When was the last time you thought about your family's eye health history? It might not be something that crosses your mind often, but understanding your family's eye health background can be crucial in maintaining your vision for years to come.
So when catching up with family maybe this is a good conversation to have?  After all talking about our eyes is much nicer than many other health discussions!

First-degree relatives—parents and siblings—play a significant role in determining your risk for certain eye conditions, particularly conditions like glaucoma and macular degeneration. These conditions tend to have a genetic component, meaning that if someone in your immediate family has been diagnosed, your risk may be higher- for example glaucoma risk increases to 5x higher if you have this family history.
But it’s also good to remember all the good things you got from your parents – genetics are a mixed bag!

For children, having myopic or short-sighted parents can also increase their risk of developing myopia. The earlier we detect and treat these conditions, the better chance we have of preserving your vision for the future.  Looking around the dinner table if everyone is wearing glasses – find out how old they were when they first got glasses, it can be fascinating to know!

It's important not to overlook the impact of family history on your eye health. Earlier detection and treatments can significantly improve your vision outcomes in the long run. Don't let preventable vision loss occur simply because you didn't prioritize regular eye check-ups.

If you're unsure about your family's eye health history, don't hesitate to ask your parents. They may have valuable information that could help you better understand your own risk factors.

Likewise, if you've been diagnosed with a condition such as glaucoma or macular degeneration, it's essential to inform your children. They may be at higher risk and should be having regular, thorough eye examinations—not just quick checks to sell glasses.

We’ll always ask about your family history of eye problems – glaucoma, macula degeneration, and diabetes are the big ones that if they are in your family, you may need additional scans or imaging to monitor.

Knowing your family health history helps you to take proactive steps towards protecting your vision. By staying informed and keeping your regular eye examinations, you can ensure a clearer and brighter future for yourself - and your loved ones too.

Welcome to a day at our optometry practice in Karori, Wellington, where we provide comprehensive eyecare services for the entire family, from the youngest to the oldest members. Our doors open at 8 am, the footpath sign goes out, so we see people on their way to work, kids before school and the day gets started.

CapitalEyes appointments vary from short consultations for sore red eyes to longer, more comprehensive exams for monitoring conditions like glaucoma or macular degeneration. We understand that every person is unique, and we tailor our approach to suit.  This means we’ll have pre-schoolers and 90 year olds in the same morning. 

We use advanced technology to provide the best possible care for our patients. These include widefield retinal imaging, OCT scans, and axial length measurement.  The optometrists then take the time to show these results on the large screen, explaining more about each person’s eyes.

As well as tech, optometrists take the time to discuss the results, give options and answer your questions.  So much better to understand what is going on and we know this takes time, so our appointments are longer than many other places.

The morning flies by and then there’s the “after school rush” with kids, backpacks, snacks, extra siblings and parents pondering the next thing, as they fit in their children’s eyecare.

One aspect that we're particularly passionate about is children's eyecare. We love seeing kids and teenagers and providing them with the vision care they need to thrive. With the latest treatments available to slow the progression of myopia, we're excited to help young people maintain optimal vision for years to come.

But our commitment to our patients doesn't end when they leave. We go the extra mile by frequently following up with emails containing additional information about their eye health, such as tips for managing dry eyes or updates on children's vision changes. It's all part of our commitment to provide comprehensive care that extends beyond the exam room.  And professional education is ongoing too – at least 20 hours a year of webinars, conferences and online learning is required for optometrists.

Of course, no optometry practice would be complete without a team of skilled professionals to assist with frame selection and optical dispensing. Our team of Juliana, Simon, and Sophie are here to help you find the perfect frames and ensure that your eyewear not only looks great but also lasts.

6pm it’s time to finish up our day – people are heading home – we see them getting off the bus and the traffic is mostly going one direction: home.
Another great day for us, helping our people with friendly local eyecare and quality eyewear, time to turn off the lights, and head home. 

Summer starts and hibernating contact lens wearers emerge. It’s wonderful to be outside more, wearing “normal” sunnies and the fug of winter is behind us!
So just a few reminders for contact lens wearers....

1.       Wash your hands before handling contact lenses – this is obvious, reduce your risk of contaminating your lenses and eyes, by cleaning your hands.

2.      If you are re-wearing lenses the fresh solution daily is a MUST - if you can’t be bothered, or don’t wear lenses often then see No 3.  The disinfecting solutions (eg Optifree multipurpose) are designed for one round of bug-killing, so once your lenses are in, discard the solution and leave the case to dry.

3.      Daily disposable contacts make life EASY!  An especially useful option for high risk times eg swimming or tramping, or just instead. Make your life easier

4.      Backup glasses – it’s just gambling if you don’t have back up glasses, and over wearing contacts will not be something your eyes thank you for – either short or long term!

5.      Manage your allergies – it may just be oral antihistamines that you need, but if your eyes are not comfortable, they’re telling you things need to change.  We have helpful options of anti-allergy eye drops or some people for peak allergy time switch to daily disposable contacts

6.      Avoid GPC – this is a “condition of previously successful contact lens wearers”.  If you don’t replace contacts as labelled, usually monthly lenses, then over time the build up of deposit on the lens surface causes Giant Papillary Conjunctivitis.  There’s no easy fix to GPC, so just stick with the programme, short term it might save a few $ stretching out the life of your lenses, but many people regret this, and lose the easy comfort of contact lens wear. We find that ordering a years supply of lenses makes this easy – plenty of lenses in the cupboard, you are sorted.

Bring on summer with safe successful contact lens wear!

Parents who are short-sighted/myopic, often tell us,  that “ah well, my kids will have my eyes”  or “I really hope they don’t get their Dad’s eyes”.  What they are saying is they know many of their family have the same problem of strong glasses and vision that got progressively worse through their teens.  But, the good news, is that is NOT necessarily their kids destiny.

In the past few years there has been so much research into myopia with results showing how we can slow myopia progression – usually by 60% - and frequently we see even better results. BUT it does work best if the child is seen before their vision is too blurry to see the board in class, before they start noticing vision is harder.

Now part of a child’s eye examination is assessing their risk for developing myopia, so making an eye check part of your child’s health care is important.  And very important for myopic parents – whose children are at higher risk of developing myopia.  Our approach to managing myopia is outlined in the section on our website – Myopia Info, have a read, we think it’s a very exciting that we can help our children have better life long vision!

When was the last time you thought about having spare glasses? For many of us who rely on our glasses every day, having a backup pair might not be at the top of our minds. However, having spare glasses can be crucial in ensuring that life continues smoothly, especially if something unexpected happens.

Imagine your glasses are damaged or lost. Suddenly, you find yourself struggling to see clearly and cope with your daily activities. Just like how you wouldn't rely on just one car key or one house key, having backups for essential items is important—your glasses should be no exception.

If you're someone who can't imagine going two weeks without your glasses, it's time to consider getting a backup pair. Whether it's variety for everyday wear or just for emergencies, having a spare set of glasses ensures that you're never left in the lurch.

This advice holds especially true for children. Many primary school age children often don't have spare glasses, and if they are without them for even a few days, their learning can be impacted. By college age, if a teen wears their glasses all the time, then catching the bus or doing tests without their glasses is just too hard. Even if the backups are their old glasses, as long as they have something to use, it is nicer for everyone.

For contact lens wearers, having backup glasses is equally important. Without them, you're at risk of over-wearing your contacts, which can lead to discomfort and even eye infections. In the event of a sore or red eye, you'll need to give your eyes a break from contacts to allow them to heal properly.  We regularly see both those people with backup glasses so pleased to have them, as well as others who are very stressed with no plan B.

Also for contact lens wearers if you're unlucky enough to contract a viral eye infection, the situation becomes even more critical. Continuing to wear your contacts can exacerbate the infection and prolong your recovery time. But with a backup pair of glasses on hand, you can continue to function without putting your eye health at risk.

We really don’t like seeing coming into us, stressed and unable to do their normal life activities, only to learn that their new glasses will take a 5-10 days to be replaced.  That stress is not good for anyone!

So really, spare glasses are not just a luxury—they're a necessity for anyone who relies on their eyewear for daily life. Whether you wear glasses or contacts, having backups means you are prepared for the unexpected, and can smoothly keep calm and carry on.

Every few years the technology for imaging eye health transforms to provide another level of eyecare.  It’s exciting that even after 30 years as optometrists, we are so excited at the new wide field retinal imaging that has just arrived at CapitalEyes in Karori. It’s arrival preceded the installer, so it was sitting boxed up and waiting outside the consulting room, looking like a very large present!

Our new Eidon machine uses confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy to create high resolution images of the retina at the back of your eye.  It uses a laser beam with a series of mirrors and lenses to create an image of the retinal surface, detailed and in true colour, a wide field image of the eye.  

The wide field is a standard 90 degree view, as shown in the picture with Kevin. Then we also have the option to combine multiple images of the periphery giving a view of 200 degrees – astonishing.  It also copes with images taken through small pupils, so already we are finding less need for drops at a regular eye check, and better quality view even for those with hazy cataracts forming.

What this means for you is an easy painless check, giving a high quality image for the optometrist to check your eye health, and save for future monitoring over time.

We then also show you the image on our large screen and it is astonishing!  The clarity and detail – and of course it’s always more interesting your are looking back at yourown eye!

Designed in Finland, made in Italy, and now in Karori – the new Eidon machine looks space age and the cover hides the very clever tech inside.  Alongside the Eidon we also have the OCT imaging which scans the layers beneath, providing excellent eye care.

We are excited with this transformative update to our well equipped consulting room, and it does feel like a new era – and wide field imaging is now routinely available as part of our regular eye care in Karori.  This retinal image isn’t just a picture, it’s a window to your eye’s health, and a glimpse into the future of eye care. 
In case you haven’t guessed – the optometrists are very excited!

The World Congress of Optometry was held in Melbourne last weekend, and CapitalEyes optometrists, Kevin & Leith were excited to attend a conference with world leading speakers.  There were multiple simultaneous lectures, so plenty of choice.  The presentations about myopia (short sightedness) management and dry eyes were very relevant to our Karori clients.   

The key speakers were world leaders in their field, including researchers and also some authors from the International Myopia Institute of the World Health Organisation, who have written the white papers of clinical guidelines and managements for people with myopia.  There is a lot of evidence regarding treatments to slow myopia progression in children and teenagers with the goal to reduce the likelihood of high myopia. 

Fantastic to hear Professor Mark Bullimore (USA) with his clear thinking and leading conversations about why myopia matters – we must do more in the short term to provide benefit for the longer term for our young patients.  Rather like sunscreen which is a short term intervention that not only prevents sun burn but reduces the risk of skin cancer.  Myopia management gives better uncorrected vision in the short term, but the long term benefit reduces the risk of eye disease and visual impairment as an adult. 

Our key takeaways are continuing the development of our myopia management eyecare, and also regarding dry eyes and how effective some simple treatments that help improve the tear film quality and a person’s quality of vision. 

Alongside the Congress was the largest optical trade fair in Australasia – wow!  There are so many exciting choices for new equipment, and to be able to compare different brands at the same time sure helps the decision making.  In the next few months we’re looking forward to having new exciting retinal imaging tech at Karori.

And such a wide range of eyewear – we have selected an exciting new Australian designed kids frame brand called Augie.  Classic shapes, good sizes and some fun colours - we’re looking forward to seeing what the kids think! 

The other “back to some-normal” was having a conference in person – wonderful to meet new people and catch up with old friends.  Like many industries, many people have been in optics for a very long time – like Leith and Kevin. To see how much innovation is happening and hear more of the exciting developments in optometry is refreshing.  From inside the consulting room, the research that comes before new eyecare and equipment, as well as the fun fashion side.  No wonder you can be an optometrist for 30+ years!

This is officially Myopia Awareness Week – a global problem for children’s vision – including NZ.  The treatment options for myopia, and to slow the vision changes, are improving every year, making regular eye examinations an important part of children’s health checks. 

The children particularly at risk are those with myopic parents, or children and teens who spend a lot of time either reading, or on screens.  For most young people, if they aren’t bookworms, they are pretty keen on their screen time.

The conversations about how to improve the vision and future myopia risks of eye health damage, for our young people are a regular part of our optometrists day –with both parents, and the young people who we see for eye examinations.

“In the last few years, there has been an incredibly concerted effort from leading researchers and producers of eye health technology to develop robust treatment methods for slowing myopia progression. We are now at a critical stage in the effort to curb myopia, where we have the tools to create meaningful change. It is now time to engage ... putting to use the incredible bodies of research and advancements in technology that are pushing the case for a world where half the population doesn’t need to be impacted by this debilitating eye disease,” said Yvette Waddell, CEO, Brian Holden Vision Institute (BHVI).

The BHVI is based in Australia, is a world class organisation working to reduce the progression of myopia . Here in NZ, we pay attention to the research and recommendations, and we are fortunate to have access to several evidence based treatments to help slow the progression of myopia.  Please book your child or teen in for a regular eye examination if they haven’t had comprehensive check in the past year.

From the start of April, we are reluctantly moving our City practice to Karori, which has been our “home” practice for many years.  Our move will take place from 1 April 2023, until then we continue as usual at the City location in Manners Street.

The Karori store, at 260 Karori Road, is big and bright, earthquake strengthened and where we can continue to provide the highest standard of care and services for our clients.  Our longer opening hours from 8am to 6pm during the week and 9am – 2pm on Saturdays will provide more options for eye appointments than what we can offer in the City.

At Karori the spacious area is welcoming for all, with easy access and parking, and a play area for children.  From April, Karori will have an expanded range of eyewear, increased staffing, increased opening hours and is both on the bus route and has free suburban parking.

All our client’s City clinical records will be transferred to Karori, and we’ll continue to remind them about having regular eye examinations with us.  Many of our City clients already use our courier services for repeat contact lens orders, and this will continue to be an easy option.

We’ve loved having a practice in the CBD and we recognise it is a convenient option for our clients who work nearby.  The building we are currently located in must undertake earthquake strengthening from early 2023.  With the other issues of Wellington’s declining CBD, parking difficulties and the new investment to fit out a new space, the option to care for all our clients from our established suburban site is the best one to take.

We are very appreciative of the support from our City clients, and we hope they will come to our Karori location after 1 April 2023 - until then all will run as usual at the City branch.

Glasses wearers have a few choices when it comes to reducing glare and UV protection, and one of these is a photochromic lens.  The technology continually improves, giving us a lens that is virtually clear indoors and at night, but darkens to become sunglass like when outdoors.

They are commonly called Transitions, which is a brand name of the most well known photochromic lens. We have a few choices of colours – the standard is grey, but there are many other options, popularly brown or a G15 /green tint which some people prefer, or they just match the frame choice! 

The lenses are activated by light and UV, and tint darkest in cooler temperatures – amazing if you are up the mountain. When you understand the tint change, then it explains why the lens isn’t our first choice for driving sunglasses, as the tint doesn’t fully activate behind the windscreen. The R&D have come up with a Transitions for driving too, although it doesn’t go as clear in low light as the regular Transitions, it can be a great choice.  Another option is a nifty sun-clip to use in the car when you need the extra tint over the regular photochromic option.

Also interesting to know, is that the clearest and fastest version of photochromic lenses is with an anti-reflective coating on the lens surface – we definitely recommend this for photochromic lenses.  And the other bonus is the lens also reduces the blue light that transmits through the lens – perfect if you use screens – and most of us do!

If you rely on your glasses, we all need a second pair, and often having a clear pair and a photochromic set of eyewear, gives you even more versatility! 

As health care has evolved, specialist eye doctors (ophthalmologists) have become even more specialised. If your eyes need specialist medical care, you also still need your optometrist eye care.

What we do is different to the specific medical treatment say for glaucoma. We ensure that you continue to have the best focus vision, and milder conditions like dry eyes are well managed.
We frequently find that our appointments with these people include more discussion about their eye condition, and regularly will provide an update about their vision to their ophthalmologist.  These people appreciate that they don't need to see us as often as their specialist, usually just every 2 years and we help keep them seeing and looking their best.

Often we see people who used to wear contacts, but have ended up back in their glasses.
Life is busy, kids, work and just one thing less in their busy lives. When we ask them if sometimes it would be good to be able to wear contacts, they are often still unsure if they might.  Recently we have had quite a few people excited to leave their appointment with some free trial daily disposable contact lenses.

And now with the added complication of masks and glasses fogging, it’s re-igniting some previous lens wearers motivation.

The "dailies" are a great choice, just open a new packet on the days that it's easier not to wear your glasses.  Same reasons that teenagers often start out with contacts - for sports and going out.  No reason that the over 30s don't feel the same - getting out on a bike or swimming in the sea, and of course, all glammed up, it's great to have the choice of contacts again.

We often surprise people at their appointment with our recommendations for eye health or future vision changes.  Now that school has started again, we see more students than other times of the year, and a key message now for younger eyes, is that time outdoors, is protective for developing myopia/short sightedness. 
The evidence shows that 2 hours a day outside is the time for young eyes to be less likely to become short-sighted.  At primary school, we find that when we ask about time outside, the kids work out for themselves that with lunch, playtimes, and a bit of sport, they are mostly having the 2hours.  And often parents add comments like "we were going to start scootering to school, instead of driving".

The teenagers are much less likely to have the outdoors time, and more likely to be hibernating inside - both during their school day and outside school time.  I know some of our teenagers think we harp on about time outside for their best vision, but it's such an "easy" treatment! 

NZ is now at Orange Level of the new framework for Covid19 protection, aka traffic lights.  This brings different requirements for many businesses.   As optometrists we are a mix of both healthcare and retail, we have a range of clients, including vulnerable people, and staff to care for.
The guidelines we receive come from our Registration Board (Ministry of Health), NZ Association of Optometrists and the Government Covid-19 Protection Framework.

All of our team are fully vaccinated, and wear masks.  For healthcare we do not have a Vaccine Pass requirement for entry.  Prior to a consultation we will ask a few healthcare questions to ascertain Covid19 risks, to ensure the protection of both other clients and our staff.  It may be appropriate for a person to have an alternative tele-health consultation for urgent care or reschedule for a more appropriate time.

The questions we ask before a consultation are:
-  Are you currently experiencing any Covid-19 symptoms?
-  Are you awaiting a result from a Coivd-19 test?
-  Are you self isolating, or anyone you are in contact with isolating?
-  Are you vaccinated against Covid-19?

Mask wearing is mandated for our team, and thus if you have a mask exemption, please advise us when booking your appointment. 
Covid-19 is a respiratory disease, and as the Ministry of Health advises “wearing masks and face coverings is one way of keeping yourself safe and protecting others from COVID-19, especially when physical distancing is not possible”.
Without the mask protection additional precautions may be indicated for the safety of both our staff and other possibly vulnerable clients in-store.

We continue with previous measures such as QR code scanning for contact tracing, physical distancing, disinfecting and eyewear is sanitised after touching, so our staff provide assistance.

It has been a long year with lockdown and more uncertainty, so we appreciate the support from our clients who have often asked how we are – thank you for also caring.  We look forward to 2022 and while we may have to be in Red level to come, we hope also to look forward to Green!

Sometime after 40, we all start to notice changes with our vision focussing for close work.  Reading up close isn’t as easy, phone fonts start to be enlarged and the dim light of an atmospheric restaurant is not so appealing when you can’t read the menu.

As your optometrist, we then make adjustments to your glasses prescription to include an extra part called the “near add”.  The near add part of the glasses is great for reading but then makes the view across the room blurry – remember those people who look over the top of their glasses at you?

We are fortunate to have many choices of lens designs for our glasses providing both near and further away vision clarity.  When we talk about lens options with people, some still look horrified that we are suggesting the bifocal lens with a line that they remember “old” people wearing!  With much relief they start to understand that modern technology lets us have a lens with a progressive power change shifting down the lens.  Hence the name of these as “progressives”, technically referred to as PALs – progressive addition lenses.
Often people variably call these multifocals, transitionals or invisible bifocals – as long as we’re all talking about the same idea, we run with you!

The technology for progressives has continued to improve since the first versions 30+ years ago.  The gains have been made by computer design of the lens optics to be surfaced by the lab, customising the lens for not only the lens power but also compensating for what the other eye’s lens is power is, and then the lens angle and position in the chosen frame.  It’s getting very high tech, and with this comes the tech on our side.  Once a frame is selected our optical dispensers will take the accurate measurement to 1/10th of a millimetre using imaging via an ipad to obtain the specifications we need for the lens design and manufacture.

This technology isn’t cheap, and while most people understand the “you get what you pay for”, we are often told that “I can get progressives much cheaper with my free eye exam”.  Yes, there are cheaper options, but they are not the same.  Value is a mix of the dollars spent and the quality of the product – just because something is cheap, it’s not necessarily good value.

Over the past few months, we’ve had several people tell us that they now realise that there is a big difference to the vision they have with their customised progressives, compared to other cheap glasses from elsewhere.  It’s great to hear unprompted comments like this, we recommend what our optometrists choose to wear – why would we want less for our clients!

For some people, the only thing that matters with their sunglasses is that they look cool – that’ll do just fine.  Whatever your reason, we all should have sunglasses, or some version of. 
Your sunnies are to protect your eyes from both harmful UV radiation and provide comfortable vision by reducing the intense glare.  The other benefits include stopping things going in your eyes like pollens at allergy times, and bugs when riding your bike. 

So when our glasses wearers ask “what about sunglasses?” we can help with the options of

1.      Prescription sunglasses – a separate pair, but does give you the best solution

2.      Photochromic tint changing lenses in your everyday or second alternate pair of glasses

3.      Very clever, light-weight polarised sun-clips that are magnetised onto your usual glasses lenses.

The UV burns concept is well known for skin, and our eyes are vulnerable too.  Skin cancers around the eyelids (a common place) and also damage on the eye pterygium/”surfers eye”, along with inside the eyes developing cataracts younger and UV associated with retinal damage and macula degeneration. 
We talk about UV-A (320-380nm) which ages the eyes with cataracts, and UV-B (290-320nm) the particularly damaging range that will “sun burn” your cornea and give you snow blindness, a very painful experience.  The ancient Tibetans knew about this and wove fine horsehair into a type of sunvisor to protect them in the bright sun and snow.

The UV protection comes from the lens material blocking the UV and often other filters added to the lens surface.  Some of the high index lens materials are 100% UV protection without any additional UV treatments.  Another option from fixed tint sunglasses, is a photochromic lens, commonly referred to as Transitions (a brand name) and this is 100% UV protecting.

Sunglasses as we know them are credited to the US Army Air Corps in the 1920s for high altitude glare protection for their pilots.  The first lenses were a green tint and then in the later 1940s the neutral grey tint was developed and became popular from the 1950s.

The darker the tint doesn’t mean more UV protection, there is just less visible light to your eyes reducing the discomfort of glare, with an 85% tint allowing just 15% of the light through the lens.  Most people will have 65-85% tints and we have samples to choose from your prescription sunglasses.
As well as tint, we can reduce the reflected light through the lens with a polarised filter in the lens.  So your sunglasses will either be just tinted, or tinted and polarised.  The colour of your tint is personal preference, however most people find the grey tint gives them less colour distortion.  In Europe the brown tints are popular, a mix of fashion and the different skies?

If you choose prescription sunglasses, we’ll work though the options with you:

1.      Do you want on-trend Moscot or stylish Kate Syvlester frames?
If you are working with more of a budget our Bill Bass sunglasses are a great option

2.      We carry sunglass ranges that are “prescriptable” making them suitable for optical prescription lenses

3.      We’ll recommend the best lens materials and lens design for your prescription

4.      We’ll ask do you want tinted or polarised lenses?  Which colour and how dark? – let’s show you samples

5.      Water based weekends? – we recommend the Maui Jim polarised tint, you’ll not regret the best polarised lens we’ve seen, and you can have this in your prescription with same tint quality!

6.      And once we’ve worked all of this out, our staff will take the accurate measurements needed for your lenses to these frames.

So, what do you do for sunglasses?  Let us know if we can help – we love hearing the comment “I love my prescription sunnies, don’t know why I didn’t get them sooner!”

Spring in Wellington is not our best season – you think winter is over, but then those annoying winds start up, and we just want to look forward to proper summer.  If you are unlucky, spring is also the return of your hayfever and other allergies. 

Our optometrists hints for avoiding those allergy eyes!

1.      Don’t touch or rub your eye – it only makes it worse.  Try a cold damp flannel instead.

2.      Wash your hands often and especially after touching pets or out in the garden

3.      Wear sunglasses, even a face mask if out in the grass

4.      Get someone else to mow the lawn – if you have to, wear sunglasses and change your clothes afterwards

5.      Keep a box of single use eye drops at home, and if you often need anti-allergy eye drops, make sure you keep an unopened bottle at home.  Then you can start treating before the allergy problem gets out of hand. 

6.      Keep pets off the pillows – and the bed, & out of your bedroom.  No –one wants to ban their cat, but try not to make the problems worse!

7.      Avoid eye makeup.

8.      Wash your hair at night – especially if you have a lot of hair as the pollen and hair static go well together, dropping off onto your pillow after a few hours, causing more eye allergies.

9.      Pillows with dust covers, washed frequently and regularly replaced can make a big difference.

10.   Contact lens wearers if not already in daily disposable lenses, have some boxes to just swap to these in allergy times.

If you suffer from allergies, it’s just your immune system responding to an “allergen” that causes a chain of events that give you the itchy, red, watery eyes. 

The chain of events is the conjunctiva becoming inflamed with histamine released and the blood vessels expanding.  So the treatment approach is to settle the histamine release and constrict the blood vessels.

If your eye allergies are not managed, then please book an appointment with our optometrist, we can help you.

One thing we know about lockdowns, is that we all spend more time on screens, and that includes kids and teens, for both schooling and their down time.  It’s all very understandable, but also the question arises - is this bad for their eyes?  The answer is “yes” and “but we can....”.

So the yes part is several reasons.  Firstly the more near time kids and teens have, the more likely their eyes are to develop myopia.  Then the screen time is visually more demanding than books and pen and paper, so even minor focusing errors can cause discomfort.  And we all blink less when looking at screens so even young eyes can start to have dry eye problems.  Lastly the extra screen time usually means there is less outside time, which is associated with myopia development.

Lets explain more ....
Myopia or short sightedness is when the eye develops structural changes making the distance vision blurry, and the near vision is clearer.  There are several factors that make this more likely for kids and teens – if you have parents who are myopic, if you do a lot of near focusing time and if you have less outdoor time.  Sure, we can correct myopia with glasses, but the bigger concern is that if you have higher levels of myopia, your eye health is of increased risk as you get older from conditions like retinal detachment, maculopathy and glaucoma.  If we can reduce the risk of our kids having these potentially blinding conditions in their later life, we must do this.  And every extra dioptre of myopia is extra risk. 

What is exciting, is that we know the factors that increase the risk, and as well as reducing these, optometrists have treatments that are shown to work to slow the progression of myopia in kids and teens.  This is exciting, as we can work with families to improve the future of their kids vision.  Not only using these treatments for the young eyes who are already myopic, but often starting these options at the earliest signs of vision changes, and not waiting for the blurry myopia to progress.

The other concern with screen time is that if your eyes are working harder than normal, to focus clearly or work your eyes together, or you have uncorrected astigmatism this is visually tiring.  Adults often refer to their computer glasses, and this is the type of correction that some kids also need.

If your eye surface is getting dry, then signs of this can be the person blinking more or rubbing their eyes.  The eyes may also be red.  Dry eyes are uncomfortable and tiring – whether you are a child or an adult.  Sometimes the reduced blinking is worse with uncorrected vision that child is trying to work with, thus their eyes get dry.

So what can we do??  Kids rely on their parents, so parents, we’re writing this for you

1.      Screen time in moderation – mix up screen time with book-time and other activities.
2.      More green time, less screen time.  It’s recommended that kids and teens have 2 hours a day outside to reduce the development of myopia. 
3.      Use the 20-20-20 rule for screen time.  Every 20 minutes look 20 feet away for 20 seconds
4.      Talk to kids about why this is important – we’re not saying no screens, but we do want them to have great eyes and vision for the rest of their life
5.      Book your kids in for an eye exam, if even one parent is myopic, the chances are already higher that our kids will develop myopia.  Just because they say they can see, or the letter chart at the school check was ok, it’s not enough to look after our kids the best we can.  Don’t wait to see them squinting, or a teacher to notice that they are having difficulties

Our optometrists are parents and also myopic.  We see the difficulties of adults with higher myopia, and it’s not just that glasses can be a bother.  Talking with these adults, the common comment is that they wish there had been treatments to slow their myopia progression.   Please parents, this is important stuff!

We love school holidays at CapitalEyes, because it’s a time when we see more than our usual number of kids and teens for their eyecare.  There are those we’ve seen before, but also we’re really enjoying meeting a number of new kids.  From the 3 year olds in their favourite gumboots and sparkling dress ups to the older teens, who are now driving and looking forward to finishing school and the exciting adventures beyond.

A topic that gets us excited is myopia management.  How can we help slow the progression of myopia for kids and teens, who are either just starting to become myopic or are already moderately myopic (short sighted).  There is so much research and now options that their already myopic parents never had.  From advanced optics in spectacle lenses that alter the peripheral retina focus, thus slowing progression, to using eye drops or contact lenses with optics to slow myopic progression.

Parents are often surprised by the fact that if one parent is myopic their children have double the risk of developing myopia but having both parents myopic, the risk increases by five times.  But equally they are excited that there are options to slow progression, that they never had, and so we spend a lot of time explaining options and recommending for their child’s best visual future.

The other surprise for parents is often how well kids , even 8 year olds manage to handle their own contact lenses.  And we love seeing the confidence that comes from having clear vision, both for sports and socially at school.

We hope everyone enjoys the school holidays as much as we do!

Since Queens Birthday weekend, we've relocated our Karori branch 2 doors along from our previous space, to a brighter new site on the corner of Karori and Parkvale Road.  The site was previously ANZ bank, and became available from 1 April 2021, so April and May was a busy time with designer, architect, builders, painters, floor sander, carpet layer, plumber, electricians and sign writers all coming together to make our space ready for our move. The ATM is staying, the service side of it is a room within our store, although you hardly notice it from the inside.

We love our new space, there's more room in our frame area for both an expanded range of eyewear and for people to move around - especially when we have families with children choosing their glasses. Our previous space had solid walls and no room to expand our testing equipment, but now we have a much larger consulting room and have been able to fit in advanced technology imaging and testing equipment.

The geek parts of us are really excited to have the OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) imaging and computerised visual field testing equipment.  The OCT enables imaging of the layers of the retina and optic nerve head, to micron levels, so provides an excellent clinical indication for ongoing eye health monitoring and then ophthalmological referral as indicated.  For those of us with family history of macula degeneration and glaucoma, the baseline measuring is excellent and will provide better management and signs of change will be detected earlier.

So "why have we moved"?? we knew we were going to have to be out of our old site for months with further earthquake strengthening - living in Wellington yellow stickers on buildings isn't uncommon, but it had to be part of our planning.  The new corner site has been extensively strengthened and evidence of this with some K framing and steel pillars.  We now have the space to provide a level of service for both eyecare and a wide range of eyewear locally, that equals the CBD and look forward to meeting more locals.

Thanks to our amazing team from Lintott Construction, Kieran Kelly Painters, a.k.a architecture, Native Grain Flooring ,Good Nick Flooring, Wellington City Plumbing, Newson Electrical and Wellington Signs creating the vision from Lynne Parker our designer.  You all worked fast to make our short timeline come together - thank you!