Everyone has specific vision problems but all looks for clear sight. So how do you choose the right pair of glasses? Frame designs, lens technology – these are essential to your glasses, but the most important part is having a good optometrist who understands your unique vision needs and provides professional vision care advice. The job of optometrist is often being underestimated; Simon, Senior Optometrist from Puyi Optical, will share his profession and what optometrist actually do, which is more than measuring your eye or prescribing glasses.

Decoding your Eye Health
Professional knowledge beyond
Simon

Simon has been working as an optometrist for 8 years. With his experience and knowledge in optometry, he examines patients vision performance and eye health. "Assessing the vison performance and prescribing glasses according to the customers’ personal needs are the basic duties of an optometrist. Patience is the most important part of this job because every eye is unique like our fingerprints and vision problem is caused by many factors. In order to understand the customers’ eyes comprehensively and provide the most suitable solution to them, we have to assess their eye in every small detail, listen to their feedback, daily vision habits and experience, then to diagnosis what vision problem they actually have. In addition, we go the extra mile to evaluate their eye condition and vision health, conduct in-depth diagnoses of common eye diseases, such as glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, etc., and provide professional advice. This is the part where most of the general optical shops fail to take care of."

TOP-NOTCH OPTICAL ANALYSIS

Not like other health issues, eye disease is always being neglected. Thus, the diagnosis of eye disease becomes an important part in eye exam. "Our optometrists own professional ophthalmology (eye health) knowledge. Equipped with top-notch ZEISS optical instruments, we are able to conduct in-depth analysis of various eye health problems without any invasive examination. The process of diagnosis is not as intensive as you think." Simon recalled, "There was a customer whose eyes were often tired and dry. After our examination, we found that his vision was perfectly normal, but he could not close his eyes completely every time he blinked, and caused-insufficient tears to moisturize and protect the eyes. That was why his eyes were strained and discomfort after long hours of working or reading. Accordingly, we gave him some blinking-related training and his problem got improved."

TOP-NOTCH OPTICAL ANALYSIS

Hidden red flags

Hidden red flags

"People often misunderstand that to solve vision with just a pair prescripted glasses, and overlook risks of potential eye diseases. There was once a young customer who just wanted to pick a new pair of glasses. After going through our Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imaging scan, we detected the thinning of the retinal nerve fiber layer in one of his eyes. It is one of the early signs of glaucoma. The early symptoms of glaucoma are unapparent, especially when only one eye has developed symptoms and the other normal eye would compensate for the overall vision. That is why common eye diseases like glaucoma are difficult to detect through our senses. By the time we got an obvious impairment of our vision, it may already be too late. Therefore, once we find any signs and symptoms of eye diseases during the exam, we will immediately notify our customers and refer them to ophthalmologist for treatment.” Simon added, “If our customers have eye diseases, our optometrists would pay attention to the health condition of their eyes and meet the needs of their different habits when we are choosing and prescribing lenses for them. This ensures our customers are provided with the best vision care."

Common eye diseases

GLAUCOMA  

1. GLAUCOMA

Causes and effects: The fluid builds up inside your eye and the drainage system misfunctioned, the internal eye pressure increases and lead to optic nerve damage, narrow vision and vision loss and even total blindness;

    Decoding your Eye Health
    Symptoms:
  • Gradual loss of peripheral vision, i.e. difficult to see anything when looking to the side
  • Eye redness
  • Seeing a rainbow-colored circle around a light source
  • Loss of vision
  • Eye pain
  • Headache and vomiting
DIABETIC RETINOPATHY  

2. DIABETIC RETINOPATHY

Causes and effects: High blood sugar level over time leads to damage of the blood vessels in the retina. The blood vessels get bulged and ruptured, causing swelling and bleeding in the eye. Repeated damage will impair and weaken the vision, even lead to permanent vision loss;

    Decoding your Eye Health
    Symptoms:
  • Worsening vision
  • Sudden loss of vision
  • Eye floaters, or spots appearing in your field of vision
  • Eye pain or eye redness
MACULAR DEGENERATIONh  

3. MACULAR DEGENERATION

Causes and effects: When the macula wears down degenerates due to age, environmental factors, or high myopia, the light-sensing cells of the macula get damaged and cannot function normally. Patients usually do not have any symptoms at the beginning, but their central vision will be worsened over time. They can even lose their central vision completely;

    Decoding your Eye Health
    Symptoms:
  • Blurred vision
  • Visual distortions, such as straight lines seeming bent vision distorted
  • Difficulty reading in low light level
  • Very sensitive to glare
CATARACT  

4. CATARACT

Causes and effects: Cataract is common in older adults. Your lens becomes cloudy as you age. You will need to undergo cataract surgery to recover your eyesight. Cataract can also be caused by inherited genetic disorders. Medical conditions such as diabetes also increase the risk of cataract.

    Decoding your Eye Health
    Symptoms:
  • Blurred vision
  • Double vision, or seeing two overlapping images of the same thing
  • Seeing halos around lights
  • Difficulty with vision at night
  • Decreased sensitivity to intensity or brightness of colors

The importance of regular checks

Decoding your Eye Health

Simon's sharing has allowed us to understand the importance of regular eye checks. "Regular eye check is also part of the body check. If you are wearing glasses, you should check once a year to test the changes in your vision performance, so that you can adjust the prescription of the glasses you are wearing. As young eyes are increasingly at risk of developing eye diseases in recent years, you need to have regular eye checks no matter how old you are. If you find that your vision has suddenly worsened or your eyes are fatigued for a long time, you should contact us for an eye check as soon as possible."

Puyi ZEISS OPTICAL LAB

PUYI ZEISS Optical Lab is set up in all the stores of Puyi Optical. With top-of-the-line ZEISS optical instruments in place, our professional optometrists can assess the health conditions of your eyes, prescribe accurately for you and provide you with daily eye-care advice, helping you to prevent eye diseases at an early stage. You can also make an appointment online to visit the asia first ZEISS VISION CENTER BY PUYI OPTICAL that is equipped with medical facilities and experience a more extensive eye care service.