Testimonial: Patient – Judy McNab – Looses Glasses, Gets Eye Exam in Pembroke Pines and Dr Dawn Bearden Finds A Tumor in Her Left Eye

Judy McNab shares her full story

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Judy McNab never really felt the need for yearly eye examinations until she started to need glasses in her 40’s and 50’s.  Like most people, she thought she did not need to see an eye doctor if she did not need to wear eyeglasses or contact lenses.

One day she came into Visionary Eyecare in Pembroke Pines for an eye exam because she lost her glasses.  She was not having any problems with her eyes, no eye pain or pressure, no headaches, no vision problems….nothing.  She just wanted to quickly get an eye examination so she could get a new prescription to buy a new pair of glasses at Lenscrafters.

During the eye exam at Visionary Eyecare  (the Independent Doctors of Optometry next to Lenscrafters in Pembroke Pines),  Judy was able to see 20/20 in the examination room, her eyes looked perfectly healthy during the dilated retinal examination and also on the digital photographs taken of the inside of Judy’s eyes.   During the examination, Eye Doctor –  Dr Dawn Bearden recommended that Judy get a visual field (peripheral vision) test as a baseline – because Judy was over the age of 40 (much like a baseline mammogram is done at age 40) .  This test is an advanced test that is not part of the routine eye examination and would take extra time and cost Judy extra money (unfortunately – unlike a baseline mammogram-  most medical insurances and vision plans and will NOT pay for this preventative testing as a baseline).  At first, Judy did not want to take the time to do the additional test but Dr Bearden explained that visual field testing could uncover early and subtle eye health issues that sometimes a routine eye exam could not.  Judy was convinced and did the additional visual field test… and the results came back positive – TWICE.

Dr Bearden immediately referred Judy to an ophthalmologist for a secondary evaluation. At first,  Judy did not really want to see the ophthalmologist…..she kept telling Doctor Bearden that her vision was fine and she was not having any problems or symptoms….but, Dr Bearden INSISTED that she go for the secondary evaluation.   Judy did see the ophthalmologist, who then referred her to Bascom Palmer in Miami to see an eye doctor that specializes in eye tumors and eye cancer.

Judy was diagnosed with a tumor in her left eye and had laser treatment to help destroy the tumor in her left eye.  This was in 2005.  Now in 2009 Judy still has good vision in her left eye (she is able to see 20/25 in that eye).  Luckily, the tumor did not spread to anywhere else in her body and the surgeon was able to treat the tumor without having to remove Judy’s eye.

Judy shares her experience in the above and below videos.  She reminds us all that YEARLY eye exams are very important to help detect eye health issues that you may be unaware of… since many eye health issues DO NOT CAUSE SYMPTOMS and can only be detected by a COMPREHENSIVE eye exam.

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Judy McNab – short video testimonial

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These videos and many more educational videos and testimonials can be found on the Visionary Eyecare YouTube Channel…..CLICK HERE to check it out!

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Patient Testimonial – Erik Nunez

Erik Nunez is a South Florida resident and was a patient of Dr Dawn Bearden a few years ago in the Pembroke Pines office. When he was due for his last eye exam he just happened to be out of the country and visiting his family in Argentina. Erik had his eye examination from an eye doctor in Argentina and was never able to see out of his glasses very well.

He returned to Dr Bearden to “get fixed” and here is his video testimonial (also available on our Visionary Eyecare YouTube Channel).

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Poll: How Often Do You Throw Away Your 2 Week Disposable Contact Lenses?

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Diabetes and Eye Damage, Stroke, Heart Attack, Kidney Damage, Impotence and More…

Problems In The Body Caused By Diabetes

According to a study published in  “Diabetes Care”  – almost 13 percent of all adults aged 20 or older have Diabetes and 40 percent of these people have NOT been diagnosed with either diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Non-Hispanic Blacks and Mexican Americans had TWICE the rate of  Diabetes than Non-Hispanic Whites.

So this demonstrates that you may have diabetes and you may not even know it – often there are no symptoms until the diabetic disease had progressed.

Yearly Eye Examinations with your eye doctor (Optometrist or Ophthalmologist) can often help detect early diabetic signs – even when you are not yet having any symptoms. When an eye doctor examines the inside of your eyes during a dilated retinal exam or through the use of retinal photography he or she can see signs of diabetes which include bleeding and swelling of the retina (the nerve layer that lines the inside of your eyes).

Bleeding And Leaking In Diabetic Eye Disease

Common signs of diabetes include increase in hunger, thirst and an increase in urination frequency. If your blood sugar is very high – you can even see a sudden increase in blurry vision.

Diabetes can damage the eyes and cause a permanent decrease in vision… and also increase the risk for stroke, heart attack, kidney damage, impotence and numbness in your fingers and toes.

If you are over 20 and have not had a physical recently – now may be a good time to call your Primary Care Doctor and schedule one…especially if you have been very hungry, thirsty or going to the bathroom a lot!

If  it has been more than 12 months since your last visit to your Eye Doctor – pick up the phone and schedule an appointment….for yourself….. and your family members!

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What is RSS, RSS Feed and That Little Orange Chicklet Thingy?

We hear about this thing called RSS or RSS feed but, most people do not know what this is.

There is also that little orange button that seems to be popping up everywhere on the internet – again a mystery as to what it is and what it does.  It is called a RSS chicklet that looks like this:

The video above does a GREAT job in explaining RSS and what the little orange chicklet thingy is all about.

Its a great way to bring your favorite blogs and news posts to you on a regular basis – instead of you hunting around on the internet and interesting for new material to read about!

Here on the Visionary Eyecare Blog: The Eye Journal….we do have an RSS feed and also that little orange chicklet – just look over on the right sidebar of the blog.  You can use this technology to subscribe to this blog to get updates about new educational and informational blog posts about eye health and vision care.

Enjoy!

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Online Eye Test for Dry Eye

CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE DRY EYE TEST

Do you think that you may have Dry Eye??

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you have a lot of burning in your eyes?
• Do you have a lot of tearing in your eyes?
• Do you experience a lot of itching in your eyes?
• Do your eyes feel like there is something in them – like an eyelash or hair – even when there is not?
• Do your eyes feel sandy or gritty?
• Does your vision intermittently blur and when you blink it clears up?
• Do you do a lot of work at a computer?
• Do you do a lot of reading?
  
• Do you do a lot of work outdoors?
  

If you answered YES to any of the questions above – then you may have Dry Eye.

Click on the “DRY EYE TEST” at the top of this post to help to determine if you do have dry eye.

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If you DO have dry eye or answered YES to any of the questions in the above list – schedule an appointment to see your eye doctor. Your eye doctor can help determine what treatment, if any, is best for you.

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Common treatments can include using artificial tears in your eyes frequently throughout the day, fish oil capsules or eye vitamins or capsules to be taken orally, punctal plugs to be inserted or a prescription for a medication like Restasis that can help you produce more tears.

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