Cool Facts About Dolphin Eyes

Recently we read an article about dolphin eyes written by Joy Clausen Soto, Senior Dolphin Trainer at SeaWorld. We thought it was so interesting that we’re going to devote our next series of blogs to her cool facts about dolphin eyes.

“A dolphin can move each eye independent of the other.”

While that is cool for a dolphin, it’s not so cool for humans. In humans, this condition is similar to one called strabismus. It occurs when the muscles of the two eyes don’t work together to maintain proper alignment. You might have one eye looking straight forward while the other eye looks a different direction:

·         Inward (cross-eyed), known as esotropia

·         Outward, known as exotropia

·         Upward, known as hypertropia

·         Downward, known as hypotropia

Refractive surgery, such as LASIK eye surgery, won’t resolve strabismus. However, there are surgical and non-surgical treatments that can be used to correct the problem.

A person with corrected strabismus can also have instances of nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism. In these cases, they may consider having LASIK eye surgery to correct the vision problems. If you had strabismus at any time in your life, be sure to inform your LASIK surgeon of this and all of your medical history prior to undergoing the procedure.

To learn more about LASIK eye surgery, please contact Buckley Chang Eye Institute in Colorado Springs to schedule a LASIK Consultation. Call 719-444-3000 or visit buckleychang.com today.

Can You Be Too Young for LASIK?

The short answer to the question, “Can you be too young for LASIK?” is: Yes.

There are reasons why you still see so many children wearing glasses today, even when LASIK is performed on more than 700,000 people each year. LASIK is a refractive surgery that treats eyesight imperfections that cause myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness) and astigmatism. LASIK technology reshapes the cornea to allow light to focus properly on the retina. The result is clearer vision, even 20/20 or better vision, for many patients.

So why wouldn’t you want to have LASIK performed as soon as possible?

We all know that children are constantly growing and changing, and their eyes are no exception. In fact, some people have refractive instability into their early 20s. This means that their vision correction needs may be frequently fluctuating. One qualification of being a good candidate for LASIK is having stable vision, without prescription changes, for at least two years. Most children simply do not have that stability.

So what is the right age for LASIK? The Food and Drug Administration has stated the minimum LASIK age requirement is 18 years old, but there can be rare circumstances where the procedure is recommended earlier. The determination for LASIK for any age individual can only be made after a comprehensive LASIK Evaluation by a qualified doctor.

Buckley Chang Eye Institute offers Free LASIK Evaluations at their Colorado Springs office. To learn more, visit their website at http://www.buckleyvision.com/ or call 719-444-3000.