Join Us THIS WEEKEND – Fri, Sat and Sun – Nov 13th, 14th and 15th for our Patient Appreication Event and the Lenscrafters Customer Appreciation Event.
We will be giving raffle tickets to EVERYONE who comes in for an eye examination during the event. One lucky person who gets an eye exam with the lucky raffle ticket will win a FREE IPod!!!
If it has been more than 12 months since you have seen an Eye Doctor….then NOW is the time to get your eyes examined!! Many eye diseases – like glaucoma, retinal detachments, retinal tears, eye tumors etc - do not cause symptoms so, it is very important to get your eyes examined yearly. Come in to see an Optometrist here at Visionary Eyecare this weekend – and you may win a FREE IPod!To schedule an eye exam online – CLICK HERE !! Or call us at 954-851-9949 to schedule your eye exam at our Sunrise / Sawgrass Mills Mall location for this special event.
LensCrafters will be giving away FREE Designer Eyeglasses and FREE Designer Sunglasses all weekend. They will also be offering 60% OFF of their lenses with the purchase of a frame. And right now – they are also running a GREAT clearance event – with 50% OFF select complete pairs of frames and lenses – see store for details.
EVERYONE who comes into the Sawgrass Mills LensCrafters during the event will also be given a FREE GIFT – just for stopping by! There will also be FREE food, FREE refreshments and also FREE vision screenings during the Patient and Customer Appreication event – THIS WEEKEND – Nov 13, 14, 15 2009.
We are located INSIDE the Sawgrass Mills Mall – in between JCPenny and BrandSmart.
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!
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 Pinesand 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!!”
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!!
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.
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.
Dr Florian Safner, Dr Dawn Bearden, Dr Ross Goukler and Rhonda Kratz - RVP of Lenscrafters
In March, Lenscrafters held its annual “Summit” in Nashville, Tennessee for the company’s top executives and leaders. Dr Dawn Bearden not only manages 2 Independent Doctor of Optometry Offices Next to Lenscrafters (In Pembroke Pines and Sunrise) but, she also serves on the Lenscrafters Optometric Advisory Council. Dr Bearden was invited to the Summit along with other leading Eye Doctors affilitated with Lenscrafters.
Lenscrafters, who’s new brand story is “Lenscrafters Loves Your Eyes“, recognized several leaders of the company. Those who received awards had delivered above and beyond exceptional service and had a positive impact on the company, their peers, customers, patients and the public. Dr Bearden was honored with one of these few distinctive awards.
Dave Reaves, VP of Lenscrafters and Dr Dawn Bearden
Here are some excerpts from the award:
What does someone who creates a Mind Blowing Patient Experience look like to me?
For those of you who don’t know her, she is an amazing clinician, entrepreneur and a Guru when it comes to using the internet for promoting eye care.
Spend two minutes on her website and you’ll be emotionally connected to her, her practice, her patients and her cause: educating the public on the importance of preserving sight.
This individual provides a consistent and a thorough eye exam experience that keeps her patients coming back year after year. Which is great news, especially in those cases when her drive to deliver a consistent and thorough eye exam turns out to be life saving too.
Lenscrafters Summit Recognition Award
This is a story that is connected to this Doctor’s strong leadership. Not only did she provide life-saving care to her patient, she then used her website and her blog to educate her peers and the public about the importance of annual eye exams with her story about her patient, Judy.
Judy is now this doctor’s patient for life and an advocate for the importance of annual eye exams.
Many people over the age of 40 start to notice eye strain and/or blurry vision at near distances – especially for small print. This is called presbyopia.
People who are over 40 with presbyopia need to wear some type of vision correction to read comfortably for small print held at a reading distance. If you are over the age of 40 – you are probably wearing reading glasses, progressive glasses or bifocal glasses. If you don’t wear these corrections now – chances are that you will soon need this type of correction to help you read comfortably at near.
But did you know that if you don’t want to depend on reading glasses or bifocal glasses – there IS another option available for you?? You could wear multifocal or bifocal contactsthat would allow you to see far away and close up at the same time.
Each Eye Doctor at Visionary Eyecare (in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise) is highly skilled at fitting bifocal and multifocal contact lenses for you. There are many different brands of bifocal contact lenses so the doctor will customize your contact lens fitting with the precise bifocal or multifocal contact lensfor you during your contact lens eye exam. Not everyone is a candidate to wear bifocal contact lenses so, the Optometrist will tell you if you are able to wear bifocal contact lenses and which lens would be the best fit for you.
If you are not a candidate for multifocal or bifocal contact lenes – there may be other options available to allow you to see distance and near at the same time. The doctor may be able to fit you with “monovision” contacts. “Monovision” is usually fit for people who have too much astigmatistm and are unable to wear the bifocal contact lenses. Monovision is when the doctor fits your dominant eye with a contact lens to see distance and your other eye with a contact lens that allows you to see near. Your brain usually adapts to this over time and you are able to see far away and close up without the use of glasses.
Every Visionary Eyecare Optometrist is skilled at fitting all of the above contact lenses but, not every eye doctor is comfortable fitting bifocal, multifocal or monovision contact lenses. So, if you are thinking of getting these types of contacts – check to see if your eye doctor is comfortable performing these types of custom contact lens fittings and evaluations.
The above video is a report of the Annual AOA (American Optometric Association) American Eye Q Survey for 2008.
It states that 81% of Americans wear contact lenses, eyeglasses or both.
Unfortunatley 26% of them have not visited their Optometrist or other eye doctor in 2 or more years.
Many eye care professionals – including each Eye Doctor at Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines, Davie and Sunrise - strongly recommend that you have a yearly eye exam because most eye and vision problems cause NO obvious signs or symptoms. Often there can be a serious eye health problem such as a retinal hole, retinal tear, glaucoma, eye cancer, tumors in or behind the eyes and many more that oftenDo NOT cause any noticeable vision blur, headaches, eye pain, eye pressure etc. Frequently these conditions easily go by unnoticedand you are unaware that there is any problem or issue without having a comprehensive eye exam done by your eye doctor.
Unfortunately, most Americans are unaware that eye examinations can detect more than just vision and eye health problems. Through comprehensive eye exams and optometrist can detect signs of diabetes, high blood pressure, brain tumors, cancer, heart and cardiovascular problems, high cholesterol, Mutliple Sclerosis (MS) and more…
Great News!!! If you live in South Florida / Broward County then you need to know that we are Eye Doctor / Optometrist providers for the EyeMed Network Vision Care Insurance Plan to provide you with your discounted Eye Exam, Vision Exam, Vision Testing, Eye Testing, Contact Lens Exam and more!
We have offices in Pembroke Pines and Sunrise and conveniently serve ALL of the surrounding areas of Ft Lauderdale, Plantation, Davie, Weston, Tamarac, Margate, Lauderhill, Coral Springs, North Lauderdale, Oakland Park, Pompano, Miami Gardens, Cooper City, Miramar, Dania, Hallandale, Aventura, Miami Lakes, North Miami Beach, Hialeah, Hollywood and more…
Here is a partial list of some of the EyeMed Discount Plans that we particpate in:
AAA
AARP
AETNA Vision One
Altius
American Heritage Life Insurance
American Legion
Ameriplan USA
Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS)
AT&T Retiree
Blue Cross Blue Shield Of FL (BCBS FL)
Cigna Healthy Rewards
Claire’s Stores
Clear Choice Health Plans
Coca-Cola
Conde Nast and Parade
Consumer Health Benefits
CVS
D&B
Darden Restaurants – ( Including Capital Grille, Red Lobster, Longhorn, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52 )
Earnst & Young LLP
Friendly’s Ice Cream
Home Depot
Humana (Select Plans including Dental Access, Discount Access and Vision Discount-Medicare)
International Paper
Kohl’s
Levi Strauss & Co
Local Government Center
Mail Handler’s Benefit Plan
Marriott Vision Discount
McDonald’s Gold Card Plus
Melaleuca
Metlife
Mutual of Omaha
Pep-Boys
Pepco
Pitney Bowes
Polo Ralph Lauren
Prevent Blindness America
Ryder Vision Discount
Siemen’s Corp
State Farm – Good Neighbor
Superior Dental Care
T. Rowe Price Retiree Discount
Texas instruments
The Coca-Cola Company
The Home Depot Discount Plan
Vision One
Winn-Dixie
Xerox Corporation
YUM! Brands (including Kentucky Fried Chicken / KFC, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s, Pizza Hut)
Please call our offices to confirm that we are still participating in YOUR plan….as contracts come up – some plans are added and others are deleted. Again, its always best to check with us first and remember that the list above is only a partial list!
Be sure to use your benefits before the end of the year….use your Flex Plan Spending!
Below is information about our offices for your convenience:
Pembroke Pines Office (Next to Lenscrafters) 954-430-3808
Located on the SE Corner of Palm and Pines (near Bank of America)
Your eye is like a camera. There are 2 structures that focus light – much like the lens of a camera. These 2 structures are the cornea and the lens. The cornea is the clear front surface of your eye that is located in front of the colored part of your eye (called the iris).
If you are a contact lens wearer – the contact lens sits on the cornea. Not all corneas are the same size. Some are more curved or “steep” and others are more “flat”. It is important to be properly fit for contact lenses by your eye doctor. If a contact lens is not properly fit, the contact can cause serious problems for the wearer – including corneal distortion, corneal swelling, corneal ulcers, inflammation and more.
A corneal topographer is an instument that can detect any corneal distortions caused from a contact lens. A contact lens may look and feel “fine” but, it can still be causing problems that you may be unaware of. Many times sleeping in your contact lenses or overwearing your contacts (wearing a 2 week contact for more than 2 weeks) can cause corneal distortions.
Cornea With Keratoconus
At Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines, Sunrise and Davie- we perform a corneal topography on ALL contact lens patients. During the contact lens eye exam we use the corneal topographer to monitor the health of the patient’s cornea before fitting with a new contact lens and also to monitor the corneal health year to year for established contact lens wearers.
Corneal Topography can also detect some corneal degenerations and corneal dystrophies like keratoconus. Typically a person with keratoconus has a lot of astigmatistm, distorted vision and possibly sensitivity to light. The cornea starts to protrude in a “cone-like” fashion. Most of the time a specialty contact lens can help these patients see clearer and may prevent the corneal dystrophy progression. In advanced cases, the apex of the cornea may thin so drastically from keratoconus that a corneal transplant may be necessary.
WildEyes special-effect contacts include these designs:
1. Icefire, 2. Wildfire, 3. Zoomin’, 4. Jaguar, 5. Zebra, 6. Cat Eye, 7. Knockout, 8. Black-out, 9. Red Hot, 10. White-out, and 11. Hypnotica.
Its time to start thinking about enhancing your Halloween costume and Wild Eyes Contact Lenses are the perfect finishing touch to any spectacular costume! The most popular Wild Eyes color contacts around Halloween are the Cat Eye contact lenses and White-Out contact lenses (made popular by Marilyn Manson…a Florida native).
Costume contact lenses are stylish to wear and they are designed for fun but remember, that they are still medical devices that will be placed onto your eyes. They must fit you properly and be well taken care of to keep them very clean so you don’t get any eye infections. Contact lenses that do not fit properly or are not cleaned can cause very serious eye problems. So, it is important to remember that you need your eye doctor to accurately fit them on your eyes and give you a prescription for them. Even if you don’t currently need wear glasses or contacts to see clearly – you still need a prescription for them to ensure they FIT your eyes properly.
Have lots of fun with your costume contact lenses but, NEVER SHARE OR SWAP these or any type of contact lenses with anyone else – this can lead to pinkeye and other potential serious eye infections that could lead to blindness!
Never buy your costume contact lenses from a place (like a Flea Market) that does not ask you for a valid prescription from your eye doctor. Some of these lenses sold in these places are not FDA approved. You ALWAYS need a prescription from your eye doctor to ensure that the contact lenses fit you properly, feel comfortable and won’t cause you any serious eye problems.
Most eye health issues DO NOT cause symptoms until it is too late…that is why is it VERY IMPORTANT to have an eye exam every 12 months -even if your vision is not blurry and has not changed at all.
Is your vision getting a little bit blurry?? Do you need new eyeglasses or contact lenses?? Do you have a red eye?? Do you want to talk to an Eye Dr (Optometrist) about Laser Eye Surgery?? Well, you don’t need to CALL our eye clinic to make an appointment….
Did you know that you can make an Appointment Online for an Eye Exam, Eye Health Check and Vision Testing….right HERE from our Blog – 24 hours per day / 7 days per week?? Well you can!
Just check out the column on the right under “ONLINE Appointments At Visionary Eyecare” and click on the office where you would like to schedule your appointment OR click below on the office where you would like to schedule your appointment. Its THAT easy!
Pembroke Pines Office (Next to Lenscrafters) Located at 9910 Pines Blvd in Pembroke Pines (The Southeast Corner of Palm and Pines)
Sunrise/Sawgrass Mall Office (Next to Lenscrafters) Located inside the Sawgrass Mall – in between JCPenny and Brandsmart
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