Gold! The US Bobsled Team 1 wins the first American gold medal in bobsled in 62 years. Sure, that is a feat in it of its self with heavy competition, but to make the victory even more sweet, the pilot of the Night Train sled Steve Holcomb, suffers from keratoconus, a degenerative eye condition in which the cornea distorts, causing streaking and blurring in the vision.
After his vision had deteriorated to 20/500, last March Steve underwent a radical 20-minute procedure, yet to be approved by the FDA, in which doctors implanted a lens behind each iris. Now just a year later, Steve is an Olympic champion!
See the gold medal run here and read more about Steve and the US Bobsled team here.
Very interesting stuff. EPAM – Electroactive Polymer Artificial Muscle, is currently working its way to human implantation (within 5 years). From the article:
Surgeons from UC Davis Medical Center have demonstrated that artificial muscles can restore the ability of patients with facial paralysis to blink, a development that could benefit the thousands of people each year who no longer are able to close their eyelids due to combat-related injuries, stroke, nerve injury or facial surgery.
…
For people with other types of paralysis, the use of artificial muscles could someday mean regaining the ability to smile or control the bladder. Reanimating faces is a natural first step in developing synthetic muscles to control other parts of the body, said UC Davis otolaryngologist Craig Senders.
If you have the slightest interest in medical technology or just want to see how hard researchers are working – I HIGHLY recommend reading this article. Go humans!
Joel Kestenbaum O.D. is a VSP provider in Long Island, NY.
In today’s guest blog post from Dr. Joel Kestenbaum of Optix Eyecare in Long Island, NY, he discusses protective eyewear and winter sports …
The 2010 Winter Olympics are upon us. Lets take a look at the common attributes most Winter Olympians have:
Athletic ability
Drive and determination
Support of family and friends
Excellent vision
If you look at all the skiers, snowboarders, speed skaters, lugers and bobsledders, they are all wearing some sort of protective eyewear. How do they know which lenses to wear? What if it is cloudy, sunny, snowing, sleeting, raining, foggy, nighttime, or early morning?
Think Safety First
You can be certain that the lenses in an athlete’s goggles are made of polycarbonate. For fast-moving winter sports, this material is much more impact-resistant than glass or conventional plastic. The frame also needs to be lightweight and flexible reducing the likelihood of the lens breaking or popping out in a bad fall. Prescription lenses can be made for inserts that sit behind the shield of the goggle or some goggles are actually made to wear over a regular pair of eyeglasses.
Best for bright conditions – they dim the bright sunlight to ease the strain on your eyes. Depending on the intensity of the tint, these lenses do darken your vision but gray does not alter color. These lenses are best for wide-open areas, especially on sunny days. One should not ski or snowboard in trees or trails with dark lenses.
Amber Lenses
Amber is a color in between a light brown and a dark yellow lens. Amber blocks blue light, greatly increases contrast. This color is a good choice for seeing moguls out on the slopes. Amber is best for under cloudy skies or on dimly lit trails but is not recommended for sunny days.
Well, VSP and Transitions are teaming up to offer a lucky fan and three friends a free trip to the 2010 Transitions PGA Championship for Healthy Sight at the Innisbrook Golf Club and Resort in Florida on March 19 – 21 including:
Roundtrip airfare for 4 to Tampa + transportation to and from airport to Resort
2 Double Occupancy hotel rooms at Innisbrook Resort for three nights (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)
Tickets to Championship for (3rd Round) Saturday and (Final Round) Sunday
Admission to Links & Drinks event featuring special guest Pro Golfer John Mallinger
Nike Sunwear
Private consultation with kinesiologist for swing improvement
HD Flip Camera
Sound good?
The sweepstakes is open to legal residents of the United States (except Florida, New York & Rhode Island) who are at least 18 years of age.
Act now!
Entries are only accepted until February 29 at 11:59 p.m! You can be our lucky winner! Go to VSP’s Facebook Fan Page to enter, and while you are there, become a fan of VSP!
TrueVision Systems, Inc. is helping budding ophthalmologists in the operating room by providing a new tool to help observe surgeries. The Santa Barbara CA based company is offering “3DHD” – a technology that projects a 3D image from an LCD screen (think Avatar the movie – hence the James Cameron reference). Its initial design is most beneficial for instructional purposes. Residents and students are able to observe delicate surgeries enlarged in great 3D detail, of course with the help of polarized 3D glasses.
Check out their page for a video in the operating room. Drew Carey bonus points if you know the bands playing in the background, I’ve got the song titles – Amber and Facedown. I’d like to hang with these MDs, they know good music.
Remember that post with the self-adjustable liquid frames? Not really? Was it because you didn’t want to read too much or because you were tired from all the reading and typing you do on the computer all day? Guess what – now you have NO excuse not to know about this.
In 1972, Dr. Marvin Poston was the first African American named "Optometrist of the Year" by the American Optometric Association, the highest professional award from the AOA.
VSPis known for quality service – whether providing eyecare to underprivileged through our number of charitable programs, ensuring patients have access to high-quality vision services or providing doctors with the tools they need to maintain successful private practices. This dedication to service can be directly attributed to the core philosophies of VSP’s founders, one of whom was Dr. Marvin R. Poston.
In 1935, Dr. Poston was the first African American student admitted to the study of optometry at University of California, Berkeley. It took another 23 years for the second African American student to follow in his footsteps and graduate from the Berkeley School of Optometry. Dr. Poston later became the first African American licensed to practice optometry on the West Coast.
Nearly 55 years ago, Dr. Poston, along with several of his fellow optometrists, formed California Vision Services, now known as VSP Vision Care. The company originally was the first to offer a prepaid, vision benefit that provided high quality, cost-effective eyecare. VSP has since grown to become the largest not-for-profit visions benefits provider in the nation, covering 1 in 6 Americans.
Dr. Poston’s optometry practice flourished for four decades in Oakland and Danville, California but his reach extended far beyond those who visited his offices. Befitting one of the founders of a company that prides itself on community support, Dr. Poston began his own tradition of community outreach by establishing vision-screening programs for under-served children and adults. The Children’s Vision Center of the East Bay, the West Oakland Health Group and the East Bay Skill Center are just a few of the organizations that benefited from his efforts.
“He was a man of great integrity,” says Norm Jacoby, O.D., a former colleague from Encino, California. “He was very soft-spoken and intelligent, and you listened when he spoke. Marvin was conscious of what new graduates needed when getting started in private practice and that they needed all the help they could get.”
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Very interesting stuff. EPAM – Electroactive Polymer Artificial Muscle, is currently working its way to human implantation (within 5 years). From the article:
Think Safety First
FORE! Even better – Four!
See much more