Going Blind

Ever wonder what your life would be like if you lost your vision?  Check out the link below for a revealing look…..

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Going-Blind/50959037739?v=wall

There is Hope and Help for People Living with AMD – AMD Alliance

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Macular Degeneration is a leading cause of blindness in the United States.

AMD Awareness Week is September 18-26.  For more information, visit the AMD Alliance web site…..Click below

There is Hope and Help for People Living with AMD – AMD Alliance.

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• A Feast for Your Eyes (lifescript.com)

The damaging social effects of vision problems….

Did you know that undiagnosed vision problems can have potentially damaging social effects on children?  Transitions® has created the “Little Janie” video to  demonstrate these effects and to help children with vision problems.  Click on the link below to view the video….

http://www.healthysightforlifefund.com/helpjanie/#/holder_complete-0/

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• August Is National Children’s Vision And Learning Month (firstbook.org)

Doctor, why am I nearsighted?

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Why am I nearsighted?  Why does my vision keep changing? Shouldn’t my vision be stable by now?   These are commonly asked questions that we, as eye doctors  are asked on a daily basis.  The answers are not necessarily clear cut, as there is no consensus opinion as to the cause and course of nearsightedness (Myopia).    It is estimated that up to 1/3 of the population of the U.S. is myopic. Extensive studies have been conducted in this area that attempt to determine the exact cause of myopia.  It is thought that heredity plays an important role in the development of myopia.  In other words, if a parent or parents of a child are nearsighted, there is a very good chance the child will be nearsighted.  What about the role of the environment?  How do environmental factors, such as reading, computer work, PDA usage and excessive video game playing effect vision?  Some studies suggest that environment plays a role in myopia development and progression.  Recently, a study found less myopia in a group of children that spent more hours per week playing and performing outdoor activities, while reading as much if not more than a similar group of children who spent much less time outdoors. (Singapore Cohort Study, 2008).

Most likely, heredity is a key factor in the development of myopia.  However, environmental factors probably combine with heredity in the development and progression of this prevalent condition.  Can anything be done about your heredity?  A search of the literature indicates that research is being done in this area.  Perhaps someday, this factor will be changeable.  What can be done to stop myopia from worsening?  A study done earlier this year  indicates that bifocals may slow the progression of myopia in children, however more studies need to be done.

Fortunately, we live in a time when poor vision due to myopia can be managed with the prescription of eye glasses and/ or contact lenses, which allow nearsighted individuals to see and function.   Lasik and other forms of refractive surgery are also options for “correcting” myopia.

It’s difficult to imagine living in a time or a place when good eye care and these corrective options did not exist.  One might think that this is a reference to the distant past.  However, presently, in some countries in other parts of the world, myopia is a leading cause of blindness, due to lack of access to eye care.  This is an issue of high priority for the World Health Organization.

Don’t take your eyes and your vision for granted.  Make sure that you are seeing your best!  Be sure to have annual eye examinations!

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• How Technology Tries Our Eyes (online.wsj.com)

The eyes, the brain and the development of vision….

Watch this wonderful video to better understand how vision develops….

Can You Pass the Vision Test? | NBC Philadelphia

From NBC10 Health Watch…

True or false:  If the parents are nearsighted, the children will be nearsighted too….Click on the link below to find out……..

Can You Pass the Vision Test? | NBC Philadelphia.

Could Eye-Tracking Replace Polygraph Tests?

Image by celesteh via Flickr

From allaboutvision.com……

http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/eye-news.htm#lies

Could Eye-Tracking Replace Polygraph Tests?

SALT LAKE CITY, August 2010 — University of Utah researchers and educational psychologists John Kircher, David Raskin and others on their team say they are the first to develop and test effective software and methods for tracking eye movement to detect lies, according to a press release.

The university has licensed the technology to Credibility Assessment Technologies (CAT), for commercialization.

Lie detection with polygraph testing measures a person’s emotional reaction to lying. But eye-tracking measures his or her cognitive reaction while reading and answering true-or-false questions on a computer.

The technology relies on the assumption that lying requires more work than telling the truth, so it looks for indications that the liar is working hard, such as dilated pupils and taking longer to read and answer the questions during the test. The test also measures reading and rereading time, as well as errors.

“We have gotten great results from our experiments,” said Kircher in the release. “They are as good as or better than the polygraph, and we are still in the early stages of this innovative new method to determine if someone is trying to deceive you.”

Eye tracking tests may cost less than polygraph tests, because they take much less time, can be available in any language and don’t require qualified polygraph examiners.

Related Articles

• Soon Eye-Tracking Technology Will Reveal If You’re Lying [Lies] (gizmodo.com)
• Eye Tracking Technology to Replace Polygraph Machines For Lie Detection (globalthoughtz.com)

Probing Question: Why do 3-D movies make some people queasy?

Probing Question: Why do 3-D movies make some people queasy?.