Smart Specs Glasses Could Help the Blind See

03/16/2017

Smart Specs were developed by scientists in the UK to capture real-time images and enhance the contrast for legally blind individuals. There are many levels of blindness and about 90% of people labeled as ‘blind’ have some degree of sight. Smart Specs look like binoculars or ViewFinders with a strap that keeps them secured to your head. The idea for Smart Specs originated from 3D cameras originally developed for the Xbox to capture real-time images. The images are contrast-enhanced and displayed on a screen in front of the user’s eyes. Dark things become black, while bright things become white. Far away objects are simply erased to reduce visual clutter. Objects that would normally blend into each other like a sofa, carpet, and dog of the same color, would be more clearly identifiable as 3 distinct objects. Hannah Thompson, a legally … Read More

Your Eyes Speak Volumes – Why Visiting your Eye Doctor could save your Life!

01/21/2016

You could imagine a visit to the eye doctor improving your vision but you probably never pictured it could save your life. Well, it can! Your eyes hold amazing cues to your overall health which your eye doctor can easily see and interpret. These cues can be a tell-tale of hypertension, high cholesterol, melanoma or high blood sugar. Your eye doctor could detect a serious health problem such as high cholesterol if he notices yellowish plaques within the retinal blood vessels or he could suspect high blood pressure if your eyes arteries are showing  a silver or copper coloring. If not caught early, blood vessels in the retina and throughout the body may harden, increasing your risk for heart attack or stroke. Leaky blood vessels might be a sign of diabetes. High blood sugar can clog and damage retinal blood … Read More

Is Smoking Making you Blind?

07/13/2015

Is it possible smokers delay quitting because the damage to their arteries, lungs and heart is not readily visible? Perhaps seeing (or more accurately, not seeing) the detrimental effects of smoking would make more people quit smoking sooner. If you need visible (or rather not visible…as in blinding) proof smoking has appalling effects on your health, you don’t need to go further than your eyes. As with the rest of your body, smoking has an appalling effect on your vision. If you smoke and need a few more reasons still to quit smoking, here are 5 reasons: Smokers have double the chances of getting cataracts, a clouding of the eye’s lens, and have triple the chances of developing macular degeneration, a blind spot in the center of our vision. The more you smoke, the greater your chances of forming cataracts … Read More

Low Vision Aids – Low Vision Products -Solar Shield -Amber Fits over Sunglasses help Improve Low Vision

05/08/2015

Low vision is described as having partial vision, such as blurred vision, blind spots or tunnel vision and even blindness. Low vision makes daily life difficult and can interfere with reading, writing, shopping, watching television, driving a car or recognizing faces and cannot be corrected through surgery, medication, glasses or contact lenses. Low vision can manifest in many forms: Central vision allows us to look directly at something and distinguish sharp detail.  Macular degeneration (AMD) and Diabetic retinopathy can affect central vision. Peripheral vision enables us to see everything surrounding the focal point. Glaucoma and strokes affect peripheral vision. Contrast sensitivity is the ability to distinguish between objects of similar tones such as facial features. Most eye problems can affect contrast sensitivity. Depth perception permits us to judge the position of objects in relation to one another. Poor depth perception … Read More

UV (Ultraviolet) Light and Eye-Health

03/06/2014

Nearly 22 million Americans over 40 have cataracts. Over 2.3 million Americans over 40 are affected by glaucoma. More than 2 million Americans have macular degeneration. Long term exposure to UV rays – natural from the sun or artificial from tanning beds and other sources, causes damage to your eyes. The damage can range from snow blindness (Photokeratitis) to eye cancer. UV light exposure has a cumulative effect on the eyes. Damage to your eyes today, leads to eye-health problems tomorrow. UVA light can penetrate deeper into the eye and skin than UVA rays. UVA can affect your central vision and damage the macula (part of the retina in the back of the eye). Everyone is at risk of eye damage from UV light Look for sunglasses that are Polarized which means they block glare Wear sunglasses even on overcast … Read More