Mission Statement and Consumer Information

Mission Statement

Our mission is to ensure patients the best possible vision performance by providing the highest quality vision and eye health care possible in a comfortable, professional, and "patient friendly" environment. We will keep overall patient wellness and understanding as first priorities in everything we do. We will maintain the highest health care standards, state of the art instrumentation, and commitment to continued improvement in our profession.

Referrals

The highest compliment that a patient can bestow upon us is when they refer friends and family members to us for vision care. We are now seeing the children of patients that first came to see us when they were students at UCLA and the surrounding community. We pledge to continue to provide the highest quality vision care services for our family of patients and our community.

Consumer Information

Yearly Eye Examinations:

We believe that yearly comprehensive eye examinations are the best for patients. During a complete eye examination, we examine the health of the eyes as well as the prescriptions needed to give you the best possible vision in the various tasks that a person might perform.

About eyeglasses prescriptions and frames:

Many patients need a series of different prescriptions depending upon how they use their eyes at work or at home. These may include but are not limited to prescriptions for: 1. General Wear (this can include single vision and a wide variety of multifocal options such as progressives) 2. Computer Usage 3. Sun Wear 4. Sports 5. Reading 6. Hobbies. Consumers should also make sure that they are offered a wide variety of eyeglasses frame options. It is very important that the frames be chosen to fit the patient properly. A frame may look good but may not be designed to fit the face properly. This can lead to lots of problems down the line. It is up to the optical dispenser fitting the eyeglasses to make sure that eyeglasses frames look good on a patient's face and that they are anatomically proper for that individual patient. It is also of critical importance that the lenses be designed properly. If the lenses are not measured and manufactured properly the prescription can not work to its full potential.

Contact lenses:

There many different options for contact lens wear. Contact lenses can be used for general wear as well as for specific puposes such as cosmesis (custom colored contacts for special effects or just for fun). Contact lenses come in many different forms, ranging from rigid to soft. Generally speaking, rigid lenses are more difficult to fit than soft lenses. Patients should make sure that rigid lenses are fitted by a professional with sufficient experience to deal with all the nuances required for a successful rigid lens fit. When fitted properly they offer many advantages such as: crisp clear vision, ease of handling, ease of maintenance, and longevity (they can last much longer than soft lenses). It takes a little longer to adjust to rigid lenses, but they can become very comfortable once the patient has adapted to them. Rigid lenses are available in traditional designs as well as bifocal and special purpose. They can also be obtained in a special design that can be used to reshape the cornea. This is a specialty type of contact lens fit known as Orthokeratology or Corneal Molding. The cornea is caused to flatten due to the usage of special rigid lenses that are worn at night in a fashion similar to wearing a retainer for your teeth. When the lenses are removed in the morning the vision improves. Many patients can use this technique to receive enough improvement that they do not need to use any eyeglasses or contact lenses during the day. Soft lenses are easier to fit and are generally easier for patients to adapt to. They come in a wide variety of options including: 1. Traditional soft 2. Disposable 3. Corrections for Astigmatism 4. Multifocals 5. Sports 6. Cosmesis. Patients should make sure that they purchase their lenses from a practitioner that can offer them different options for contact lens wear. Many patients have not succeeded with contact lens wear because they were not offered different options to solve their particular needs. For example, if a patient has dry eyes, there are certain materials that are better than others for this condition. In addition, there are certain treatments and solutions to dry eye problems. These therapies can help a patient who may not otherwise be able to wear contact lenses.

General Eye Health Issues:

Dry eye and eye allergy problems often go hand in hand. If a patient's eyes are dry they are often more susceptible to allergy issues. There are many treatments and therapies that are available today to help dry eye and allergy sufferers. A thorough eye examination can evaluate these conditions as well as many others and can help the doctor come up with a plan to deal with them successfully. In general, if a patient has eye discomfort, pain, discharge, unusual redness, sudden changes in their vision, an increase in "floaters and flashes", or any unusual change in their vision, they should contact their eye care professional immediately. A thorough eye examination can detect signs of diabetes, glaucoma, cataracts, hypertension, cholesterol issues, dry eyes, eye allergies, and visual abnormalities asociated with neurological conditions.

Children's vision:

Children should have a comprehensive eye examination at the age of six months. This may seem young, but it is important to determine that there is normal visual health and eye coordination at this time. Your doctor is looking for any abnormality in structure or function. Thereafter, the next exam should be at about one and one half years of age. Follow up exams will be scheduled depending upon the individual needs of the child. Doctors are concerned about lazy eye (also known as amblyopia). If a child has one eye that works well and the other not so well, the child will pay more attention to the clear eye and the blurred eye can become permanently lazy if not treated at an early age.

Eye Exercises:

There are certain eye problems that are best treatable by exercises. The eye muscles that surround the eyes are skeletal muscles, just like the bicep muscles of the arms. These muscles can be strengthened by exercises to make them perform better. This can be helpful for prolonged reading and for certain activities such as sports and situations where eye tracking is important. Many professional athletes have used eye exercise programs to dramatically improve their sports performance.

Low Vision:

A low vision consultation is a specialty exam for those patients who are unable to see clearly using conventional eyeglasses or contact lenses. These patients commonly have a visual impairment that is seccondary to an eye disease (for example, macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy). The focus of the exam is to help the patient improve their vision for the tasks that are important to them such as reading, using the computer, or watching television. This is done through the use of low vision aides and devices. Common low vision devices include hand-held magnifiers, telescopes, and closed circuit telvision systems.