Blaine Eye Clinic

Patients are pleasantly surprised to find that the doctors and staff at Blaine Eye Clinic take their responsibility of caring for your eyes very seriously. You can expect to spend up to one hour at your examination (sometimes even longer, depending on the complexity). Blaine Eye Clinic constantly updates their equipment to offer state of the art technology. This is all offered in a pleasant, non-threatening, painless manner.

Your examination will begin with a thorough medical history. The eyes are often affected by systemic disease and medication, so it is very important for the doctors to know what diseases you may have and what medication you are taking. You will also be asked what, if any, problems you may be experiencing with your eyes, or if it is just time for your annual eye examination.

Next you will be taken to an instrument that actually helps measure your prescription and corneal curvature. Our latest technology even helps the doctor see what you see. Your peripheral vision will then be evaluated.

After the assistant checks your vision with your present glasses, he or she will introduce you to your eye doctor. The doctor then rechecks your prescription and evaluates your eyes for glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, and retinal detachments. They will dilate your pupils to fully check for these diseases.

Finally, you will have time to discuss the findings with the doctor. We also have technologies that assist the doctors with this; it is called Eyemaginations. These amazing video presentations help illustrate most of the visual or ocular conditions.

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Glaucoma is a silent eye disease which left untreated can cause blindness. It is probably one of the top reasons to have your eyes examined regularly by a quality eye doctor. Glaucoma is caused by the pressure in your eye being too high. This pressure can cause nerve damage. Unfortunately, you cannot sense when your pressure is too high.

There is presently not one test that can determine whether or not you have glaucoma. Your eye doctor will do various tests at your annual eye exam as early detection is very important to preserve vision. If some of these tests show abnormal results, your doctor will then schedule you for more in-depth testing. You will be monitored more frequently as there are no symptoms in the early stages of glaucoma.

All glaucoma testing is painless. Many patients dread the"puff of air" test. You will be happy to know that this is no longer used. Instead, Blaine Eye Clinic uses the gold standard test which is easy, painless, and much more accurate.

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At your annual eye examination, your eye doctor checks for cataracts. Although cataracts usually do not occur until you are in your sixties, you actually can have them at birth, so we check every patient for them.

A cataract is an opacity or clouding of the natural lens in the eye. Most common causes include UV rays, heredity, and smoking. If the cataract gets too large, it starts interfering with your vision. It is similar to looking through a dirty window. Changing your glasses prescription usually does not help.

If and when the cataract starts affecting your lifestyle (i.e., you can no longer drive comfortably at night or see well enough for work, etc.), your eye doctor will refer you to one of our local, skilled eye surgeons. Blaine Eye Clinic works with various top surgeons in the metropolitan area. After your surgery, you typically return to Blaine Eye Clinic for most if not all of your post-operative care.

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Blaine Eye Clinic prides itself on fitting contact lenses successfully. Part of this success is starting with a thorough eye examination prior to your contact lens fitting. Not only is your glasses prescription measured (which is used to help determine the contact lens power), but also the shape of your cornea is evaluated. In addition, the health of your eyes is carefully evaluated to ensure safe and enjoyable contact lens wear. After your eye examination, options will be discussed and questions welcomed.

We are a private eye clinic, so we are able to use any of the contact lenses we determine to be best for your eyes as well as for your lifestyle and budget. Blaine Eye Clinic keeps up to date with the latest technology and solutions.

After your examination, a class will be scheduled for you to learn how to care for your contact lenses. You will be in a non-threatening, one-on-one environment with a skilled technician. This instruction is painless and not hurried. You will see the eye doctor who will check to make sure your contact lenses are fitting properly. After about one to two weeks, you will return for a progress check. At that visit, your boxes of lenses will be ordered. Sometimes more visits are needed before or after the order is made. The doctor will advise you of this.

Patients will be relieved to know that the prices at Blaine Eye Clinic are very competitive. Not only is the fitting itself very reasonable (varying depending on complexity), but also the lenses themselves. Our lens prices are often very comparable to the 1-800 prices. Plus, when you order them from us, you are allowed a free trial lens if one rips or if you need a pair to last you until your examination. There is no fee for direct shipping if you order a year supply, and if you have any problems with your lenses, you can feel comfortable contacting us instead of a large company.

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There are multiple causes for a red eye. If you suddenly develop redness in one or both eyes, it is important that you see your eye doctor soon. You will be checked with a microscope that is specifically designed to evaluate eye health. Your eye doctor will ask many questions to assist him or her in finding out the cause.

Often, they will use a yellow dye to check the window of the eye called the cornea. If your redness is associated with corneal problems and/or if your pressure is too high, this is more serious and often medication will be prescribed.

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If you have ever gotten something in your eye, you know how painful that can be. Blaine Eye Clinic is prepared to help you if this ever happens to you. It is best if you are seen right away to have your eye evaluated. If the foreign body is still present, it is best to have it removed it as soon as possible to prevent further damage.

The doctor will evaluate your affected eye on an emergency basis using a special microscope designed specifically for evaluating eyes. If there is something in your eye, he or she will use equipment that is designed to remove the foreign body after using anesthetic drops. This procedure is painless.

After the foreign body is removed, you may still feel scratchiness for some time, depending on the extent of the injury. Your doctor may place you on some medications and re-evaluate your eye the next day to make sure it is healing properly and not developing infection.

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Todays world has changed dramatically from even ten years ago. Computer use has risen in all age groups. Whether you are a preschooler doing learning games, a student working on school work or playing video games, an employee at work, or a retiree using the Internet, you use the computer. This requires a lot of our eyes. You may experience focusing problems or dry eye symptoms such as burning and foggy vision.

Blaine Eye Clinic itself has electronic charting, so we personally know how wonderful and challenging computers are. Your eye doctor and staff will discuss many ideas and help solve your computer vision challenges. Did you know that there are even glasses now that are specifically made for computer use? These have literally changed many of our patients lives.

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Most parents believe that vision is something that just develops naturally, and therefore does not need to be checked until school-age when it has already fully developed. The truth is that vision is learned and the most critical stages of vision development occur in the first year of life.

Through InfantSEE^®, optometrists provide a one-time, comprehensive eye and vision assessment to babies in their first year of life, usually between the ages of 6 and 12 months. This offers early detection of potential eye and vision problems at no cost regardless of income or ability to pay.

Though babies cannot talk, optometrists use their clinical education, training and experience, along with instruments such as lighted toys to provide non-invasive eye and vision assessments for infants.

The optometrist evaluates:

a. Visual Acuity
b. Refractive Status
c. Eye Movement
d. Eye Alignment/Binocular Potential
e. Eye Health

The doctors at Blaine Eye Clinic are among the thousands of members of the American Optometric Association enrolled as InfantSEE providers. According to new data collected by the American Optometric Association (AOA) there is a growing need for early vision examination in infants. The data also showed that two groups at greater risk for visual concerns were premature babies and minority babies.

Parents may learn more about the importance of infant vision care and the InfantSEE^® program by logging on to www.InfantSEE.org. Please call Blaine Eye Clinic to schedule your babys InfantSEE^® assessment.

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This is one of the few eye diseases that still challenges the eye care industry although recent research is offering a glimpse of hope. Macular degeneration is a disease that has potential to cause loss of central vision. The cause of macular degeneration is not truly understood, but it typically does not occur until our later years. It is the leading cause of blindness in America.

The part of our eye that we use for central vision is a specialized area of the retina called the macula. Our central vision is vital for driving and reading. At your annual eye examination, your eye doctor will check for warning signs of macular degeneration such as drusen. These are little deposits that may cause future vision problems.

There are two forms of macular degeneration. Most patients with this disease have the dry form. In about ten percent of the cases, patients will progress from the dry form to the wet form of the disease which tends to be much more visually significant.

Regular eye examinations, good nutrition, and cessation of smoking are vital to helping slow down macular degeneration as well as detecting it. Although there is presently no cure for macular degeneration, there is research being done with medication and lasers to help slow down the progression in the wet form.

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Many patients are interested in LASIK refractive surgery. Blaine Eye Clinic doctors and staff are well-qualified in helping you decide if this procedure would be helpful in obtaining your eye care needs. We are very sensitive to the fact that this is one of the largest decisions you may make and we will help guide you. Because we are your family eye doctor, this process will begin with a thorough eye examination to see if refractive surgery is even an option. If it is, your doctor will assist you in choosing a top refractive surgeon.

You will have a consultation with the surgeon (usually complimentary) at which time more testing will be done to confirm that you are a good candidate. You will have to be out of your contact lenses a set amount of time (depending on the type of contact lens you wear). If your surgeon verifies that you may have the surgery, you will be referred back to your family eye doctor at Blaine Eye Clinic.

Your pre-operative visit will occur just prior to your surgery. This preoperative visit is done at Blaine Eye Clinic and includes repeating many of the comprehensive examination tests. We repeat so many of the tests because accuracy is vital. We will be using a much stronger dilating drop at this visit to ensure an extremely accurate vision reading as well as yet another eye health examination. These results are given to your surgeon. For exacting purposes, even more testing will be done with the surgeon. Often, Wavefront technology is actually used to get a"fingerprint" of your eye. After your surgery, you will return to see us for your post-operative care. You are followed closely and carefully by your family eye doctor to make sure your eyes are healing well.

As you can certainly see, we have extremely high standards for our patients' eyes. Never will you feel rushed or pushed into a decision. We realize that there are known risks with refractive surgery and will do our very best to inform you of these and also to minimize them to the best of our ability. Blaine Eye Clinic doctors and the surgeons to whom we refer are very open to all questions you may have.

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