Author: eyestucson

How to Deal With Foreign Objects in Your Eye

Whether it’s a speck of dust or a bug, getting something in your eye is a very uncomfortable sensation. Like most people, rubbing your eyes may be your initial reaction to the problem. Unfortunately, that may only make the situation worse and may damage your sensitive eye tissues. So what should you do when there’s something stuck in your eye?

Wash Your Hands

When your eye is watering and you can barely see, washing your hands is probably the last thing on your mind. Unfortunately, if you don’t wash your hands before touching your eyes, you may be more likely to develop an infection or increased eye irritation from dirt, dust, or debris.

Take a Good Look at Your Eye

It’s not easy to get a piece of sawdust or sand out of your eye when you’re not sure if the speck is stuck to the side of your eye or is trapped by your upper eyelid. If opening your eye is difficult, you may need to ask a friend to gently lift your upper and lower eyelids to find the foreign object. Moving your eyes up and down or from side to side may make it easier to find the foreign body.

Remove the Object or Substance Safely

Some foreign bodies can be removed simply by gently pulling your upper eyelid over the lower one. If that doesn’t work, flushing your eye with eye drops can be helpful. Flood your eye with the drops, then blink a few times to help the object exit your eye.

A cotton swab or a cotton ball may make it easier to remove something from your eye. Pour a few eye drops or a small amount of saline solution over the swab or cotton ball, then gently place the cotton against the object. When you remove the cotton, check if the object is now stuck to it.

Don’t use a swab or cotton ball if the object is stuck to your cornea, the clear, rounded layer of tissue over your iris and pupil. Touching this area could damage or scratch the cornea, causing a painful scratch. See your optometrist if you can’t easily remove the foreign body.

Do-it-yourself removal isn’t a good idea if a piece of glass or metal is stuck in your eye or an object has penetrated your eye. If you try to remove the object yourself, you could cause permanent damage to your eye. Call your optometrist immediately or go to the emergency room if this happens.

How to Handle Chemicals In Your Eye

Chemicals in toilet cleaner, bleach, battery acid, dishwasher soap, paint, and other products can irritate your eye or cause burns and damage. Flushing your eye with water is a must if this happens. Hold your eye under the faucet or shower for at least 15 to 20 minutes if this happens. Go to the emergency room or call 911 immediately if your eye has been exposed to a caustic chemical.

When a Contact Lens Is Stuck in Your Eye

Is your contact lens trapped under your upper eyelid? One of these techniques may help dislodge it:

• Use artificial tears or eye drops to unstick the lens and move it downward
• Pull your eyelid up gently while looking down
• Place your finger on the outside of your upper eyelid and gently push the lens down (stop if the lens doesn’t budge)

Let your optometrist know if you can’t safely remove a stuck object or have any of these signs or symptoms after removing a foreign body from your eye:

• Vision change
• Pain
• Bleeding
• Change in the size of your pupil
• Trouble moving your eye
• Your eye sticks out more than usual
• Difficulty opening or closing your eye
• A feeling that something is still stuck in your eye

Whether there’s something stuck in your eye or it’s time for your next vision exam, we can help you protect your vision. Give us a call and let us know how we can help you.

Sources:

All About Vision: How to Safely Remove Something from Your Eye, 11/21

WebMD: What Should You Do When You Get Something in Your Eye?, 6/21/20

Medline Plus: Eye – Foreign Object In

NCBI: Small objects in the eye: Overview, 5/25/20

American Academy of Ophthalmology: How Do I Get a Contact Lens Out from the Top of My Eye?, 9/18/12

PRK stands for photorefractive keratectomy. It is a refractive laser surgical procedure for reshaping your cornea, altering how light passes through your eye. It focuses the light on the retina which is the light-sensitive tissue.

PRK helps to treat mild Hyperopia (farsightedness), mild to moderate Myopia (nearsightedness), and astigmatism. Optometrists recommend it as an alternative to corrective lenses. However, not everyone is a good candidate for PRK. Your eye surgeon or ophthalmologist in Tucson will use the following criteria to determine if you are a good candidate for PRK.

1. Your Corneal Thickness: You are a better candidate for PRK surgery if you have a thin cornea. Eye surgeons recommend a Laser-Assisted In-Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK surgery) for people with thick corneas.

2. Recent Eye Infections or Injuries: A good candidate for PRK surgery should be free from eye infections or injuries at least one year before the surgery.

3. Your Visual Prescription: PRK is more suitable for individuals who have myopia, also known as nearsightedness. Furthermore, your visual prescription for the year before the surgery must be stable.

4. Other Medical Conditions: A good candidate for PRK surgery is free of medical conditions like:

• Diabetes,
• Autoimmune diseases,
• Immunodeficiency, and
• Arthritis.
• Collagen vascular disease
• Keratoconus
• Glaucoma

5. Your Age: You must be over 18 years old to be eligible for a PRK surgery.

6. Are You Pregnant or Nursing? Pregnant and nursing mothers should avoid getting PRK surgery.

7. Your Hobbies: You should discuss your hobbies with your ophthalmologists at Fishkind Bakewell Maltzman & Hunter Eye Care and Surgery Center in Tucson. Your eyes are prone to trauma after a PRK surgery if you engage in high-intensity activities or high contact sports like martial arts.

Are You a Good Candidate for PRK Surgery?

Your ophthalmologist at Fishkind, Bakewell, Maltzman, & Hunter Eye Care and Surgery Center in Tucson will ultimately decide whether you are an ideal candidate for PRK surgery. They will use the above criteria and your individual needs to advise you appropriately. Call us today at (520)293-6740, option 4 or click here to discuss your qualification for PRK surgery and other eye care services.

When you are shopping for eyeglasses, you may find that they look great on the display but not when you try them on. This could be because they are the wrong style for your face shape. Your face shape will play a role in whether or not certain styles of glasses will look great on you.

Choosing Eyeglasses for Your Face Shape

Oval: If you have an oval face shape, the recommended frames include aviator, browline, rectangle, and square. You want to avoid oversized frames and pick frames that are as wide as the widest part of the face in order to balance proportions.

Round: For a round face shape, try round, aviator, square, and rectangular options. You can also try a clear bridge in order to help widen your eyes.

Square: For square faces, you want to avoid small or rectangular frames and instead choose browline, round, aviator, and cat-eye glasses.

Diamond: A diamond face shape looks best with round, oval, browline, or cat-eye glasses.

Pear: With a pear-shaped face, aviator and browline frames look best and you want to avoid round, square, and oval.

Heart: With a heart-shaped face, choose a rectangle, aviator, geometric, oval, and round frames. Avoid oval, browline, and square frames.

Choosing Eyeglasses for Your Hair Color, Skin Tone, and Eye Color

Once you get the right frames that look best for your eyeglasses you will need to choose the right ones to complement the coloration of your eyes, face, and hair.

Skin tones are categorized as cool or warm. Frames that are camel, gold, copper, orange, off white, coral, warm blue, or blond tortoise look best for warm coloring. For cool coloring, choose frames that are black, silver, rose-brown, pink, jade, and darker tortoise. Eye color is usually a secondary element in determining your coloring. Hair color can also be considered cool or warm. Warm hair colors include golden blond, brownish-black, and brown gold. Cool hair colors are platinum, blue-black, auburn, and ash brown.

Contact Our Eye Doctors In Tucson Today!

You can get an expert opinion for eyeglasses by visiting our eye doctors in Tucson at Fishkind, Bakewell, Maltzman, & Hunter. Contact us via email (http://eyestucson.com/appointment ) or by calling us at 520-293-6740.

By now, we all know the importance of protecting our skin from harmful UV rays. We slather the sunblock on and wear a hat to minimize our chances of getting skin cancer, but what about protecting our eyes? When we leave our eyes unprotected from the sun’s UV rays, we increase our risk for vision problems. The great news is our opticians at Fishkind, Bakewell, Maltzman, Hunter & Associates Eye Care & Surgery Center in Tucson and Oro Valley can help minimize this risk by fitting you with UV protective sunglasses.

Choosing the Right Sunglasses for Your Lifestyle

With the right sunglasses, you can still make a fashion statement and protect your eyesight. Follow these tips to find the protective eyewear that fits your lifestyle:

Lifestyle: If you are active or go outside regularly, talk to your ophthalmologist about how prescription sunglasses can both optimize your visual performance and protect your eyes.

Larger frames: Wrap-around or larger framed glasses help protect your eyes from all angles.

Polarized optical lenses: If you enjoy spending time near sand, water, or snow, polarized lenses can filter out glare and help you see with clarity.

Photochromic lenses:  These lenses shift from clear to dark automatically when exposed to UV rays.

Additionally, ask your eye doctor for assistance to ensure the lenses you choose offer 100% UVA and UVB protection.

It’s Never Too Early or Too Late

Most people don’t start thinking about UV protective glasses until they are older. However, studies indicate we receive 75-80% of our UV exposure before the age of 18. So, the earlier we protect our eyes, the better.

Contact Fishkind, Bakewell, Maltzman, & Hunter Eye Care Today

From eye exams to eyewear fittings, Fishkind, Bakewell, Maltzman, Hunter & Associates Eye Care & Surgery Center has you covered. Our opticians can help you choose the perfect eyewear and protective lenses for your personal style and face shape. Call 520-293-6740 or visit us online to schedule your next appointment.

Contact lenses can be a great alternative to glasses, but they may not always be the best choice. If you do not currently have an optometrist and are seeking an eye doctor in Tucson, then come visit us at Fishkind, Bakewell, Maltman, Hunter & Associates.

Reasons for Hard to Fit Contacts

There are many reasons that one may struggle to find contacts that are right for them. Some of the main reasons for hard to fit contacts are:

• Astigmatism — Astigmatism occurs when your cornea, the transparent front cover of your eye, is irregularly shaped. This irregular shape can cause blurred vision and may make it hard to fit certain contacts on your eye.
• Dry eyes — Dry eyes can occur for many reasons, such as wind, dry air, age (especially in people over the age of 50), gender (dry eyes are more common for women), or wearing contact lenses.
• Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis (GPC) — GPC causes your normally-smooth eyelid to become red, swollen, and irritated. Though GPC can happen to anyone at any time, it is most likely to occur with someone who wears soft contact lenses.
• Keratoconus — Keratoconus occurs when your cornea “thins and gradually bulges outward into a cone shape.” This may cause blurred vision and sensitivity to light.
• Presbyopia — Presbyopia occurs “when your eyes gradually lose the ability to see things clearly up close” due to aging.

Solutions for Hard to Fit Contacts

If you have one of the conditions above, you can likely still wear contact lenses. It is important to talk to an optometrist about your personal needs, so that they can create the best solution for you. This can mean changing the type of lenses you wear or even using medicated eye drops.

Visit Us Today

If you are looking for an eye doctor in Tucson, then you came to the right place. One of our optometrists will fit you for the best contact lenses for your eyes. Call us today at (520) 293-6740 or fill out our online form to make an appointment.