessions of vision therapy with me for 30 minutes each week, while at home he completed 10 to 15 minutes of vision activities each day. With practice and commitment Paul’s vision system is automatically working efficiently which means he sees clearly and comfortably.

Names have been changed for privacy reasons.