You Have to See Things Clearly

I was window shopping a few days ago and chanced upon an optical shop in the mall. They had various colors of contact lenses available and I wonder if it was safe to wear even if I did not have eye problems. In the Philippines, it was almost a norm to see young men and women to wear it for fashion. The deal is, they don't really know some of the dangers in wearing it. Predominantly, Filipinos only have black or brown eyes and going beyond that is unique. This is the biggest selling point of most optical shops, but here's a story.

Sexy local film and TV personality MAUREEN LARAZZABAL went out with her friends wearing her best evening clothes and green contact lenses to accent her look. She spends quite a fortune for it and in 25 years, it would have cost her roughly around $20,000. This is quite a big amount because a single US dollar equals 47 Philippine Pesos in this side of the world. Tired and weary from her travel and shows, she forgot to take them off and slept throughout the night. When she woke up, she felt terrible pain and could not even open her eyes anymore. She was rushed to the hospital and doctors found out she was already suffering internal bleeding because of the contact lenses. She almost lost her sight on both eyes. They were able to save her but needed to rest for a few months and she was not able to work during this time. A lot of people were worried for her safety and realize that fashion is not going to be on top of a person's health. We all should know how to wear contact lenses properly or else, we will lose our eyesight.

As expensive as she might have spent for the lenses, she was still not safe. In this time where money is pretty hard to find, we should find ways to live within our means. There are procedures nowadays that can do better things for our eyesight. LASIK has been part of a huge eye health revolution when it was patented in 1989. Thousands have benefited from this and there are new developments in LASIK surgery. Today, the iLASIK procedure only takes minutes and the cost has dramatically gone down over the years. There are computers that can literally generate blueprints so that each cornea reshaped would be perfectly done. The technology has gone advanced that a friend of mine who has tried the procedure even went home the same day. I hope people get educated and be given sufficient information so nobody would suffer the same fate as Maureen did. Get those eyes fixed instead of resorting to temporary solutions that could further damage your eyes. We all deserve better!

iLASIK and LASIK: In the Military and NASA

It's really nice looking at a child's eyes and how their innocent little face light up each time we hear them laugh and cry. Eye care is now and forever will be first in our list. To see colors, people and places. We all should really enjoy life. I had a friend who did not enjoy most of her high school and college life because she could not see well. She had thick glasses all the time. When LASIK technology became available in the Philippines (American Eye Correction Center, Manila) she underwent the procedure and not just became a productive citizen of this country. She’s a very happy person now.

US Government Agencies and the US Military take this to heart. Having their men take eye treatments is prioritized. With the missions and projects they have to go to, this is necessary. The US Military have snipers and gunmen treated with LASIK Surgery to improve their eyesight and have them back to 20/20 vision. This is of up most importance. In the line of duty; they need to see very clearly. How and why would they shoot enemies of the state if this wasn't done right? It makes sense.

NASA uses internal experiments to improve this technology like an Eye Tracking Device (ETD) which will determine the influence of prolonged microgravity and the accompanying vestibular (inner ear) adaptation on the orientation of Listing's Plane (a coordinate framework, as deep as that sounds its just used to define the movement of the eyes in the head. Studies like these and other experiments are being funded by the US Government for the benefit of the general public. Eye treatment advancements are now available for all like this all-laser form of LASIK which exceeds measurements of standards and effectiveness. The procedure is very safe as improvements were done with the help of these agencies and the Department of Defense. LASIK technology known as iLASIK™ procedures use two lasers instead of one. This is a big improvement than in earlier versions of the procedure.

Military experiments show 95% achieved 20/20 uncorrected vision or better with this new LASIK treatment. Americans (about 12 million of them) now enjoy the benefits of the program says Dr. Schallorn which heads proponents of this project. LASIK information is now available for everyone. Now isn't that a sight for sore eyes?!