Big news!

Life at 3333 Belmont Street has been busy in the best way.
My practice is relocating in 2010! I'll be operating out of a brand new earth advantage building in NE Portland at 3972 N Williams Ave, at NE Shaver. It's a great location - easy to get to, surrounded by hip and popular shops and restaurants, and is just getting better by the season.

Not only that, the new practice, called "Myoptic Optometry" will be a full scope optometry practice providing spectacle eye wear and an in house lab.

We'll be employing a brand new computer system with paperless record keeping, modern examination equipment, an incredible selection of beautiful and durable eye wear, and carrying on our commitment to community with donation programs, recycled frames, and being environmentally aware in our business practices.

It's too early in the process to even give you a phone number but the website url (pdxeyes.com) will remain the same, so watch for the launch of the site.

Very exciting stuff. I will continue my commitment to giving personalized care in and outside the exam room, but Myoptic will be so much more, too. Keep an eye on this! :)

One step closer to curing color blindness using gene therapy

A person with normal colour vision willbe able to see the eye in this image

-taken from BBC website

Nature journal describes the technique used by the researchers at the University of Washington to restore full color vision to adult monkeys born without the ability to distinguish between the colors red and green.

Although more studies are needed, the same treatment may work for humans who are color blind.

Until now scientists had not thought it was possible to manipulate the adult brain in this way. It was considered that adding new sensory information, such as the visual receptors necessary for perfect color vision, could only be done in the earliest years of life when the brain is at its most malleable.

Professor Jay Neitz and his team were able to introduce therapeutic genes into the light-sensing cells at the back of the eye of adult male squirrel monkeys. The therapeutic genes contained the necessary DNA code to enable the light-sensing cells to distinguish between red and green - something lacking in the male monkeys.

Tests revealed the gene therapy was a success. The male monkeys now possessed the necessary photopigments to see all colors and were able to correctly pick out red from green on computer image tests.

The monkeys were treated over two years ago and their improvement in color vision has remained stable since.

Professor Neitz's team will continue to monitor the animals to evaluate the long-term treatment effects.

"This provides a positive outlook for the potential of gene therapy to cure adult vision disorders," they said.

There are several forms of color blindness. The most common form is inherited red/green color blindness, passed on through a faulty color vision gene on an X chromosome.

Sometimes color blindness occurs because of diseases such as macular degeneration or from side effects of medicines.

Winfried Amoaku, an expert in ophthalmology at the University of Nottingham, said the research could eventually benefit approximately 7% of males and 1% of females born with genetic colour deficiencies.

"Further research is required, however, before this comes to human clinical trials, and therapy in the clinics."

Getting a taste of what people see...

"A new device allows blind people to “see” with their tongues. The BrainPort, by Wicab, consists of a camera worn on a pair of sunglasses, a sensor that the user places on his or her tongue (the intra-oral device, or IOD) and a hand-held controller. The camera sees an object, and the IOD draws it on the user’s tongue with small electric pulses.


Patients who use the device can, with practice, detect shapes and location. “You feel a sensation—a shape—on your tongue,” says principal investigator Amy Nau, O.D., of the University of Pittsburgh. “With training, you can discriminate objects, such as chairs, a phone or a person.”

The specificity of the IOD is limited by the fact that the tongue can only differentiate down to 0.5mm. “I liken it to walking around your house in the dark [as a sighted person],” says Dr. Nau. “You don’t have all the visual information that’s there, but you have the big pieces.”

One planned future study will allow patients to take the device home for six months to test extended usage applications, and another will test the possible implementation of machine vision technologies, such as facial recognition software."
- Review of Optometry, Vol. No: 146:08Issue: 8/15/2009

Makes common senses!!! :)

Want long, luscious lashes? Make an appointment with your optometrist (?)!

Latisse is a new prescription medication used to enhance eyelash growth and it works. This medication was first used to treat glaucoma when a much appreciated side effect started to occur. Patients noticed longer, darker, thicker eyelashes with prolonged use. This medication, bimatoprost, is now packaged with single-use brushes to apply the medication directly on the lash line instead of being used as an eye drop in the treatment of glaucoma. No more sticky, messy, smudgy mascara.
I'm a curious client, too so watch for an update blog as I document my own lash progress.
Call me if you have a longing for longer lashes, too.

Video games improve vision??? Yeah, they can...

According to a recent study noted in 'The Independent' and published in 'Nature Neuroscience', video games involving targeting objects (Call of Duty, for example) can improve a person's night vision.

"Scientists found that games involving aiming and shooting at virtual objects on a computer screen can significantly increase people's ability to see objects in twilight conditions, when colours fade into different shades of grey."

The eye's ability to differentiate shades of gray, called contrast sensitivity, decreases when a person is near or far-sighted, when they age, and with certain eye diseases.
Though playing video games should not replace the need for glasses or contacts, the brain actually learns to process existing visual information more efficiently. These improvements are not permanent, but can last for a few months after game play stops. In situations where lighting is dim, ie driving at dusk or in the fog, or if you're doing eye exams all day in the dark :), improved contrast sensitivity can make a significant difference.
They found that video game players' ability to detect different shades of grey was 58 per cent better on average. People who were not regular game players were put through a course involving hours of console gaming. When they had completed the course, their contrast sensitivity had improved by 43 per cent on average.

Of course, weigh the good and the bad. Video games should be played in moderation. Your eyes will strain and dry with too much play and the rest of your body doesnt' benefit a whole lot (your mind and your metabolism).

A-twitter

I'm focusing ( no pun intended ) on redirecting my practice to be full scope and cutting edge. That has always been my goal and now seems to be the time to move. Investing in yourself is always wise, especially when there's not much else inviting investment.

I'm on twitter - that crazy stream that everyone is jumping into. Look me up as 'eyedocto' and read my tweets, as thoughtless and thougthful as they may be. Chime in and we'll ride the wave together.

The hope is to establish the location of this bigger, better optometric practice in the next month. Wanna stay in the neighborhood - it's just too cool.

Keep your eyes open.......see ya!

Omega 3's, please

You get them through eating cold-water fish (salmon, trout, sardines, herring, etc) or taking fish oil supplements daily. Omega 3 fatty acids are often not consumed enough vs. the omega-6's that are readily available in the foods we regularly eat.

Omega 3's have natural anti-inflammatory properties, help to increase HDL (good cholesterol) levels and decrease LDL (bad cholesterol) levels, and protect against heart disease by removing existing plaque build up in arteries.

Specifically for eyes, diets rich in omega 3's may help eliminate the signs and symptoms of dry eyes which from recent research are in large part due to low grade chronic inflammation. It restores the tear gland's function as well as clears and evens the oils needed to keep our tears thick and long-lasting.

Fish oil is 100% natural. It helps not only to decrease inflammation but also enables the body to do its own repair work. This helps to prevent recurrence, not just the quick fix.

Who should take it and how much?

Everyone should take 1,000mg a day.
If you suffer from dry eyes, take 1,000mg, three times a day. Women do tend to exhibit dry eyes nine times more than men. As we get older, our eyes get dryer, too.
Neutraceuticals (vs. pharmaceuticals) take longer to show results so stick to this regimen for up to three months before judging efficacy.

So many reasons to start taking in the Omega 3's. They may not taste the best, though, so take it with a meal :)

Interesting facts I just came by..

• Nearly 20% of adults have never been to an eye doctor.
• 82% of consumers know UV can cause skin cancer; only 9% know it can harm the eyes.
• About 75% of all new cases of Type I Diabetes occur in patients under the age of 18; eye exams can find this.
• 1 in 4 school-age children has an undiagnosed vision problem

- source: Vision Associations

Now you know....don't let your eyes go unchecked.

The weather is amazing!

Just a quick update from Dr. Summy To :)

It's been a few months of trying to direct this practice in the direction for the best growth, integrity and innovation.

I'm going paperless soon - good for all of us. That means less mess, faster turnaround on getting you your prescriptions, billing insurance, more efficient record-keeping and doing the right thing for the planet.

The practice I was looking at purchasing did not pan out but that only means redirecting that energy to something better. I'm still looking to add a location in Hollywood while seeing my patients at Eagle Eye.

I will write more soon - something more eyeball-related :)

Enjoy the sun but don't forget the shades!

Summy To

Blog Break

Apologies for being MIA these last few months.

Business has been good and I am looking to expand the practice. I have been looking at opening up cold in the northeast and now looking at taking over another practice in Hollywood and Woodstock.

I will use the blog to keep you updated. Other discussions will continue once the dust settles.

Thanks for your understanding. I welcome your thoughts and input.

Happy 2009.

Summy