Eye and Vision Care

                Vision is much more than how clear you see.  20/20 clarity is only an end result to a very complex system. 

                 In order for your eyes to collect images to send to your brain, your brain must first be able to efficiently coordinate your eyes.  Your eyes must be able to accurately fixate, track, and jump between objects.  They also must be able to change focus quickly, accurately, and without fatigue. To make all of this even more complicated, the brain must also coordinate twelve eye muscles in order to make sure both eyes are working together as a team while all of these tasks are happening.

                 Remember, all of this has happened before an image has even been sent back to your brain.  After an image leaves each of your eyes, the data from each eye is combined, and routed back to the area of the brain that starts to decode the visual information.  From here it is integrated with the rest of your brain and combined with hearing, posture, and balance.  It is also sent to your memory and language storage areas.  It is combined and integrated with so many other areas of your brain, that it is still not completely understood.

                All of this, of course, is assuming that your visual system is healthy.  Not only are there numerous diseases that can affect your eyes and your vision, such as glaucoma, cataracts, and macular degeneration, but there are also systemic diseases that can affect your vision.  Some of these include diabetes, high blood pressure, multiple sclerosis and arthritis.

                Oh yes, one more thing….the images your healthy eyes are efficiently receiving andintegrating with the rest of your brain had better be clear.  That’s where corrective lenses, such as glasses and contacts, or refractive surgery , such as LASIK or PRK, come in to play.

                As you can see, vision is much more than how clear you see.  The doctors of Eyecare Associates are extensively trained to evaluate, measure, diagnose, treat, manage, and educate patients on all aspects of the visual system in order to provide complete family eye and vision care.