‘Roundabouts’ and Other Indirect Methods

Posted by: West Georgia Eye Care Center in Frontpage Article on April 5, 2018

“Roundabout: adjective:

  1. circuitous or indirect, as a road, journey, method, statement or person. “

~ Dictionary.com

Frequent road travelers within Columbus may meet with a traffic roundabout, and that likelihood is about to increase.   You may love them or hate them (or you may be the rare person who does not have an opinion either way), but regardless they are multiplying and becoming bigger.  This week’s Ledger Enquirer reports that Columbus Council recently passed a resolution in support of two new roundabouts – the biggest ones yet!  Plans call for the two roundabouts along Spur 22/Lynch Road and Spur 22/Macon Road, and the Georgia Department of Transportation promotes this method for efficiency and safety as a compromise over other options such as more traditional traffic lights.

At West Georgia Eye Care, we have a sort of ‘roundabout’ method also that can be chosen for efficiency and as a sort of compromise over more traditional options for reading vision – and it is called Monovision!  Almost all people in the 40 to 50 year age range will begin to lose the ability to focus for clear near vision.  In our youth, the amazingly created eye has the ability to change focus from distance to near without our even having to think about it (a process called accommodation).  New advancements in ultrasound technology allow us a never-before-seen view into the mechanisms of how the eye changes focus:  the lens of the eye changes shape via a dual mechanism of the muscle around it squeezing inward while the pupil pushes down.

Unfortunately, and as is the case with most of our bodies, age takes its toll and the squeezing ability of the structures around the lens is reduced. These changes mean that virtually all of us who never needed glasses before will eventually need reading glasses, whether the commonly used “cheaters” from the drug store, or bifocals.   In particular, the “on and off” of reading glasses or the use of bifocals is something that many people find problematic and annoying. Monovision is a method of using the dominant eye for distance vision and the other eye for near vision to avoid the use of readers and bifocals.  Surprisingly and fortunately, about 85% of patients seeking monovision quickly adapt to the use of one eye far and one eye near, and find they can perform their daily activities well and free from readers!

There is no perfect way to move traffic through a city, and likewise there is no perfect way to manage the aging changes of the eye! Roundabouts and Monovision may be the compromises that make these challenges more efficient and less tedious.   If you are interested in a trial of Monovision, please call us and we will be happy to tell you more about it. (or you can take a roundabout to one of our 3 locations for an eye exam!) 706- 323-3491.

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news/local/article207728449.html?#emlnl=Morning_Newsletter#storylink=cpy

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