A T"eye"me to Help Others...

This summer I had the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Honduras. This is the third year that I have gone and I am grateful each time that I have this opportunity. I was fortunate enough this year to be able to bring my two oldest daughters with me. It’s a medical mission through North Texas Missions. We travel with doctors, nurses, dentists, speech and hearing professionals, and many others. I have been the lone eye doctor on this trip now for three years.

This year we were able to help about 3200 people over the course of 4 days. In the “Oculista” clinic we were able to evaluate about 2200 people and we dispensed about 1650 pairs of glasses to those that needed them. In the United States we are very fortunate to have the medical care that we have. Most Hondurans aren’t as fortunate.  Many of them would receive no medical care without aid from groups like North Texas Missions. It amazes me each year how lives can be changed by a simple pair of glasses. Something that we consider to be so basic and that many of us take for granted is our ability to see. Without glasses, many of the people in third world countries are left virtually blinded and, therefore, handicapped by something that can be easily treated if they are given access to it!

For this reason our practice, Frisco Eye Associates, has teamed up with Optometry Giving Sight. This organization has been helping people in third world countries by not only providing eyeglasses to those in need, but by also sending optometrists and technicians to different countries to teach others how to perform eye exams and fit glasses, so that these people can be self sufficient in providing eye care needs to their fellow countrymen. If you have not purchased eyeglasses through our office before, I would like to strongly urge you to consider it. First of all because I feel that we do provide the best product and service for your eye care needs, but more importantly because we are now donating a pair of glasses for each pair purchased in our office that will go to someone in need through Optometry Giving Sight!

My daughters and I are thankful for the opportunity that has been given to us through North Texas Missions to share our faith and to serve others in need. It truly is better to give than to receive!!

If you would like to make an appointment at Frisco Eye Associates, we would also be happy to serve you! Our number is 972-712-1010. Thank you!

Here's To Br"eye"t Ideas

I finally convinced my daughter to take her shower tonight! Yes friends, she will be clean for school tomorrow. Sometimes it amazes me how difficult it is to get most kids to clean up! Not just themselves, but their rooms, the house…

I realize as parent, we have to pick our battles, but good grief! Brush your teeth!...Comb you hair! “ I can’t take you out in public looking like that!” Now that I am thinking about it, I hope that while they take their shower, they are actually using the soap. How would I know?  I don’t sit in there and monitor the situation! “Make sure you wash behind your ears!”

I’m fairly certain that if my wife and I didn’t occasionally clean their bathrooms, we would have giant lab experiments growing in our house. “Call in the Haz Mat team for the bacteria and fungus removal!” And there’s the contact lens case, sitting beside the bathroom sink! I wonder…when was the last time this has been cleaned? She actually wears those contacts!  How much of that bacteria is now in her eyes?

That scenario played out in my mind over and over until I made a smart decision (and I don’t make that many smart decisions, so let me bask in this one for a minute!).  Wait for it …wait for it…DAILY DISPOSABLE CONTACT LENSES! After seeing how clean(not) my daughters keep their rooms/bathrooms, I have seen the light. They now were contact lenses that they can throw away EVERY DAY. No more worrying about whether or not they cleaned their contact lens case or that they “topped off” the solution in the case instead of refilling it entirely. 

I used to be concerned about the price of daily disposable contact lenses, but now, with so many options in the daily disposable market, prices have become very reasonable! There are also rebate coupons and “in-house”rebates through our office! And more importantly, there is a peace of mind that comes from knowing that there is a clean contact lens in the eyes that you love. Call us and find out if daily disposable contacts are right for you or your children. Here’s to smart decisions!


Dr. M

Time is Fl"eye"ing By

I turned 42 in November. At the time it seemed pretty uneventful. I don't feel 42. I think I'm in good health, have a great family, great friends, and definitely don't act 42. (I probably don't act 24....not kidding...you can ask my staff!) But patients have reminded me that there is a steep slope between 40 and 50, so I better prepare for it. And I do notice, especially when I look at my kids,  that time is flying by much faster as I get older. I had one of my patients equate it to a drive down the highway. "When you are traveling 10 or 20 miles per hour, the telephone poles are passed pretty slowly," he said, "but when you are traveling at 50 or 60 miles per hour, those poles go by quickly!" 

I guess what's triggered my thoughts on the subject is the fact that I am beginning to see a lot of my friends coming into the office in need of reading glasses or the dreaded BIFOCALS! Half of you know and the other half of you will know about BIFOCALS when you get older. The inability to see anything close to you is caused by the loss of elasticity of the natural lens inside your eye that allows you to focus up close. It basically stops bending... like a lot of other body parts, but we won't go there! Once that lens stops bending, your freedom to read without help is over. I happens really slowly, but when you're there like me, it doesn't seem slow! I would be a rich man if I could figure out the magic pill that keeps this from happening, but until then, I have to make my living helping those of us that have been over taken by age. Thank goodness for newer technology that allows us to hide our age. Like Progressive Addition Lenses (or PALs), those bifocals that don't have the line in them. Interesting note...bifocal lenses with the lines were developed by Benjamin Franklin. Ben must have needed them to sign the Declaration of Independence! We can also hide age by using contact lenses. Monovision correction is achieved by fitting a contact lens for distance in one of your eyes and a contact lens for near in the other eye. It works pretty well and I bet most of you have friends that do this and you don't even know it. Even newer still...the multifocal contact lens that allows you to see far away and up close in BOTH eyes. This technology improves almost every year!

If you need help with your vision now or in the future please call us! We'll be glad to help determine the correction that is best for you.

Alright I've gotta go search the web for Botox or something else that will restore my youth. Enjoy your time driving down life's highway, just make sure you can SEE the speedometer when you get into your 40s!

Dr. M