Protect Your Eyesight - Vodka Eyeballing

Whether you have glasses, contacts, or 20/20 vision, it’s very important to protect your eyes. The University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Ophthalmology reports an estimate of “… 1.1 to 2.4 million eye injuries occur each year, and about 42,000 of these injuries require hospitalization.”

While accidents are common for eye injuries, some younger people intentionally put their eyes at risk in a new drinking game called Vodka Eyeballing.

Yes, you read that right.

People are actually drinking through their eyes, in an attempt to get drunk faster. With Vodka Eyeballing, a person will take a bottle of vodka and put the opening up to their eye and pour the vodka directly onto the eye. The idea is that the alcohol will be absorbed through the eye and into the bloodstream faster than drinking it. However, there are no actual facts that prove this is the case.

The eye can only absorb a very limited amount of alcohol. The actual alcohol can do more damage and harm to your eyesight – burning through your cornea and causing permanent damage. Repeated often enough, the alcohol may even cause permanent blindness.

While not all eye-related injuries can be avoided, this is one instance where it can be.

Fears and Misconceptions of Vision Correction – Losing Your Vision

Glasses and contacts have their benefits – mainly helping people with refractive errors see clearly. Since the late 90’s, lasers have been used to correct these refractive errors in very safe and effective ways. Procedures such as LASIK and PRK have been providing patients with clear vision for over 15 years now. However, many people continue to put up with the inconveniences of glasses and contacts because they have fears or misconceptions about laser vision correction, like LASIK.

One of the most common fears of laser vision correction is losing vision as a result of the procedure. This fear comes from not understanding how your eye works and how specifically laser vision correction works.
 
How LASIK Works

There are three main parts to the human eye: the cornea, the lens, and the retina. In normal vision, the cornea refracts (bends) light so it can be directed correctly through the lens and onto the retina. The retina works as a transmitter to transfer the message to your brain, where it processes the message to tell you what you are looking at. Refractive errors – nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism – are caused by the cornea being slightly misshapen. LASIK utilizes cool lasers to reshape the curve of the cornea so you can have normal, clear, vision.

Prior to surgery, Dr. Buckley maps out your specific eye and plans out exactly how to correct your vision. He then programs this plan into the laser, ensuring that the correct amount of your cornea is altered.

There are risks associated with laser vision correction, mainly dry eye. It is essential to ensure that you are an excellent candidate prior to receiving treatment, to give you the best results possible.

Officially there is no reported case of a patient losing their eyesight from LASIK.

To find out more about LASIK, including risk information, see our website. To schedule a Free LASIK Consultation, give us a call today at 719-444-3000.

Why Over 15,000 People Have Choosen Buckley Chang Eye Institute

• Dr. Britt Buckley is one of the most experienced LASIK surgeons in the world, attracting patients from around the globe because of his reputation for producing outstanding visual results.
• Dr. Britt Buckley has personally performed over 35,000 vision correction procedures, more than any other surgeon in Colorado Springs.
• Dr. Britt Buckley is the only LASIK surgeon in Colorado Springs who offers a 20/20 Money Back Guarantee. Dr. Buckley guarantees qualified candidates that they will be able to read the 20/20 line, or better, on the vision chart after surgery or receive their procedure fee back in full. 
• Buckley Chang Eye Institute is the only LASIK center in Colorado to have the iFS™ Laser which takes all-laser LASIK to whole new levels of quality, safety and outcome.
• Dr. Buckley founded and personally funded Buckley Chang Eye Institute over 15 years ago which makes Buckley Chang Eye Institute Colorado Springs’ only independent, surgeon-owned full service LASIK center.
• Most of our staff has had laser vision correction and this helps us understand our patients’ questions and concerns.
• Buckley Chang Eye Institute provides the full range of eye care technologies including all-laser LASIK, Monovision LASIK, and Intraocular lens replacement.
• Dr. Matthew Chang is one of the most prolific cataract surgeons in Colorado, with one of the highest rates of success and safety in the country.
• Dr. Matthew Chang is one of the most experienced LASIK surgeons in Colorado.  He has performed thousands of laser refractive procedures.
• Dr. Matthew Chang is one of the most experienced LASIK surgeons in Southern Colorado and performs the latest state of the art procedures including DSEK, Intacs, and all available premium intraocular implants.

Why Your Eye Surgeon Needs to be Local - part 3

Corporate medicine has its benefits and its downfalls. In regards to the refractive surgery field, there are more downfalls to a corporate practice than there are benefits. Last week we discussed the availability of other vision correction procedures and why this is important. This week we will look at technology.

Technological Differences

LASIK has been around since the late 1990s, and since then, technology has been improved, advanced, and refined, all to increase the customer experience. There are many options today for LASIK technology, some still using a metal blade while others are 100% blade-free. While all of the technology is safe for your eyes, the benefits of the newest technology often reduces the risk of side-effects and may result in faster healing times.

If you want the optimal outcome for your eyes, selecting a doctor that uses the most advanced and latest equipment is the best option. However, not all doctors have access to this equipment. Take doctors that work at a corporate LASIK practice, for example. They don’t even get to choose which equipment they use to perform your procedure. They have to use the equipment provided to them by their board of directors. They may know the convenience and benefits of newer technology, but they have no say when it comes to what they get to use.

In contrast, a doctor who owns his/her own practice gets to choose the technology they use in their practice. They have 100% authority over what tools and technology goes into the practice. This makes them accountable to their patients and the patients’ outcomes. If they provide inadequate technology and the outcomes aren’t the best, they’ll lose out on new patients. 

Not all doctors will provide the best technology. Some doctors don’t want to make the investment so they will continue to use outdated technology on their patients. When you visit a new LASIK practice, make sure to ask about the technology that the doctor will use. Understand your options and why that doctor chose the technology that they use at that practice. The technology and the doctor’s previous patient outcomes may mean the difference between an exceptional LASIK experience, and something else.