| What's Up, Doc? |
The older you get, the more often you may need to see your eye doctor for a routine eye exam. The American Optometric Association recommends children have their first exam before 6 months of age, then another at age 3, another before starting first grade, and every two years after that. Adults age 18 to 40 should have an eye exam every two to three years. From age 41 to 60, eye exams should be every two years. By age 61 it's time for annual checkups.
If you have diabetes or a personal or family history of eye disease you may need more frequent eye exams. People with diabetes are at risk for diabetic retinopathy, a sight-threatening condition. More frequent exams will help you and your doctor detect any eye problems early, when eye conditions are usually more treatable.
If you have an autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, lupus or rheumatoid arthritis you may also need to see the eye doctor more often. Some autoimmune conditions go hand-in-hand with conditions that can affect vision or eye health. For instance, some patients with multiple sclerosis experience blurred or double vision or have trouble seeing the colors red and green. Some patients with lupus experience dry eyes, eyelid rashes, eye inflammation and sometimes retinal disease. Dry eyes and eye inflammation sometimes occur in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Even if it's not time for your regular exam, see your eye doctor right away if you notice any worrisome changes in your vision, such as floaters (spots), flashes of light, a blind spot, a dark curtain falling over your vision, or eye pain.
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| Who am I?
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I was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama, and, under the tutelage of a famous teacher, I learned to read in many languages. In 1904, I graduated with honors from Radcliffe College, but not before writing my first book, The Story of My Life, in my junior year. I was one of the founders of American Civil Liberties Union in 1920, and at the 1925 international convention of Lions Clubs International in Cedar Point, Ohio, I gave a speech urging the members to become Knights of the Blind.
Oh, I forgot to mention, when I was 19 months old, I developed an illness – some now think it was scarlet fever – that left me blind and deaf.
Who am I?
Highlight the text between the brackets below to see the answer.
[Helen Keller]
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| Eye-D |
Guess how many years before law enforcement agents who found a missing child, a runaway teen or a lost Alzheimer's patient could scan the person's iris and, within seconds, determine his or her identity? Another century? Decades? No, just a few years, if The Child Project proves successful.
The Nation's Missing Children Organization, National Center for Missing Adults and The Point Group Companies, Inc., teamed up to launch the project, which involves creating a nationwide computer database of iris scans. The intricacies of a person's iris, which are as unique as fingerprints, can be captured in a high resolution digital photo and entered into the database. Using iris recognition technology, the computer system will be able to retrieve a match in seconds.
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