Susan Scott is a local artist and patient of Dr Dawn Bearden at Visionary Eyecare (The Indepenedent Doctor of Optometry Next to Lenscrafters) in Pembroke Pines.  She had previously always had a problem finding an eye doctor who could address all of her creative and artistic visual needs.

One day she was having problems doing an art project and her friend, Evelyn (who is an artist and a patient of Dr Bearden) recommended that Susan go to see Dr Dawn Bearden.

This is Susan’s story…

While Susan and Evelyn were doing an art project together  -  Susan had THREE pairs of glasses in front of her and still seemed to be having difficulty seeing what she was doing.  None of the glasses seemed to meet her artistic visual needs.  She felt that she just could not find an Eye Doctor that could give her a prescription that would allow her to see clearly enough to create her art.

After Susan was recommended to Optometrist,  Dr Dawn Bearden, from her friend, Evelyn, she realized that Dr Bearden is ALSO an artist.  Evelyn originally met Dr Bearden Evelyn because Evelyn was teaching Dr Bearden how to make stained glass art at her store – Glass By Design.  Dr Bearden is also passionate about photography.  Dr Bearden started taking pictures around age 12 when she was in middle school, she had minored in Photography in College and also had recently attended the Ft Lauderdale Art Institute for Photography.   For as long as she can remember – Dr Bearden has ALWAYS had a camera in her hand.  Susan felt a connection with Dr Bearden because she felt that they were both artistic and creative individuals.   She felt at ease because she knew that THIS particular Doctor would understand her specific visual needs.

After the eye exam, Susan was very happy with the thoroughness of the eye examination.  She FINALLY received a glasses prescription that met ALL of her artistic visual needs and she was impressed that the Doctor answered all of her questions in a very clear manner in which Susan could completely understand.

Susan recently moved to Washington, DC – BUT, she still plans yearly trips to South Florida so she can come to Visionary Eyecare and see Dr Dawn Bearden for her annual eye exam.

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The above video is from EyeMaginations and gives a great description of what Cataracts are:

Cataracts are a normal and common part of the aging process but, they do not have to interfere with your lifestyle.   A cataract is a cloudiness of the crystalline lens inside of your eye.  As your lens gets cloudier, your vision will gradually become more blurred.

The human eye may best be compared to a camera.  When you take a picture, the lens in the front of the camera allows light through and then focuses that light on the film in the back of the camera.  When the light hits the film, a picture is taken.  The eye works in much the same way.

In  youth, the crystalline lens of your eye is clear and allows light to pass through.   Light is focused by your cornea and your crystalline lens onto a thin layer of nerve tissue in the back of your eye called – the retina.   Your retina works like the film in a camera.  When the focused light hits the retina – a “picture” is taken and sent to your brain.

While a dirty camera lens blurs a picture, any significant cataract or cloudiness  in your crystalline lens will blur the images that you see.

When a cataract becomes significant – your vision can become quite blurry.  It is suggested if your vision drops below 20/40 or so….then it is common to be told to see an eye surgeon to have cataract surgery.

This surgery involves taking out the cloudy crystalline lens (cataract) and replacing it with a clear implant.  Often your surgeon can even do a calculation that can place your current eyeglass prescription into the lens implant.  The result after the cataract surgery can be much clearer vision and often there is no need for glasses after the surgery!

For more information – see your local Optometrist or  Dr Dawn Bearden or Dr Anna-Kay Tenn in Pembroke Pines 954-430-3808 or Sunrise 954-851-9949 for your yearly eye exam and they will be happy to discuss cataracts and cataract surgery options with you!

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Starlene Carter came into Visionary Eyecare (Next to Lenscrafters) in Pembroke Pines in January 2001.  She was in the area and decided to stop in to schedule an eye examination for herself the following week.   She was not intending to get an eye exam that day – her plans were to spend that day shopping!

Our Office Manager, Carol Marsh, was there that day and convinced Starlene to go ahead and get her eye exam that same day since the office was not busy and the Doctor (Dr Dawn Bearden) would be able to see her right away.  Starlene agreed but, was insistent that she would NOT have her pupils dilated that day.  Her shopping was waiting and she did not want to “mess up her day” with that “dilation thing”.  Carol told her that the Doctor would talk to her during the exam about the importance of dilation.  Still Starlene would just not be convinced….

When Starlene met Dr Bearden for the first time – Dr Bearden began to explain and stress the importance of pupillary dilation.  Dr Bearden  explained that this was Starlene’s  first eye exam in our Visionary Eyecare office, there could be a multitude of eye diseases or problems that Starlene may be unaware of (because most eye problems do NOT cause any symptoms like blurry vision, headache, eye pain etc) and that Dr Bearden may NOT be able to detect these issues if Starlene did not allow the Doctor to dilate her pupils.  Dr Bearden also explained that Florida laws requires your Optometrist to dilate your pupils on the initial eye exam when you have an eye exam with a new Optometrist.  Reluctantly…..VERY reluctantly….Starlene finally agreed.

This simple decision absolutely saved Starlene’s vision.

During the eye exam, all seemed very normal.  Starlene had no family history of eye disease, she was able to see 20/20 in each eye with her new glasses prescription, she had NO eye pain, NO headaches, NO discomfort, her eye pressures were normal, her blood pressure was normal, good color vision etc.  But, when Dr Dawn Bearden dilated Starlene’s pupils – she saw 2 very LARGE retinal tears (retinal detachments) in Starlene’s right eye that posed a HUGE threat to Starlene’s vision in her right eye.  These tears could have eventually caused blindness in her eye had they not been detected during the dilation and then properly treated.

Immediately,  Dr Bearden called Dr Jay Levy – who is a local ophthalmologist who specializes in surgery of the retina.  Dr Bearden sent Starlene to see Dr Levy – who did surgery on Starlene’s right eye to repair the retinal tears in her right eye.

Starlene is now a loyal patient of Dr Dawn Bearden’s. She is still able to see 20/20 in each eye and has had no further problems from the retinal tears that were surgically repaired by Dr Levy.  Each and every year during her routine eye exam with Dr Bearden, you can find Starlene out in the waiting room telling her story to ALL of the other patients in the office.  She does a GREAT job in educating people and everyone that she comes in contact with about the importance of yearly eye examinations and the VITAL importance of pupillary dilation.

It saved Starlene’s vision…..and it can do the same for you and for the people in your life who come in for their annual eye exam!

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Allen Picture Eye Chart

Allen Picture Cards

Lea Flip Chart

Allen and Lea charts have pictures or shapes on them that youngsters can identify.   The Broken wheel chart allows the child to tell the examiner which wheel on the car is “broken” .  The Tumbling E chart (also known as the illiterate chart) allows a child to just POINT in the direction that the “legs of the E” are pointing in.

Allen Picture Eye Chart

Often our children can not express to us when they are having problems with their vision.  They may not even realize that they are experiencing vision problems.   Sometimes children will try to compensate for vision issues by closing one eye, rubbing their eyes excessively, squinting, skipping over words or loose their place  when they are reading.

Kids may start having difficulty in school due to an “unknown” reason.  A recent study indicated that up to 60 percent of youngsters that have been identified as “problem learners” or “learning disorder” actually suffer from an undetected visual condition.

Tumbling E Eye Chart

A vision problem is not suspected in many children because they were able to pass the school vision screening or the pediatrician vision screening.  These children may still have visual issues but, they were not detected on the screening.  Only a comprehensive eye exam, done by an Eye Doctor (Optometrist or Ophthalmologist) will be able to detect subtle vision problems.

Broken Wheel Eye Test

Vision issues need to be detected and corrected before age 7 to prevent lifelong problems such as lazy eye (amblyopia), eye turn (strabismus), learning disabilities and behavior problems.

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Visit www.Acuminder.com to Sign Up!

Do you need help remembering when to discard your disposable contact lenses or when to see your eye doctor for your yearly eye exam?  Well you can go to www.AcuMinder.com and register for this FREE service to get reminders sent to you via Email, text message or a computer desktop widget to help you remember.  They even have a new Facebook application that will help you remember!

Getting an annual eye exam is very important in maintaining the health of your eyes as well as keeping your vision as clear and crisp as possible.  Also it is vital to discard your contact lenses every 2 weeks or when your doctor recommends the lenses to be discarded.

Here is a snippet from the www.Acuminder.com website:

A clip from the www.Acuminder.com website

Often contact lenses can feel “fine” and many patients come in and tell Dr Dawn Bearden or the other Visionary Eyecare Doctors that they don’t throw away their contacts until their vision gets blurry and/or their contact lenses start to bother them.  This can be very dangerous.

Contact lenses act like little sponges that can soak up bacteria, fungus, viral particles, mucus, debris, smoke and other environmental agents.  Even if you clean your contacts every night – these agents do build up on your contact lenses each and every day.  Cleaning them nightly often does not get rid of 100% of these irritants.  These irritants build up – day in and day out….so its important to discard the lenses and put in a new pair – even if your eyes feel “fine”.

When contact lenses are not discarded on schedule – patients can come in with distortions on the front of their eye (on their cornea)  or develop allergies to the contacts.  Most of the time, patients are not yet aware that these issues are even happening until its too late.  Some of these issues can lead to lifelong problems with wearing contacts.

Ask Dr Bearden, Dr Tenn or Dr McCulloh in our Pembroke Pines or Sunrise (Sawgrass Mall) office for a free Acuminder.com information card.  We will fill it in with your most recent exam date, the brand of contacts that you are currently using, your correct discard schedule, your eye doctor’s name and telephone number.  You will need this information when you register at www.Acuminder.com

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This is a story of how an eye exam can actually change the course of a child’s life.

Jennifer is a loving mother of an 5 year old little boy.  Her son is absolutely adorable and a really good child yet, in school  he was being labeled a “difficult / problem child” and a “disturbance in the classroom”. He often did not want to pay attention in school, frequently “acted out” and even threw his books.  He just did not seem to be interested in reading or learning – at ALL.

As a mother, she knew that this behavior in school seemed a bit odd and out of character for the sweet, loving boy that she knew her son to be at home.  The comments from the school really alarmed Jennifer that something was definitely wrong.

Her young son had passed his Pediatrician’s vision screening, AS WELL AS the school vision screening but, acting on motherly instinct – she ignored the comments that “his vision is fine” and took him to see the Optometrist, Dr Dawn Bearden, for a routine eye exam.  Eye Doctor,  Dr Bearden,  manages the Visionary Eyecare (Independent Doctor of Optometry) offices next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise and also next to Pearle Vision in Davie.

During the routine eye examination – Dr Bearden discovered that Jennifer’s son was able to read the eye chart with just a little bit of blur but, he needed eyeglasses to correct the strain that he was feeling while reading.  Once the strain was relieved from wearing the glasses full time…the child suddenly became more attentive in school and began reading ALL THE TIME.

Actually, he loved reading SO MUCH that he won an award from his kindergarten teacher for reading!!  He even received an award from the school’s Principal for “Most Improved Reader”…he actually read 26 books within 30 days.  WOW!!

Jennifer is now a HUGE advocate to have children get eye exams from an eye doctor and for parents NOT to be lulled into complacency by their child passing a vision screening.  Her child could have gone through life in the classroom being labeled a “problem” and a “disturbance” simply because he could not see well and his eyes were being strained in school.

Jennifer states the following in her video:

No matter how well a parent THINKS their child sees well or if a child is labeled a “problem” in the classroom because he does not pay attention…it may just be because he can’t see well.

The eye exam has made a HUGE difference and my son has excelled, he is doing wonderful and his behavior is like “night and day”!

“I’m a big ADVOCATE…get your child checked by a (eye care) professional!!”

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A Visual Representation of the Visionary Eyecare Blog

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!!

And sometimes that picture is made from a thousand words…..

Here are some visual representations of the Visionary Eyecare Blog from Wordle.

It visibly shows that our blog talks about the Eye, an Optometrist, an Eye Exam, Pembroke Pines, Sunrise,  Eye Dr,  Contacts, Dr Dawn Bearden, Dr Emily McCulluh, Dr Anna-Kay Tenn, Lenscrafters, an Eye Doctor,  Vision, Eye Care, Eye Health and more….

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Just by scanning one of these images – a reader can immediately get a feel for what the Visionary Eyecare Blog is all about!!

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Ask Dr Dawn Bearden… or any Eye Doctor or Staff member at Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines or Sunrise….and they will always tell you that having an annual eye exam is very important.  But why?!?!???

Is it because your eyeglasses prescription changes every year and you need to get new glasses?!?!??!  Well, often the prescription can change from year to year BUT, there are MORE IMPORTANT reasons to have your eyes checked annually.

Martha Stewart recently interviewed Optometrist, Dr Rhonda Robinson, about annual eye examinations.  Dr. Robinson explained that the reasons to have an annual eye exam change as a person goes through each life stage.

Babies (6mo to 1 year old) need to have their eyes examined to screen for lazy eye, any visual system developmental problems and eye health issues like tumors inside of their eyes.

School age children need to have their eyes examined yearly for another important reason – for a child around 80% of learning is accomplished through vision.  Yearly exams can help determine if they are using their eyes together vs using one eye more than the other.

We are in a new age where the visual demands of children and teens are being stressed in completely different ways – iPods, cell phones, computers, Blackberries, MySpace & Facebook, texting….the list is endless.

Even SMALL changes in a prescription can make a  HUGE difference in visual comfort.

Adults need to have a yearly eye exam to ensure good eye and systemic health.  The majority of eye medical issues DO NOT cause any visual problems or blur…eye health issues like glaucoma, retinal holes and tears, tumors in and behind the eye etc  may be completely asymptomatic.  A comprehensive eye exam can also help detect systemic problems that you may be unaware of – like diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors and more…

Adults around 40 and over usually experience near vision blur called Presbyopia.  Now there are a multitude of options to help correct Presbyopia and give clear near vision while reading – reading glasses, multifocal/bifocal/progressive eye glasses, multifocal/bifocal contact lenses.

Its important for seniors to have yearly eye exams to help detect eye health changes associated with aging – such as cataracts, glaucoma and age related macular degeneration (ARMD / AMD).

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The Optomap Retinal Examination is currently available at Visionary Eyecare – the Independent Doctors of Optometry Next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise (INSIDE the Sawgrass Mills Mall).

This incredible technology allows your Eye Doctor to scan the internal lining of your eye called the retina and save this image on the computer for year to year comparisons.  The retina has about 1 million nerve fibers in it and is an extension of your brain.   The retina is also the ONLY place in the human body where a doctor can observe working nerve fibers and blood vessels WITHOUT cutting into the body.  Subtle eye health changes can be documented, monitored and compared each year.

Your retina can show early signs of systemic problems that can cause damage to nerves and blood vessels such as Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, High Cholesterol and more.  Your retina can also demonstrate eye health issues such as Glaucoma, Retinal Detachment, Macular Degeneration and Eye Tumors and/or Eye Cancer.

Most of the time the patient does not need to have their eyes dilated in order for the Optometrist to obtain a good Optomap retinal scan – so this is a big benefit.

The TV show called “The Doctors” aired a segment discussing the Optomap Retinal Scan and the benefits of this technology during your yearly eye examination to preserve BOTH your eye health and your systemic health.

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