Canberra Weekly | personalEYES opens up your new world of vision

A new dimension of vision care is available in Canberra with the arrival of personalEYES in Kingston.

With clinics throughout NSW, personalEYES are well known for vision correction and offer the widest range of treatment options in Australia, according to CEO Dean Powrie.

This includes bladeless laser cataract surgery, a relatively new procedure that personalEYES has been involved with for 12 months.

Demonstrating their commitment to patient care, personalEYES' chief medical officer has used three different technologies that offer this procedure in order 'to become familiar with what is the best technology to be able to offer our patients', Mr Powrie said.

He said personalEYES are also the first in the world to combine laser cataract surgery with Mplus multifocal lens. The German-made lens is custom designed to give each patient the optimum vision for their left and right eyes.

Additionally, Kamra AcuFocus is another treatment option unique to personalEYES. Smaller than a contact lens, the Kamra inlay is a device implanted in the eye to treat presbyopia or reduce the need to wear reading glasses.

Mr Powrie said 'we are excited about being able to provide a new dimension of vision care for the folk of Canberra', especially as a significant number of ACT residents have previously travelled to Sydney for treatment. The decision to open the clinic supports the growing need for eye services in the region and demonstrates a long-term commitment to Canberra.

The new Kingston clinic is already in operation with four surgeons on the team at this time. Their specialties include glaucoma, cornea, cataract/general ophthalmology, and retinal surgery. While it is already broad base to begin with, Mr Powrie said they are still building and recruiting the team for the Canberra location.

He recommends that people interested in utilising personalEYES' services seek referral from their GP or optometrist. 'We work very closely with local optometrists, who do a fabulous job, and they will refer people on for further treatment or treatment they can't provide,' Mr Powrie said.

personalEYES also provides an alternative solution for people who may be waiting for an appointment with an eye specialist. While the business name 'is indeed a pun', he said it is also representative of their service – which is 'to personalise each individual's treatment options'.

personalEYES has a highly experienced team; Mr Powrie and his business partner each have more than 20 years' experience in vision correction processes. And while they can certainly assist with vision problems, he said it is important that people take care of their eyesight.

'We are all guilty of being so busy, we put things off if we are doing okay and it's not causing any problems, and people do that with their eyes,' he said. 'But when people start to notice problems, it is often too late.

'My advice is if you are under the age of 40, you should have an eye test every two years for a routine eye check … and if over 40, a yearly eye test.' Testing is important, even if you don't wear glasses or contacts, to check for glaucoma and macular degeneration as 'prevention is the cure', he said.

Who, what, where?
personalEYES
51 Jardine Street, Kingston
1300 683 937



Canberra Weekly | Read Article >

What's involved with LASIK vision correction surgery?

Laser vision correction surgery, also referred to as LASIK, is a type of surgery used to correct vision problems, including myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. Even though it is similar to other forms of vision correction surgery, it is usually preferred by ophthalmologists because patients recover much faster from the procedure.

Preoperative Preparations

Patients usually have to undergo certain procedures before the operation to increase the success rate of the procedure. Firstly, if a patient uses contact lenses, they are required to remove them for a minimum of five days before the surgery but even as long as three weeks. In the case of hard contact lenses, six weeks are recommended.

The patient's corneas must then be examined prior to the procedure to determine thickness as well as their surface shape. What happens is that, with the aid of a topographer, the ophthalmologist creates a topographic corneal map which provides surgeon with the information needed so he knows how much tissue needs to be removed and where it is located.

Additionally, patients are required to take an antibiotic before the procedure which helps to reduce the likelihood of infection.

The Procedure

The procedure is made up of three steps and is performed without the administration of a general anaesthetic, meaning that the patient is awake. However, a mild sedative can be administered as well as anaesthetic eye drops to numb the area so that patients do not feel any pain.

The first step is to cut a flap in the corneal tissue which is usually achieved with a metal blade or with a special laser. A hinge is left on one side of the flap so that it can then be lifted and pulled back, allowing access to the stroma, or the central portion of the cornea.

Next, the surgeon uses an Excimer laser to begin remodelling the stroma by clearing away excess tissue. During this step patients often become disoriented because their vision becomes extremely blurry and they can only see the orange light of the laser surrounded by white light. However, the procedure usually doesn't last long and the discomfort is worth the end result.

The last step is to put the corneal flap back into position and the eye is then allowed to heal naturally.

Postoperative Care

A patient is required to wear a pair of dark glasses to protect their eyes from bright light as well as goggles to prevent them from rubbing their eyes while asleep. Additionally, they are also put on a regimen of eye drops that are antibiotic to prevent infection as well as inflammation.

Proper postoperative care is just as important as the procedure itself as it will help to prevent any complications and increase the likelihood of success.

After vision eye surgery, in most cases people under 40 will no longer require prescription glasses while those between 40 and 50 will only need reading glasses to prevent strain.

Vision correction surgery is a highly effective method to resolve many vision problems and is preferred by ophthalmologists over other vision correction techniques because of the high success rate and speedy patient recovery.

More information about Lasik Eye Surgery >

See better, faster with laser cataract surgery

Is your vision becoming cloudy or foggy? Are you noticing halos or glare around lights? Packaging and menus getting harder to read?

Half of Australians aged between 65 and 74 are suffering from cataracts—you may be one of them.

Now the same precision and safety of laser technology that LASIK surgeons have been using for over ten years, is being used to perform the key steps of cataract surgery.

Laser cataract surgery—what does this mean for you?

• NO BLADE surgery
• Better vision—potentially see without the need for glasses
• Greater precision and accuracy
• Faster procedure time
• Reduced stress on the tissue of the eye
• Improved safety
• Greater predictability of the outcome

Having the widest range of vision correction options available in Australia means we can 'personalEYES' the best solution for your eyes.

We also have a range of no-gap and uninsured options available (subject to suitability).

Click here to find out more about laser cataract surgery >

Manchester Evening News | Bring Sexy Back with Laser Eye Surgery

There is a long-running debate over whether glasses are sexy. Some people feel that they can add an element of sophistication or seductiveness to a face. Maybe if the Mona Lisa had been wearing glasses, her portrait would never have made it out of da Vinci's studio.

Perhaps it's all a matter of personal taste and depends largely on the glasses and the face in question. Regardless, what is important is how they make you feel, and whether you feel comfortable wearing glasses day-in day-out. If you feel that having to wear glasses has compromised your looks and you can't get on with contact lenses, there is a solution that will enable you to bring sexy back to stay.

Restore your vision and your looks with laser eye surgery

For many people, laser eye surgery is the ideal solution. Not only can it potentially restore your vision to perfect 20/ 20 sight, but it can also effectively remove the need for glasses and lenses in the long term.

It's certainly a much better solution than the one that some people come up with to avoid their eyesight affecting their looks, which is not to wear glasses at all. This is fine in principle, but squinting to read a menu is seldom sexy and eye strain is unlikely to make you feel any sexier. Not to mention the risk of drastically misjudging your date's attractiveness due to your reduced vision.

Laser eye surgery can make it possible for you to see perfectly without the need for unwieldy and unattractive specs.

Is it painful?

There can be minimal discomfort, although laser eye surgery patients often report that the procedure is pain free. Though you will be awake for the entire procedure, your eye will be anaesthetised using special drops, so you shouldn't feel a thing. A very small and shallow incision is then made in the surface of the eye, and the resultant flap folded back. A computer-controlled laser then, within a matter of minutes, re-shapes the cornea, effectively correcting your vision, whether you are short-sighted or long-sighted.

How long does it take?

The entire procedure for each eye takes little more than 20 minutes. It is possible to have both eyes done at the same time (bilateral treatment), though some people prefer to have only one eye treated at first until the outcome is known. Recovery time can also be relatively short, requiring little or no time off from work. It can vary, depending on the exact type of laser eye surgery you undergo, but generally you should be able to resume your usual activities within a matter of days.

Who can have laser eye surgery?

In order to be suitable for laser eye surgery you will generally be over 18 (with a stable prescription) and under 70. Apart from your short-sightedness (myopia), long-sightedness (hyperopia) or astigmatism your eyes should be healthy. A short consultation with a qualified eye doctor can determine whether you are a suitable candidate for the procedure.

So if glasses aren't really working for your image or you just don't like wearing them, there is an alternative, and one that in the long-term can actually work out more cost-effective than glasses or contact lenses.

Manchester Evening News | June 07, 2012 | Read article >

Read more about laser eye surgery @ personalEYES >

How to safely watch today's Transit of Venus

Be safe. A fraction of a second of magnified, unfiltered sunlight will sear your eye's retina irreparably. Observing the Sun directly without appropriate protection can damage or destroy retinal cells, causing temporary or permanent blindness.

The safest way to watch a transit is to observe an image of the Sun projected onto a screen through a telescope, binoculars, pinhole or reflected pinhole.

If you can get hold of them, welder's goggles rated at 14 or higher will protect your vision.

The event can be viewed without magnification using filters specifically designed for this purpose, such as an astronomical solar filter or eclipse viewing glasses coated with a vacuum-deposited layer of chromium.

However, the disk of Venus is tiny compared to the sun and not much will be seen. The once-recommended method of using exposed black-and-white film as a filter is now not considered safe, as small imperfections or gaps in the film may permit harmful UV rays to pass through.

A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a transit, Venus can be seen from Earth as a small black disk moving across the face of the Sun.

The duration of such transits is usually measured in hours. A transit is similar to a solar eclipse by the Moon. While the diameter of Venus is more than 3 times that of the Moon, Venus appears smaller, and travels more slowly across the face of the Sun, because it is much farther away from Earth.

Wikipedia | NASA

Regular eye check-ups are necessary for detecting Macular Degeneration

Macular Degeneration or age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness and severe vision loss in Australia.

One in seven people over the age of 50 are affected by the disease and the incidence increases with age and is often called Age-related Macular Degeneration (AMD).

MD refers to a group of degenerative diseases of the retina that cause progressive, painless loss of central vision, affecting the ability to see fine detail, drive, read and recognise faces.

In some cases, AMD advances so slowly that people don't notice the change in their vision. For others, the disease progresses faster and may lead to a loss of vision in both eyes.

Treatment can slow vision loss, however, it does not restore vision.

Regular comprehensive eye check-ups can detect macular degeneration before the disease causes vision loss.

personalEYE's patient wins Bathurst Classic

I had my eyes operated on over four years ago to correct my distant vision especially for driving at HIGH speeds and judging braking distances on the race track.

Since the operation my vision is still great and I don't have any issues judging distance.

I would recommend personalEYES to anyone with vision problems. Their service and knowledge is outstanding and I feel they are the leaders in vision correction technology.

Rod Dawson

Read more of our patient testimonials >