Biofinity Multifocal Contact Lenses

Here at Lynne Fernandes we are lucky enough to have been given a trial set of these lovely new multifocal contact lenses.

They are from the same family of contact lenses as the very popular and comfortable Biofinity monthly soft contact lenses that a lot of our patients enjoy wearing.

These new lenses have distance, intermediate and near foci that aim to correct your vision at all distances and take away the need for glasses.  Think of them as varifocals for your eyes! They are suitable for existing wearers or anyone totally new to contact lenses.

If you think you would like to try a set of these lenses please drop in or phone to make an appointment with one of our Optometrists, all of whom have been on the recent Biofinity Multifocal fitting course- to help fit these contact lenses more successfully.

Ronit Furst Frames.

Our new Ronit Furst frames will be in store from the 1^st Feb 2012. We’re very excited about them. They’re gorgeous, vibrant, bold, bright frames that are hand painted.

Ronit is a ceramicist of international renown and still works in clay and paper mache. She originally started painting her own specs because she’d become bored with what was on offer in terms of frames. The original design concept was to have frames that looked different from every angle.

Ronit had built a team of hand picked and highly trained painters to execute her designs. After the frames are hand painted they are taken to a kibbutz where a lacquer is applied to protect against wear and tear.

Why not come and have a look at them and see for yourself.

http://www.ronitfurst.com/

Macula Degeneration.

AMD is now the leading cause of blindness in the western world. It is estimated that approximately 6-8% of people over the age of 75years have vision problems related to AMD.

If macula function is degraded, the ability to read, drive and even recognise faces can be lost.

Risk factors for AMD can be divided into 2 groups, modifiable and non- modifiable risks.

Non-Modifiable risks:

• age
• gender
• family history
• iris colour
• spectacle prescription

Modifiable risks:

• smoking cessation
• diet

AMD can be thought of in simple terms as oxidative damage and the retina especially the macula is at risk of oxidative damage.

How can you reduce your risk of AMD?

• Dietary supplements for AMD (containing macula cartenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, meso-zeaxanthin.
• Smoking cessation
• weight control
• UV protection.

Winter sun break.

For those of you lucky enough to have booked a lovely break in the sun this winter. Make sure you pack your sunglasses. Apart from making your eyes feel more comfortable and helping with glare when you're abroad sunglasses will protect you eyes from harmful U.V. It is particularly important to wear your sunglasses when you're on the water as water reflects more U.V into your eyes.

All sunglasses purchased in the U.K should be marked with a CE on the side (of the sunglasses), this means that they conform to the European standards for U.V protection. Sunglasses that don't comply with European standards could potentially do your eyes more harm than good as they dilate your pupil allowing more sun into the eyes but not necessarily protecting your eyes from U.V.

If your taking the little people in your life away on holiday with you make sure they've got their sunglasses too as a lot of the damage done by U.V is done under the age of 18years as children and young adults have large pupils, and clear crystalline lenses. U.V is thought to play a role in the development of cataracts, macula degeneration, and pterygium.

And finally if you are heading off to sunnier climes...enjoy!

New years resolutions.

Now that the Festive party season is over...now its time for the dreaded new years resolutions!

Here are a few key tips for keeping your eyes healthy:

1. Good diet: Diet plays a large role in keeping your eyes healthy. A diet rich in sugar and fats puts you more at risk of raised cholesterol and diabetes both of which have serious implications for eye health. Omega three's are important to maintaining good eye health and may even help with dry eye. Foods that are rich in omega 3's include oily fish, and flaxseed. Foods rich in lutein and xeanthanin are important for maintaining the health of the macula (and therefore reducing the risk of macula degeneration). Green leafy veg are also important for keeping your macula healthy so stock up on veg like broccoli, kale, cabbage, and spinach.

2. Regular exercise is important for maintaining good cardiovascular health, which is important for keeping your eyes healthy.

3. Some recent studies have also suggested that spending time outdoors (30mins a day) is beneficial for eye health especially for children.

4.      Sun Protection: It is important when spending time outdoors to wear a pair of good quality sunglasses to protect your eyes from ultra -violet light (U.V) as U.V is thought to play a role in the development of cataracts, macula degeneration, and pterygium. And this is even more important when playing sports on highly reflective surfaces such as water and snow sports.

5. Stop Smoking: If you can manage to give up smoking this is one of the best things you can do for both your general health AND your eye health. Smoking increases you risk of so many different eye diseases it’s hard to list them all here! But some examples include: cataract, macula degeneration, dry eye, vascular occlusions (clots), glaucoma etc....