Do you ever experience discomfort in your eyes, such as dryness, itchiness, a gritty feeling, or excessive tearing? These symptoms can be more than just a minor nuisance; they are signs that your eyes might not be functioning optimally. To support good vision and comfort, every part of the eye must work harmoniously. When something goes awry, it is essential to understand why and how we can address it.

When there is a disruption in the balance, or a decrease in quality or quantity of these layers, discomfort can occur, alongside noticeable symptoms such as red eyes or the presence of residue. Symptoms may include dryness, itchiness, a gritty sensation, or even excessive tearing. For instance, a deficient aqueous layer can lead to dryness, while compromised quality or quantity of the lipid layer can cause various sensations from stinging to grittiness, or even tearing of the eyes.

Dry eye syndrome can stem from a variety of risk factors. Aging is a natural cause as tear production diminishes over time, making older adults more susceptible. Allergies, hormonal shifts (notably during menopause), and lifestyle choices such as the overuse of eye makeup or long-term contact lens wear can disrupt tear film balance. Chronic conditions like blepharitis, inflammation of the eyelids, further complicate matters.

Fortunately, these uncomfortable conditions can be remedied, though recovery time may vary based on the duration and severity of the issue. Age can also influence the healing process, with older individuals potentially requiring longer time to recover. However, with consistent and proper care, it is possible to restore your eyes to their optimal state.

Embarking on the journey towards relief from eye discomfort can be daunting, but understanding the current state of your eyes is the crucial first step. For instance, if you experience stinging when applying eye drops, it might indicate that your eyes lack adequate moisture. Conversely, persistent redness without sensation may signal a more complex path to recovery. Selecting the appropriate eye drops for your condition can also be challenging. Various options are available, each serving different purposes. Regular drops such as Theratears, Evolve and Hylo-Forte aim to supplement poor tear quality and enhance the aqueous layer. Others like Theratears Gel and Vit-A-POS are designed for night use only, thereby maintaining eye moisture for longer periods. Using the wrong type of eye drops can exacerbate the issue rather than alleviate it. Therefore, it’s essential to identify your specific needs and choose the appropriate drops accordingly.

Optometrists typically employ several strategies to address these common eye concerns. Simple dry eye treatments may involve nutritional supplements, hot compress, lid wash and various eyedrops. They are effective, though more time consuming and take longer to have an effect. Alternatively, new technological advances like the Rexono Eye Treatment and Meibomask Eye Treatment stand out as effective solutions and shorten the treatment timeframe. These treatments target the underlying causes of discomfort, aiming to restore the natural balance of the eye’s protective layers.

For a deeper dive into these treatments and more detailed advice on managing dry eye symptoms, refer to our comprehensive guide: “Dry Eye Treatments.” Remember, proper eye care is crucial for maintaining not just your vision but also your overall quality of life. If you are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned, consult an optometrist to explore your treatment options and/or call us to book an appointment.

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Dry eyes can be caused by one’s general diet, the use of contact lenses, or in women, by using mascara, which can often block the outflow of oil channels in the eye. Middle age women’s eye moisture can also be affected by menopause. To treat dry eyes there used to only be artificial tears (like ‘Thera Tears’), which would replenish the water component in the eyes, and we’d teach people to do daily eyelid scrubs with a gentle Aloe-based liquid soap that over time cleared away the bad quality oil that had hardened as a crust on the lid lashes. (This yellow tinged crust is often only seen via enlarged magnification of the eye.)

It was difficult for eyelid scrubbing to be very effective on its own, as it’s hard to put much direct pressure on the eye. The process also takes a long time before you can see results – after you massage/clean your eyelids on a daily basis, we check the eyes every few months to see if any improvements have occurred. While effective in the long run, it’s a time consuming process, and we always felt something was missing – like a compliance issue wasn’t being addressed.

Visual Q Eyecare’s new in-house treatment is called Blephasteam, and it’s a specialised goggle that heats the eyelids up to a constant higher temperature. This melts the eye oil, allowing the optometrist to squeeze out bad oil stuck in the oil gland – a little like squeezing a pimple.

The Blephasteam process is more effective than previous methods, and it takes much less time to achieve results. After only a few 10-minute sessions the eyes feel better, and become noticeably whiter in appearance. From my own experience, I often had gritty eyes (it felt like there were eyelashes stuck in my eye, even when they weren’t there), but after treatment this feeling has lessened greatly, overall comfort has improved, and my vision is clearer.

Patients of Visual Q Eyecare have spoken of feeling less pressure on their eyes, less tiredness of the eyes, and clearer vision. To see if this new dry eye treatment is right for you, a good optometrist is needed to first ascertain your exact eye problem, and its subsequent treatment. If you are diagnosed as having dry eyes and this treatment deemed the most effective for your specific issue, it can be extremely beneficial.

Combined with changes to your diet, supplements (E.G ‘Thera Tears, an organic plant based protein Supplement, is great for boosting up the eyes’ tear reserves), and the eyelid scrub, the majority of patients report their dry eye problem as greatly improved, if not cured altogether. It should also be noted Blephasteam can also slowly reduce and then remove sties or cysts formed by clogged up oil glands in the eye. Call Visual Q Eyecare now to see if your days of having dry eyes are about to come to an end!

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Your best option is a Multi-Purpose Solution (MPS) that uses a special form of hydrogen peroxide such as Acuvue Revita solution or B&L BioTrue solution. Older versions of MPS were not as strong, but the newer types really do a great job.

When you clean your contact lenses, you need to be aware that the efficacy of each cleansing treatment only lasts for 3 to 5 days.  If you don’t wear your contact lenses for a week, you will need to clean them the night before you are planning to wear them again, essentially re-disinfecting before you wear. This has to be done, or all bacteria will not be successfully eliminated.

Also note that contact lens cases need to be replaced regularly.  Research has shown that bacteria and micro-organism do build up in the contact lens cases.  Therefore it is advisable to replace your contact lens case every month or whenever you finish a bottle of the Multipurpose cleaning solution.

Check with our in-house optometrist Susana to see which cleaning solution is best for you. Biotrue solution is good, as it includes more moisturising agent than most others. Acuvue Revita solution is also good, as it has strong cleaning attributes.

Remember to always check the expiry dates on your lens cleaning solution bottle, and once opened throw it away after a maximum of 3 months (this is quite a lenient time frame).

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Physical Fitting: As part of our extensive range of contact lens eye tests, first we measure the size of your eye. We then undertake a process of physical fitting, trying on a succession of different lens brands and styles. Next, we check under a Biomicroscope to see your lid lens iteraction, as various lenses (that are technically the same size and prescription) sit differently upon the eye.

Prescription: People that are short or far-sighted need a spherical shaped lens. Those with astigmatism use a ‘toric’ shaped lens. Did you know astigmatism affects 40% of the glasses-wearing population worldwide? It is not a disease; rather, the eyeball is shaped like a football. Not everyone with astigmatism needs to have his or her eyes corrected. Lastly, there are multifocal contact lenses for those aged 40 and above. These people have Presbyopia and need ‘reading glasses’.

Prescribing toric and multifocal contact lenses involves a number of complex and difficult procedures, which means more time in the optometrist’s chair. A lot of people fitted with these types of contact lenses are not getting the amount of time it takes to be fitted correctly. Statistics show only around half of these types of prescriptions are fitted to the correct specifications.

Modality: What is the main purpose for your contact lenses? Are you going to be wearing them everyday? If so, you’ll need either fortnightly or monthly soft lenses. If you want to use contact lenses only part-time, for example, while playing sports once a week, or for social occasions where you don’t want to be wearing glasses, daily contacts are the answer. These contact lenses do not need to be cleaned; you simply wear them once and then dispose of them. Note: Custom-made contact lenses made for people with odd eye sizes are unavailable in disposable form. These are usually offered in a single-year soft lens.

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The tear film lies in front of the eye and exists to protect our eyes from external agents like dust and small insects. This film actively flushes these unwanted substances away. Tear film is even more important to people that wear contact lenses, as you need a layer of tear film in between the contact lens and the eye’s cornea.

Oil and Water

Tear film has two main components – oil and water. We need water to consistently moisten (lubricate) the eye, but we also need the perfect balance of oil to sit in front of the water layer to stop it from evaporating. So, what can go wrong, thus causing dry eyes?

Quality and Quantity

If your eyes’ tear film is lacking in either oil or water, you have a ‘deficiency’. When the quality of the oil or water is inferior, you have a ‘dysfunction’. There are 4 main types of dry eyes, and sometimes you’ll have a combination of more than one.

The 2 most common types of dry eye relate to a quantity issue – you lack the correct amount of oil and/or water. This is a very prevalent issue amongst women over the age of 50. Long-term use of cosmetics, for example mascara, can contribute to this problem.

Types of Dry Eyes

The various types of dry eyes have a range of different symptoms, and we often see varying levels of severity from mild, moderate, to severe.

• If you have a constant redness in the eyes, most probably it’s a result of a deficiency of both water and oil compounds.

• When your eyes are hard to open in the morning because they’re sticky and feel gritty, the cause is often a poor quality oil component within the tear film.

• Watery eyes (weeping for no reason) are caused by a lack of oil in the tear film. This is rarely caused by an overabundance of water. The problem is, there is nothing to hold the water in the eye. People often say this couldn’t be a form of ‘dry eyes’ because their eyes are extremely wet, but the truth is, their eyes are dry in terms of oil content. We once had a patient who was a professor with very watery eyes. Can you imagine the embarrassment of constantly ‘crying’ in front of your peers and students?

Treatment Methods

Quantity: For moderate to severe problems we recommend the TheraTears Nutrition with Omega-3 dietary supplement. This helps tear production (quantity) for both water and oil components. As this treatment occurs within the body via nutritional supplement, it takes around 4 weeks before the effects kick in. On the other side of the coin, once you stop taking the supplement there is a carry-over effect of approximately 3 weeks.

Quality: When your oil glands are blocked due to low quality oil we need to cleanse the eyelids with eyelid cleansers like SteriLid Eyelid Cleanser. These unblock the tear ducts, and once the bad oil is removed the good oil beneath is able to come to the surface.

Eye drops: Visual Q Eyecare recommends use of different eyedrops depending on the severity of dryness and whether the water or oil component is involved.  These are Theratears drops, Theratears Gel, Evolve HP, Evolve CM and Oculocin.  We encourage a dry eye assessment to be performed prior to deciding on the most suitable eyedrop to be used.

Note: We sell many different eye care products, and there is no commercial reason that we are mentioning these brands. We do believe in these products. This is because we’ve completed extensive research with our customers on all of the products on the market for the various eye conditions, and we feel these simply do the best job.

Normal fish oil doesn’t have the same effect as the TheraTears Omega-3 nutritional supplement. Fish oil is good for helping your blood vessels, but it DOES NOT affect tear production.

Depending on the exact nature of your dry eye problem (water, oil, quality, quantity, severity), Visual Q decides on the best treatment for you. This could be a combination of all 3 treatments, 2, or just 1.

Many people we meet think there is nothing you can do about dry eyes when wearing contact lenses – they think it’s only normal. In the end, their eyes are white again, and it’s not rare for us to hear, ‘I never knew my eyes could feel like this.’ What we often don’t realise is this is an issue of comfort as well as appearance.

Warning: Please do not self-prescribe eye drops from the chemist. There is a big difference between having hayfever and dry eyes. Hayfever can be treated with an antihistamine – the redness disappears. However, if you have dry eyes in the long term these eye drops do more harm than good. You’re better off coming in to see an optometrist to find out the cause of your dry eye/red eye problem.

By Dr. Susana Liou

Thanks to Sandylp1 for the image!

The post Types of Dry Eyes appeared first on Visual Q Eyecare.

Essentially all optometrists use the same tools, just as most bread is made with flour and water, but a 15-minute eye test is never going to be as worthwhile as a comprehensive optometry analysis. At an express eye test the optometrist will quickly look at your eyes, work out your prescription, tell you what they think you need after reading the prescription’s numbers, and then send you out to a salesperson (who ironically then spends a lot of time selling you different types of frames and lenses).

The truth is, no eye test should ever be the same in terms of time taken, the number of different tests performed, and the types of tests done. At a quick eye test it’s a one-size-fits-all approach. Everyone gets the same assessment, and it’s cheap. In reality, no two people are exactly the same, so for the best outcome possible a comprehensive eye test is needed.

A truly comprehensive eye test cannot be rushed, because the optometrist takes their time discovering everything they can by talking to the patient. We look at what your unique problems are, and then perform specific eye tests tailored to these problems. Finally, we attempt to diagnose the cause of your sight or vision problem.

Patient and finicky optometrists know if a patient says that they have a problem, it’s whether or not the practitioner can discover the source of the problem that is important.

For example, we once had a patient whose ears would make a buzzing sound whenever he read a book. In order to find a new lens, we got him to read a book through both long-distance and short-distance lens combinations to see when his ears made the buzzing sound. Interestingly the ears didn’t buzz with all types of lenses.

The point here is, if you see a problem do you just check the sight, or do you take the time to look at the situation in more depth? Note: buzzing ears can be a side effect of poor vision, as the audio and visual parts of the brain are located in the same region.

Another case in point came from a mother who said her child had no visual problems. We ask questions and it results in important information being uncovered. For example, we asked if the child found it difficult to read, whether she skipped lines of text, and if she was a slow reader. We then found out the young girl had always been a poor reader, to the point that she was placed in a specialised reading group and even told to see a speech pathologist! These related points were discussed after the initial testing result; it was only then that the mother told us her child’s history.

What is most pertinent here is that the child would have passed a normal 15-minute eye test. It is for this reason that her vision problems were not picked up by the school nurse. The irony is some parents don’t share information because they don’t want there to be a problem. They want the optometrist to discover the problem on their own, not understanding that their assistance could help us find it.

In reality, the young girl had very strong eye muscles, which is why she would have passed the average eye test. Her eyes were strong enough to compensate for her farsightedness, but at the expense of her reading abilities. The solution was a long-sighted prescription. Once fitted with the right lenses she could see more clearly both near and far, thereby improving her reading abilities. So, do you want your eye test to simply tick the boxes, or to comprehensively assess, diagnose, and treat any potential problems?

A third instance came from a person that had just been given a new contact lens prescription, but who had incredibly red eyes. After discussion we discovered they’d always had red eyes when wearing contact lenses, but had never done anything about it. It’s strange that no other optometrist had said anything to him about his red eyes. The man had come to us not for a prescription, but simply just to re-order new contact lenses. However, I’m a fussy ‘busy body’ (in my own words), so I performed a number of tests to try and ascertain why he had such red eyes.

When it comes to contact lenses, you shouldn’t always give the patient the same brand they used previously. To find the best solution, you need to look through all of the brands and options. When the patient tries on each pair, we ask them how they feel. They often say, ‘They feel fine,’ as they’ve never known better, until we show them alternative choices. This time, all of a sudden we heard the words, ‘Wow, these feel great!’ We didn’t need to ask about his red eyes, and we didn’t need to try all of the different contact lenses – but we did, and he no longer has a problem that had plagued him for years.

When eating soup, you just need a spoon; you don’t need a knife or fork. Most optometrists have a lot of fancy tools that look very impressive, but the key is in knowing what needs to be used for each individual person. We know what we know, and if your issue needs a particular type of expert (E.G. for cataract surgery, glaucoma etc), we’ll refer you to a specialist. At Visual Q Eyecare we specialise in comprehensive eye tests.

To book an appointment for an eye test, use our Online Booking service, or if you prefer the traditional methods, give Visual Q Eyecare a call on 03 9866 3880, or come in and see us at 91 Toorak Road South Yarra, and you can be sure you’ll be receiving the best eye test possible.

By Susana Liou

Thanks to D’Oh Boy and jing.dong for the images.

The post Different Types of Eye Tests appeared first on Visual Q Eyecare.

The current percentage of people being corrected for this common eye issue is only around 20%, which means the remainder of people are walking around untreated. This isn’t a positive result, as having uncorrected astigmatism means your vision may not be as clear as it should be, and it can lead to complications in the future.

Uncorrected astigmatism often causes people to strain their eyes, which can cause headaches and ‘tired eyes’ if the lenses are worn for a prolonged period. You may also experience difficulty in focusing, resulting in negative changes to your prescription.

So, why isn’t everyone with astigmatism diagnosed and subsequently prescribed special contact lenses that combat the problem? Here are three main reasons:

1. Sadly, it’s harder to be properly fitted for this complex type of contact lens, and some optometrists lack understanding about the tests needed for the fitting process. Others don’t have the extra time needed for a proper fitting, as it requires longer chair time, and may involve further visits when the product needs to ordered in. There are a large number of combinations of astigmatism and their various associated short and far-sighted prescriptions. Therefore, the fitting process calls for more experience and a longer time to test different lens sizes and combinations.
2. This type of contact lens costs around 30% more than basic short/long-sighted ‘single vision’ contact lens. Some people don’t want to pay more, even though it’s going to improve their lives. The added expense is a reflection of the manufacturing costs for more elaborate and involved designs. Put simply, they are difficult products to create.
3. There are more restrictions in product availability. These contact lenses come in dailies, fortnightly and monthly options, plus you can have them custom made if your eyes’ shape and size don’t fall into one of those from the disposable range.

There are so many prescription and eye size combinations, and each manufacturer restricts the amount of combinations they produce. This means we have to check various brands to see what is available, and to work out the best size for the patient’s eyes.

It’s very challenging for the optometrist, as we need to find the best brand for the individual person, adjusting size options to discover the optimum combination. This issue is exacerbated by some optometry clinics that only sell a single brand. If your size isn’t there, chances are they’ll give you the closest size possible, but in truth it won’t be nearly as good as one from another brand’s range.

Conclusion:

You should shop around – not for the brand of astigmatism contact lens, but for an experienced optometrist. Some only use one brand, whereas there are at least 6 brands on the Australian market.

Visual Q has contact lens for astigmatism made by Bausch & Lomb, Johnson & Johnson, Ciba Vision, CooperVision, Gelflex and Menicon. It’s doubtful you’ll have an eye size/prescription combination that we can’t cover.

Even though we sell all 6 brands, Bausch & Lomb recently informed us that Visual Q is in the ‘Top 5’ for optometry clinics in the Eastern Victoria region that supply Bausch & Lomb astigmatism contact lenses! This is amazing. How many people are going undiagnosed?

You deserve the best sight possible with the most comfortable fit. Contact lenses are like shoes. Some ‘fit’, but they’re not the best fit. Like shoes, the same size can vary between brands. We don’t believe the size you’ve previously been prescribed will always fit you better than all of the available options. We need to compare different sizes and brands.

If you already know your size, we’ll check at least two brands. If we don’t, we’ll test 3 or 4 different combinations of brand, size, and prescription in order to find the best fit for you.

Note: Astigmatism contact lenses are sold in 3-month or 6-month supply packs, while dailies come in either sets of 30 or 90 pairs.

By Dr. Susana Liou

* Thanks to Ian Broyles for this image.

The post Can I Wear Contact Lens if I Have Astigmatism? appeared first on Visual Q Eyecare.

Frame Colours and Patterns: 

This year various tortoiseshell patterns have come back into circulation, with mottled mixtures of dark and brown stealing the show. Colourful acetates particularly blue are rocking American and European fashion catwalks, as is the continuing trend of matt colours as opposed to glossy shades.

Examples: Carter Bond is focusing on blues and horn colours together with thinner edges, whilst staying innovative with varying front and side colours to enhance the azure. Wayne Cooper is also focused on blue – offering slightly exposed metal hinges on acetate frames, the frames being refined and thin with smaller horns.

ProDesign’s Essential range emphasises crystalline pastel colours. The frames have see-through colours at the front or back, utilising more than one layer of colour upon another. Exciting! Both Jono Hennessy and Porsche Design are following the continuing trend of matt colours. The matt effect deepens and darkens the colour, making it subtler, and less ostentatious.

Retro Styling:

We don’t know if the hipster movement has anything to do with it, but 2021 is seeing a lot of retro styles coming back into fashion. Large and square is in, but these designs have also been refined from the days of old to fit into the modern era, using thinner edges and lines.

Examples: Australia’s Jono Hennessy is a master of retro styles, and in 2021 his attention is on exposing a part of the actual hinge, which results in the area looking like a symbol of sorts. Bape’s new frames are decidedly retro too. Wayne Cooper, Carter Bond, and Rodenstock have all designed ranges with extremely thin edges on their frames.

Shapes – Cat’s Eyes:

Traditional cat’s eyes shapes are back for 2021, but again these are softer shapes than back in the 1970’s. The shape is often subtly rounder when compared to old-fashioned cat’s eyes’ frames, creating a beautiful style for 2021’s contemporary woman.

Examples: Rodenstock’s T-Lites are a new retro version of the cat’s eye style, using extremely thin edges on semi-rimless frames. Very cool indeed! Carter Bond has done the opposite, producing the new ‘square’ – a squarish cat’s eye, while Bape has created a cat’s eye frame using a new technology where decorative metal pieces are added into an acetate frame via very fine laser metal etching.

New Technologies:

There a few different technologies coming into play for 2021. A lot of frames are going lighter in terms of weight. Lighter materials in conjunction with thinner lines are allowing this to occur. Another trend is the double-bridged metal frame, creating the so-called ‘engineer look’, which suits many modern men.

Examples: Porsche Design and Karavan have both released double-bridged metal frames hoping to catch the attention of men looking to be taken more seriously, if not just more intelligent.

Innovation:

This year certain brands are attempting to separate themselves from the crowd by designing unique glasses frames others have not had time to emulate. This is cutting edge stuff!

Examples: Caroline Abrams is using basic shapes, but with 3-D styling. Our favourite is an old-fashioned TV glasses frame, which mixes matt and gloss black finishes on its front side. Antonio Bene has designed acetate frames with spilt colours – the top of the frame being one colour, while the bottom is another colour entirely. Awesome!

Finally, ProDesign’s new Axiom range of frames mixes crystal acetate fronts together with metal sides/arms, as well as using high-tech screw-less hinge mechanisms. You’ll have to see them to believe it.

If you want to stay fashionable in 2021 come down to Visual Q Eyecare in South Yarra and we’ll show you what is in vogue, and we’ll also make sure you don’t get stuck wearing frames that went out of style 5 years ago!

By Simon Ch’ng

Visual Q Eyecare

*Thanks to Helga Weber and Andrea Rose for use of the images via a Creative Commons license!

The post The Hot Glasses Trends for 2021 appeared first on Visual Q Eyecare.

Jono Hennessy develops ground breaking glasses designs in Australia, using the best materials from around the world, and has been doing so for 3 generations. Since 1925 in the heart of Sydney, handmade, brightly coloured optical frames turned the idea of a glasses shop on its head – instead, one felt as though they were entering an artisan’s salon. Current head designer, Jono Hennessy Sceats, learnt from his father that the production of beautiful eyewear needed to look amazing, but also had to be comfortable to wear, fit well, and be comprised of the highest quality materials.

If you come down to Visual Q Eyecare in South Yarra you’ll see the new Jono Hennessy range, and much like its predecessors, it stands out from the crowd while not being ostentatious or over-the-top. The current range focuses on retro styles, but they are unpretentious, elegant, and contain the definite mark of a true designer. The sense that they are handmade glasses is palpable when you hold them in your hands and feel their build quality. Jono Hennessy experiments a lot with his glasses, being one of the main proponents using fabrics in his frames. However, it’s all done in a subtle, low-key fashion – he knows the collective Australian personality all too well, yet still pushes hard to make us open up and not be too afraid to show a little of our ‘inner colour’.

If you like fashions that are a little bit different, yet not too ‘out there’, ‘in your face’, or ‘glitzy’, but are extremely comfortable, genuinely stylish, and creatively unique, Jono Hennessy may just be the frames for you. The premium quality materials we mentioned before … Jono Hennessy uses them all, and with lots of limited edition frames, no more than 300 pairs per colour are ever produced.

From the new range, for men, dark and heavy frames are popular, and for women, multi-coloured ‘Cat’s Eye’ frame styles reminiscent of the 70’s Aussie women have now been redesigned in a modern context. There are a lot of tortoiseshell colours, different shapes such as circular, or squares with strong edges, and there is always a lot of detailing, right down to the unique bronze coloured ‘JH’ shield logo found on each frame. Blues and textures also seem extremely popular in 2020.

Jono Hennessy glasses are a reflection of the designer himself. After discovering the ‘Yellow House’, a radical artistic social environment that included many famous Australian artists in the 1970’s, he then enrolled in art school and the journey began. In the 1980’s, he became a global innovator, never content to simply follow the trends, and eventually was discovered by Vogue magazine for his unique and lively approach to eyewear.

If you’d like to experience artisan quality glasses that may even have the word ‘Australia’ on the inner side of the frame’s arm (a very rare opportunity indeed!), come down and see Jono Hennessy’s brand new Autumn range at Visual Q Eyecare in South Yarra, Melbourne.

By Simon Ch’ng

The post Genuine Artisan Eyewear from Australia in 2021 – Jono Hennessy appeared first on Visual Q Eyecare.

Blue light can cause eyestrain and eye fatigue, and as new computer, tablet, and smartphone screens increase in quality, so too do they emit even more blue light. As young people, we have flexible eye muscles, so even if our eyes are only functioning at 70% due to eyestrain, our sight still seems to function fairly well. However, if your eyes normally only see at 70% when compared to people with standard vision, the drop down to 40% caused by eye fatigue may result in your eyes no longer feeling comfortable. It all depends on how flexible your eye muscles are.

Glasses lenses with the new Blue Control coating have been reported to result in vision being clearer, so tasks such as reading become much more comfortable. This effect varies from person to person, but patients at Visual Q Eyecare have already mentioned a decrease in eyestrain and fatigue, a reduction in glare resulting in more comfortable and relaxed vision, and even better contrast perception, meaning a more natural experience when viewing colours. It has not been uncommon to hear people say, ‘My sight is clearer!’ and ‘It’s easier to read’, or ‘My eyes are more comfortable.’

I’m sure you understand our environment these days is rapidly changing, and if you’re affected by eye fatigue due to excessive exposure to blue light, we believe you don’t have to put up with it anymore. Over half of our patients who complained of experiencing symptoms of eye muscle fatigue have told us they see and feel a difference after using Blue Control lenses in their glasses.

When looking at Blue Control lenses, there is a slight yellow tinge on the lens, but it’s not noticeable by other people when you’re wearing them. We believe the relief from eyestrain far outweighs any issue you might have with the slight colouring. Blue Control lenses cut out 98% of harmful blue light, so it also helps people who experience eyestrain when located beneath fluorescent or LED down lights.

Using Blue Control lens coatings is done on a case-by-case basis; it cannot be used on all lens types. There is also no guarantee it will help everyone, but you should really check it out if you are living a life using a lot of digital devices and are susceptible to eyestrain. Blue Control can be added as an upgrade to your lenses, and it comes together with Visual Q Eyecare’s standard 1 to 10 layers of scratch resistance, anti-reflection, UV protection, and smudge-free coatings. Whether you’re working on a computer all day, a student, a gamer, or just someone who’s almost always ‘connected’ via his or her internet-connected device, if you’re consistently in contact with digital screens throughout the day, the Blue Control lens coating could be the answer to your eye fatigue problem. It should also be noted Blue Control is only one of many new optometry technologies released at Visual Q Eyecare in recent years. Come in for an eye test, and we’ll see how we can help you.

By Dr. Susana Liou, Visual Q Eyecare

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