Professional Eye Examinations
Dr. Blake Golson and Dr. Heather Kern-Golson at Texas Country Eye Care in Midland, Texas, can provide vision screening or a comprehensive dilated eye exam. Vision screening is a pretty basic and short exam to determine the need for glasses or the presence of a vision problem or the potential for a vision problem.
Although a vision screening cannot diagnose a problem with your eyes, it can determine if you should schedule an appointment with an optometrist or ophthalmologist for a more comprehensive examination.
A comprehensive dilated eye examination generally lasts 30 to 60 minutes and consists of the following:
Medical and Health History: Your overall health, as well as that of your family, including high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and any medications you take.
Vision History: The date of your last eye exam, any eye disease that you or any family members have, previous eye treatments, surgeries, or injuries, your general health, and allergies.
Eye Health Examination: Testing the fluid pressure inside the eye, examining the external part of the eyes, and a dilated examination to look inside the eyes.
Refraction or Visual Acuity Testing: Determining the clarity of your reading (near) and distance vision.
Visual Field Testing: Surrounding and peripheral (or side) vision.
Pediatric Eye Exams
Texas Country Eye Care provides pediatric eye exams in Midland, Texas.
Eye exams are important to be sure your children’s eyes are healthy and that they have no vision problems. Poor vision will negatively affect school performance. Visual skills are essential for optimal learning. Up-close visual acuity affects hand-eye coordination for hand-writing skills and reading efficiency, and distance visual acuity will affect how well the student can read the board and see all other types of visual presentations.
The first eye exam should be at approximately six months of age with the next one at age 3 and another before entering first grade, approximately age 5 or 6. After first grade, regular exams should be done every other year, unless glasses or contacts have been prescribed. If eyesight correction is needed, a follow-up exam should be done every year or when suggested by your eye doctor.
Six months old might seem a little young to have an eye exam, but for correct development, a baby should be able to see as well as an adult. Depth perception, color vision, and the ability to focus should be well developed by six months.
Testing for babies will include:
“Fixate and follow”: Fixating on an object and following it.
Pupil response: Pupil opening and closing properly with light.
Preferential looking: Recognizing the different in a blank or printed card.
A pediatric exam will include a health history, vision testing, testing eye alignment, eye health determination, and eyewear prescription if needed.
A parent will, of course, provide the health history. It may include the child’s birth history, birth weight, and pregnancy or delivery complications. Some things you would need to mention would include:
History of prematurity
Delayed motor development
Frequent blinking
Excessive eye rubbing
Poor eye tracking skills
Inability to maintain eye contact
Previously failed vision screenings
Any eye disease or problems in the family
Optical Services
Visit Texas Country Eye Care for all of your eye care needs. We provide vision exams, contact lenses, and fashionable and affordable eyeglasses for adults, adolescents, and children.
Our staff is trained to help you find frames that flatter your face and fit your style and personality. You can choose from frames that are colorful, fun, professional, heavy-duty, dainty, and the list goes on. Whether you want plastic, metal, full rims, half rims, or rimless, we can find something to make you excited to wear glasses.
Lenses are available for single vision, bifocal, no-line bifocal, and progressive prescriptions. Bifocal and progressive lenses are for anyone who needs distance vision corrected, as well as needing reading glasses for up-close reading or working. With bifocal, the line between the two prescriptions is visible, but some people would rather this line not be so evident, so they order no-line bifocals.
Many people prefer the progressive lenses so that the transition between the two prescriptions isn’t such an abrupt change in vision as they look from near to far. Progressives provide a gradual vision change as you tilt your head, as well as not showcasing any visible lines for others to see.
We also offer prescription sunglasses for outdoor activities, as well as Transition lenses for those not wanting a separate pair of sunglasses. Transition lenses are photochromatic, which means that they begin to darken when exposed to UV rays.
On-site Optical Lab
You get your glasses faster at Texas Country Eye Care with our on-site state-of-the-art optical lab. Instead of having to wait two weeks for other optical centers to send off to a lab in another state, we can have your glasses cut and ready for you to wear out of the office in just one day.
We make your glasses from start to finish right in our own office.
High quality
Best value, cost savings
Faster processing time
Personalized service
On-site manufacturing is especially valuable for eyeglass wearers that find life difficult to manage without their glasses. If you have broken your existing pair, you can leave the office with a new pair with very little downtime. If you find that your prescription has changed, but you really like your old frames, we can cut new lenses for the old frames quickly.
Safety Glasses
Workplace eye injuries are common. You might work 40 hours a week with the debris flying around at all times, or you might enjoy woodworking as a weekend hobby. In either case, your eyes deserve the best protection available. Your eyesight is too important to neglect adequate protection.
Safety glasses protect from:
Cuts and scrapes from foreign objects, such as wood or metal chips
Burns from steam or splashes from grease and oil
Infrared or ultraviolet exposure
Exposure to infectious disease
Computer users also benefit from special glasses, although the glasses are designed different than what most people think of safety glasses. Constant computer users may need a separate pair of glasses for their screen work. Digital Eye Strain or Computer Vision Syndrome describes vision-related problems experienced by prolonged cell phone, computer, or tablet use. The average American worker has at least 7 hours of screen time, some even more.
Occupations that are at high risk for eye injury are:
Welding
Construction
Mining
Carpentry
Electrical work
Plumbing
Maintenance
Safety glasses can be prescription or nonprescription and may look like normal dress eyewear but be designed to provide more eye protection than normal glasses. They can also be goggles or face shields/helmets. Some safety glasses contain filter lenses for prevention of radiation exposure.
Talk to Dr. Blake Golson or Dr. Heather Kern-Golson about what type of safety glasses are best for you and your occupation.
Contact Lenses
A contact lens exam is not the same as a routine eye exam. It is a more in-depth exam to make sure that the contacts fit each eye correctly. Improperly fitting contacts can harm the health of your eyes. You receive a contact exam in addition to a comprehensive eye exam.
Contact prescriptions are different from eyeglass prescriptions because eyeglasses are measured to provide corrected vision at approximately 12 millimeters from your eyes. Contacts are measured to provide corrected vision directly from the surface of your eyes.
Once the doctors at Texas Country Eye Care determine your prescription and exact fit, you have to decide what type of contacts you wish to wear. Not only can you pick colored lenses to enhance the color of your eyes, but you can choose to wear extended lenses or daily disposable lenses.
Your choice of daily or extended will decide your lens care routine. Both kinds require different lengths of time that you can wear them. You should pay close attention to the instructions given because deviation from that routine can cause eye infections or injuries. Contacts are a wonderful and safe alternative to glasses, but as with anything that deals with direct contact with your eyes, care routines are designed to keep your eyes healthy and protect your vision.
Laser Vision Correction
Vision correction surgery is also called refractory and laser eye surgery and is used to describe any surgical procedure that fixes vision problems. There have been major advances in refractory and laser eye surgery, allowing many people with better vision than at any other time in their lives. Many people with vision problems have been truly amazed at their improved vision. It can be truly life-changing.
The best procedure for you depends on your health and eye conditions. Dr. Blake Golson and Dr. Heather Kern-Golson will help determine which procedure would give you the best results.
One popular procedure is called LASIK. LASIK stands for laser in-situ keratomileusis. A laser is used to reshape the tissue underneath the cornea through a flap made in the outer layer of the cornea. The reshaping causes the light entering the eye to focus properly. This technique is useful for patients who are nearsighted, farsighted, or astigmatic.
Another procedure is PRK, which stands for photorefractory keratectomy. PRK works for patients who have mild to moderate nearsightedness, farsightedness, or astigmatism. A laser is still used to reshape the cornea, as with LASIK, but only the corneal surface and not the tissues underneath.
Call (432) 684-7287 to schedule an appointment to discuss your options for laser treatment.
Sports Vision
If you or your children participate in any sports, you should be aware that there are over 40,000 emergency room visits for sports-related eye injuries every year. Flying objects, whether it is a ball, a racquet, or even a flying elbow, are potential dangers for an unprotected eye.
A typical example is racquetball. Not only does the ball travel 60 miles per hour or faster, but the racquets are also moving at an extremely high speed …. both in a confined space.
Players, parents, and coaches are now becoming aware of how important protective eyewear is, not only in preventing injuries but increasing visual acuity for the player and, thus, improving their sports abilities.
Some sports clubs will not let members participate if they do not wear the proper gear. In the past, kids didn’t want to wear protective gear of any kind, because they wanted to look like all of their friends. Protective eyewear has become more commonplace now, and it is easier to convince kids to wear it.
Sportswear eyeglass lenses are usually made with impact-resistant material (polycarbonate) to protect the eyes from fast-moving objects. The frames are also made of impact-resistant materials, but each sport requires a different type of frame. Some sports frames have rubber cushioning to also reduce injury to the head and nose where they come in contact with the frames.
Texas Country Eye Care can provide all types of protective sports eyewear. Call (432) 684-7287 to set up an appointment for a safer season.
Treatment of Eye Diseases
Dr. Blake Golson and Dr. Heather Kern-Golson can treat many different eye diseases, including such diagnoses as cataracts, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration.
Early detection of eye disease or the potential for eye disease is the best protection. Early treatment generally works better than treating a more advanced case.
Some most common eye diseases/conditions:
Cataracts: Clouding of the eyes. Visual correction can work in the beginning stages, but more advanced cataracts require surgery, and this has proven to be a very successful treatment.
Glaucoma: Build-up of fluid in the eye, causing damage of the optic nerve (which sends signals to the brain). Loss of this nerve tissue leads to loss of vision. Glaucoma can be treated with drops or surgery, but existing damage cannot be repaired.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD): Damage of the retina, leading to loss of central vision, and one of the biggest causes of vision loss in adults over age 50. Depending on whether it is wet or dry AMD, treatment could range from laser surgery or eye injections to low-vision optical devices.
Blepharitis: Very common eye inflammation, usually caused by bacterial infection.
Dry eye: Tears provide lubrication and moisture. Dry eye is essentially the lack of adequate tears. Depending on the severity of the dry eyes, treatment can range from eye drops to surgery to special contact lenses.
Dr. Blake Golson and Dr. Heather Kern-Golson are certified to examine, diagnosis, and treat many different eye diseases and conditions.