EyeMark Newsletters

I'm no fashionista. But every November I check out the fashion blogs and magazines to see what trends we can expect in 2018. And this year I thought they were getting mixed up - were they talking next year or were they talking fifty years ago?! Lemme explain what I mean... My friend Charlene is a pair of marble frames, and she hasn't seen the light of day in a while. But then she heard from her friend Lois that they're destined to make a big comeback in 2018. Lois saw something on the Fashion Channel, and now she's convinced all the major labels will try to do what she and Charlene were doing in the Seventies. My friend Jimmy is a pair of aviators. And according to him, his kind never goes out of style. (Trust a pair of aviators to say that. I mean, they're nice guys and all but super-confident if you know what I mean...) So anyways, Jimmy has been talking for years about how he doesn't need to make a comeback - because he's never really gone away. I was a bit suspicious when it came to Jimmy. Then I saw how many Hollywood celebs are wearing aviators, and now I think he might be onto something. After all, it only takes one movie star to set off an entire fashion trend. Speaking of which, I saw a magazine that said 2018 will also be the year of oversized sunglasses. You know... the Sophia Loren kind....

Win Thida, a 45-year old Asian elephant in an Amsterdam zoo, suffered an injury to her cornea after what was thought to be a tussle with another elephant. She was obviously in pain and struggling to keep the eye open, so the zoo called in vet Anne-Marie Verbruggen, who decided to fit a contact lens to protect and soothe the eye. She had often fitted horses with contact lenses, but this was her first attempt with an elephant. Daily training sessions prepared the elephant for the procedure which took less than an hour. She had to remain standing during the anaesthetic, because elephants can't lie down for long as their immense weight hampers their breathing. As the vet climbed a ladder to reach her patient's eye, Win Thida remained calm and relaxed, was cooperative throughout, and was reported to be happier and more able to keep her eye open immediately after the operation. Protected by the contact lens, the wound on her cornea will now remain clean and be able to heal. Win Thida has resumed her position as the dominant matriarch of the Amsterdam herd of elephants, and a favourite among visitors to the zoo. While she may be the first of her species to be fitted with a contact lens, Win Thida is not the first animal to undergo such a procedure. The World Wildlife Fund has sponsored lens transplants for brown bears in a nature reserve in China, as it has been found that vision loss, often due...

Sport is an important aspect of the South African way of life. Whether just enjoying playing with a ball in the garden, participating in team sports, or taking sport more seriously, vision plays a fundamental role, and there are a number of factors to take into account. These range from the necessary visual skills for sport to the importance of eye protection and the enhancement of sporting performance with different types of eyewear. VISUAL SKILLS FOR SPORT Dynamic Visual Acuity - This is the ability to see clearly objects that are moving fast at the same time as the player is moving. Visual Concentration - Our eyes normally react to what is happening around us and in our field of vision. Visual concentration is the ability to shut out distractions and remain focused on the activity. Eye Tracking - Eye tracking helps us to maintain balance while following a ball or opponent with our eyes, without movement of the head. Eye-Hand-Body Coordination - This is an essential element in most sports, affecting timing and body control. Eye-hand-body coordination is the ability of the hands, feet and body to respond to the information gathered through the eyes. Visual Memory - Using the skill of processing and remembering a fast-moving complex picture, the athlete with good visual memory always seems to be in the right place at the right time. Visualisation - Picturing yourself doing it can actually help you do it! Through visualisation, you see yourself performing well in your "mind's eye"...

A routine eye examination can show many things, from a minor change in a prescription or the need for a different contact lens solution, to a condition that may be life-changing or even life-threatening. One optometrist found this out first hand when he did what he does every day, an eye examination. But this was no ordinary examination. When he looked into his 48-year old patient’s eyes, he noticed that blood and other fluids were leaking out of the tiny blood vessels at the back of her eyes. He suspected that this was a sign of diabetes, referred her for further testing, and his suspicion was confirmed. Why are our eyes so vulnerable? Small blood vessels and nerves are very sensitive to changes in blood sugar levels in the body. As sugar levels rise in the blood of someone with diabetes, nerves and blood vessels are damaged. While this happens everywhere in the body, it is not visible because skin and bones block our view. Our eyes, on the other hand, provide an unobstructed view where the damage done to the delicate blood vessels and nerves in the retina can easily be seen by an optometrist, who is often the first professional to notice these changes. Diabetic eye disease comprises a group of eye conditions that affect people with diabetes. These conditions include diabetic retinopathy, diabetic macular edema (DME), cataract, and glaucoma, all of which have the potential to cause severe vision loss. Diabetic Retinopathy Over a prolonged period of time,...