Blog list

Battling the cold with layers of wool and winter boots is basically religion in our region, but aren’t you forgetting something?? Those cold, windswept days and frosty nights aren’t doing your eyes any favors, in case you haven’t noticed!

It is extremely common for adults to wake up in the morning a little achy and stiff, and still a bit tired. The night before might be a little blurry, but why would your vision be blurry after a normal night’s sleep? Turns out, dry eyes and slightly blurry vision in the morning is also a very common experience.

Vermont is “officially” in the middle of peak foliage season, generally understood to be the last week of September through the first or second week of October, depending on where you are, of course.

In the late 1860’s American Optical had over 15,000 employees in its American manufacturing plants. By the time William Beecher passed away in 1892, and the company was in the hands of his fellow apprentice Robert H. Cole, American Optical Company was producing nearly two million eyeglass frames and lenses per year with manufacturing the likes of which were only just becoming possible.

Retinopathy simply refers to damage to the retina caused by disease. The retina is the layer of tissue and cells at the back of the eye that captures light and transmits that light as images to the brain. Any damage to the retina via injury or disease can and often leads to vision impairment or complete vision loss.

The third and final tool in the optometrist’s pre-exam toolbox in this series is called the DRSPlus, or a Confocal Fundus Imaging System. At its core, the DRSPlus is simply a revolutionary diagnostic technology that can take incredibly detailed, high-quality images of your retina! 

The Ocular Response Analyzer is an optometrist’s secret weapon when looking to measure IOP, and it is one of the three tools used by your eye doctor in the first part of your eye exam.

Of the near magical tools an optometrist uses to determine the best prescription for your vision, the autorefractor is at the top of the list. An autorefractor or automated refractor is a computer-controlled machine designed to provide an objective measurement of a person's refractive error.

If you are somehow unaware that Vermont will be directly in the path of totality for the total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8th, 2024, then you have definitely been living in a snow cave all winter!

Optical Expressions uses three essential tools at the outset of every eye exam to gather the “height, weight, and blood pressure” of your eyes, and our next three blog posts are going to take a deep dive into each in turn.