Posts Tagged ‘eye care virginia beach’
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Tuesday, October 16th, 2012Optometrist: Vision AND Eye Health Provider
Wednesday, July 25th, 2012I’m breaking my rule against soap box blogging in order to say how much I enjoy being an optometrist. Truly, it is a personally rewarding profession and it encompasses many more aspects than most may realize.
Many people see optometry as the profession that simply diagnoses vision problems and prescribes glasses and contact lenses. And if that were the full extent of my responsibilities as an optometrist, I would still be proud. There are few things more fulfilling than helping a young child see the board in the classroom clearly for the first time, or helping a 40-something overcome “go-go-gadget arms” with the prescribing of progressive bifocals. And there is so much satisfaction in helping an individual afflicted with keratoconus regain usable vision with custom designed contact lenses.
Dr. Russ Beach, Optometrist
But there is so much more to optometry than these wonderful examples above. Optometrists, as the primary eye care providers in this country, are fully educated, trained, and licensed to diagnose and treat medical conditions of the eye. During the 4 year graduate school training of an optometrist there are literally thousands of clinical encounters within educational rotations and countless hours attending classes and studying about the medical aspects of the human eye. By the time an optometrist graduates, passes all 3 parts of national competency board exams, and attains professional licensing they are fully prepared to address the medical aspects of eye care. This includes diagnosis of medical eye conditions, the treatment of such conditions through pharmaceutical means as appropriate and the professional determination of when to involve the ophthalmic surgeon as dictated by the condition.
Given all of this I find it unfortunate that I’ve encountered, on several occasions, local physicians who completely misrepresent the training and abilities of optometrists to their patients. If physicians such as these have lived in a bubble for the last 30 years, than I take responsibility, on behalf of my profession, for not doing a better job of educating the health care community of the highly trained role of optometrists within patient care. If members of the health care community do know of the advances of optometry over the last 3 decades, but still elect to mislead patients, it’s a very unfortunate reminder that it is time to put politics aside and understand that patient care, not egos of health care providers, should be the ultimate priority.
As I step down from my soap box, I hope that patients and fellow healthcare providers will come to understand the essence of optometry: we are vision care providers who are fully educated, trained, and licensed to diagnose and treat medical conditions of the eye. Our responsibility to our patients includes vision AND eye health.
As always, I’d love to hear your comments or questions. Give us a shout over on Facebook or on Google+. And, remember, you can now request your annual eye exam appointment at our office by clicking here.
Dr. Beach, Doctor of Optometry!
A Special Thank You to our Patients of the Month for November & December
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
November's Patient of the Month: Jana (pictured in the middle) with CEC staffers Erin, Cayla, & Kristyna
Excuse our tardiness in posting these photos, but here are some shots of our “Patients of the Month” for November and December. It’s so tough to choose just one patient each month, when we have so many great people visit with us on a daily basis.
December's Patients of the Month: Mayra and her girls Brenda, Kelly, and Wendy with CEC optician Marisa
A special thank you to these Patients of the Month and to all of our patients who make our jobs an enjoyable experience.
A Reason for Annual Eye Exams? Try 1500 Reasons!
Thursday, January 26th, 2012
I have 2 primary functions as an optometrist: address visual conditions AND assess and treat medical conditions of the eye. But an equally important responsibility of my role as an optometrist is to relay the importance of lifelong eye care through the annual eye exam.
Unfortunately, there is the widespread belief that you need a reason to visit an optometrist: either a visual or medical eye problem. When this belief is held, a person may go beyond one, two, or even three years in between eye exams.
But what if I told you there are 1500 other reasons for an eye exam? 1500 is the number of “ICD-9″ insurance diagnosis codes related to the eye. These codes are used by the optometrist to identify the presence of a particular condition to the patient’s insurance carrier.
This means there are nearly 1500 possible specific conditions that could be affecting your eyes. The include conditions affecting every different part or structure of the eye from the front surface all the way to the back. Many of these conditions are being ruled out during the course of annual eye exam. And many of these conditions may, in fact, not cause you any symptoms until the condition is in the difficult-to-treat stages.
So I urge you to treat eyes well by getting annual eye examinations and they should end up treating you well for a very long time.
As always, I’d love to hear your comments or questions. Give us a shout over on Facebook or on Google+. And, remember, you can now request an appointment for your annual eye exam at our office by clicking here.
Dr. Beach.
Ask Dr. Beach: “Are ‘dailies’ better than 2 week and monthly contact lenses?”
Thursday, December 8th, 2011
Since every person is unique in their combination of visual needs, ocular health, and amount and type of prescription it’s hard to say that one type of lens is absolutely the best for everybody. But now that we have that disclaimer out of the way, I would say that ‘dailies,” or lenses that are discarded on a daily basis, provide a unique combination of benefits that 2 week and monthly lenses simply cannot offer.
The first unique benefit of dailies is convenience. In fact, dailies are the MOST convenient type of lens on the planet. It’s the lens that doesn’t need to be cleaned. A person simply wakes up, opens a new lens, wears it for the day, throws it away at the end of the day, and repeat the process the next day. There’s no need for cleaning solutions or lens storage cases. Also, you don’t have to keep tabs on the replacement cycle on your calendar as with 2 week and monthly lenses.
The second unique benefit is better ocular health by reducing the risks for eye infections. Quite simply, a lens that is discarded every day doesn’t give bacteria, viruses, or fungi a chance to reproduce and cause ocular complications as with 2 week and monthly replacement lenses. While patients love the convenience of dailies, optometrists love the safety.
Another unique benefit of dailies is improved comfort by way of reduced lens deposits. Throwing a way lens every day prevents the buildup of oils and proteins which can decrease lens comfort. Also, there is less buildup of allergens (pollen, dust, etc) so there is less chance for allergic reactions in the eye when compared to 2 week and monthly replacement lenses.
So while every person’s contact lens needs are unique, dailies do provide an improved wearing experience for a large number of people.
As always, I’d love to hear your comments or questions. Give us a shout over on Facebook or on Google+. And, remember, you can now request an appointment for your annual eye exam at our office by clicking here.
Best wishes,
Dr. Beach.
Jen D. is our Patient of the Month for October
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011Jen D. is our Patient of the Month for October!
Jen has a baby on the way soon, so the Clearview staff put together a goodie basket of items for the little boy’s arrival. She’s pictured here with team member Erin.
Thanks again Jen and all of our great patients for making our job so enjoyable
Use it, Don’t lose it!
Monday, November 14th, 2011Don’t forget to use your Flex-Spending (FSA) benefits before December 31st! And remember, you can use these benefits towards services and vision products at Clearview Eye Care.
August’s and September’s “Patient of the Month”
Tuesday, October 25th, 2011Earlier this year, our staff started a new tradition of selecting one patient each month to thank for their business and provide them with a special basket-o-goodies. We have a lot of fun trying to decide who the lucky winner is each month, but we must say it’s a really tough decision each month trying to narrow it down to just one patient when we see so many great people every day.
We’ve been a little slow to post the photos, but here are our “Patient of the Month” for August and September.
Joey and Thelma, thank you for making our job such a rewarding and enjoyable experience. We are lucky to have such great patients as you.
Thelma is September's Patient of the Month
Thelma is September's Patient of the Month
August's "Patient of the Month," Joey, shown here with practice manager, Marisa.
Are you still wearing the type of contact lenses that need to be cleaned?
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011If you said yes, hopefully I’ve got your attention. There is a type of contact lens that doesn’t need to be cleaned every day, dramatically increases the convenience of contact lens wear, results in over $100 a year in savings on contact lens solutions, AND greatly reduces your chance for eye infections/allergic conditions related to lens buildup.
So what is my new contact lens of choice? The Dailies Aqua Comfort.
More and more studies are indicating that the use of daily disposable (Dailies) lenses are safer than 2 week or 1 month replacement lenses. Research shows a much lower risk of collecting micro-organisms, like bacteria and fungi, which could cause potentially blinding eye infections. And, research shows a much less likelihood of ocular allergies due to protein or pollen 
buildup on the contact lenses. The result: dailies are the safest of all lens types.
Of course, the convenience is one of the greatest benefits as well. No lens requires less work than dailies. You open up a new lens pack each day, throw it away at the end of the day, and repeat the next day. There is no need to clean the lens in the morning and in the evening. This means saving well over $100 each year on contact lens solutions.
The Dailies Aqua Comfort lens is my new favorite lens because it also is one of the most comfortable lenses that I prescribe to patients. This brand of lens is also now available in many different prescriptions, so a greater number of patients will be able to take advantage of what has become the safest and most convenient lens.
If you have any questions or would like to speak to us more about Dailies, be sure to shoot us an email or give us a shout over on facebook!
Dr Beach
Clearview Eye Care, Virginia Beach, VA
(757) 275-9090
Clearview Eye Care’s Eyewear Collection Expands in 2011
Monday, July 25th, 2011It’s been a exciting first half of 2011 for the Eyewear Boutique at Clearview Eye Care. So far this year, we’ve added over a dozen new designers to our already outstanding collection of eyewear. Some of these new additions include: Armani, Gucci, Juicy Couture, Cole Haan, Ellen Tracy, and Izod—–just to name a few.
just a few of the many designers found in our newly expanded collection
Even with this expansion of our collection, Clearview Eye Care continues to be the only practice in Hampton Roads to offer a 3 Year Quality Guarantee on all frames at absolutely no extra charge. This is because we believe in the quality of the eyewear we provide, and we believe in standing behind your investment in better vision.
Give us a call at 275-9090 or email us at info@clearvieweye.net so that we can reserve a time for you to see our newly expanded eyewear collection.
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