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How to Relieve Itchy Eyes from Allergies

5 Tips on How to Relieve Itching Eyes from Allergies

How to Relieve Itchy Eyes from Allergies

If you’re suffering from eye allergies, you’re not alone. An estimated 1 in 5 Americans deals with the annoyance of eye allergies, or ocular allergies also known as allergic conjunctivitis. While the symptoms caused by eye allergies can be bothersome, they rarely present a permanent threat to good eyesight. You can almost always find how to relieve itchy eyes quickly when you take the right steps.

However, it’s important to note that itching, redness, burning sensations and puffiness can also be signs of infection. In cases of infection, see your doctor if the symptoms don’t improve with time or with treatment such as over-the-counter remedies.

If you think you may have eye allergies, here are some helpful tips on how to get relief from your red, itchy, and watery eyes.

Allergies Cause Itchy Eyes

1.) Avoiding Allergens

Keep an eye on pollen count forecasts. If the count is going to be high, consider staying indoors. A remedy to relieve itching eyes is to replace the filters in your air conditioner and/or furnace. This will help trap allergens while creating a more comfortable environment.

2.) Use a Cold Compress

While rubbing itchy eyes may feel natural, the contact with the eyes will release more histamine and aggravate the symptoms. In other words, rubbing itchy eyes may make the problem worse. You can relieve itchy eyes by using a cold-water compress placed over your closed eyes. This will help relieve the itchy sensation while also preventing you from rubbing your eyes. A cold-water compress isn't only an easy solution, but it's also the first natural remedy for itchy eyes you should try.

3.) Remove Your Contacts

Did you know that the surface of contact lenses can attract and accumulate airborne allergens? If you are looking for ways to find relief for itchy or irritated eyes, you may want to consider wearing glasses during the allergy season. Also, consider switching to disposable lenses. This way, your contacts aren’t accumulating allergens for days.

Eyedrops For Itchy Eye Relief

4.) Over-the-Counter Eye Drops

Your local pharmacy has many types of over-the-counter saline eye drops and remedies that may provide relief for your red, watery, and itchy eyes. This approach isn’t only convenient, but also budget-friendly. Your doctor can help you find the best saline eye drop brand for your symptoms.

5.) Prescription Medications

If eye drops are not providing itchy eye relief for moderate to severe, symptoms, it may be a good time to talk to your doctor about what prescription options are available. If your itchy eyes are from allergies, prescription antihistamines may help relieve your symptoms.

Ophthalmologist

How Long Do Itchy Eyes Last?

If your itchy eyes are from allergies, your symptoms can last through the pollen season. That can be anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks.

Eye Care Solutions

If you need assistance with itchy eyes, or have a vision or an eye problem, give our staff of ophthalmologists a call by phone at (877) 852-8463 to book an appointment. We offer eye care solutions to clients such as LASIK eye surgery, glaucoma treatments, cataract surgery, macular degeneration treatments, and presbyopia surgery. Our staff is committed to offering new and innovative treatments to patients.

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Filed Under: Blog

How to Use Your HSA, FSA, & Insurance Benefits On Your Vision

How to Use Your HSA, FSA, & Insurance Benefits On Your Vision

Instead of waiting to improve your health, spend your HSA, FSA, and deductible on correcting your gift of vision and improving your health now. Investing in your health will help improve your life. While a majority of your goals may be related to your diet or exercise, it can be easy to forget how your vision impacts your health and quality of life.

Your eyesight is one of the most important biological assets in your possession, yet this gift is often the last on the list for scheduled maintenance. This is common because many insurance plans do not cover yearly eye exams, preventative diagnostics, and devices like glasses and contact lenses.

What is an HSA?

A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an account that allows you to set aside money without taxation for preventative healthcare costs such as premiums, co-pays, and medical expenses not covered by your regular insurance or prescription plans.

Many patients use their HSA plans to pay for necessary annual preventative care such as dental exams, elective procedures, vision care, and corrective procedures.

What is an FSA?

A Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is an account that you can create for various healthcare-related expenses, including your deductible. This account is non-taxable by the government and depending on your employer, they may match your monthly contribution to your FSA account or offer reimbursement for certain vision expenses associated with this account.

Ophthalmologist

FSA and HSA Compatible Expenses

When considering the best way to spend your end-of-year FSA and HSA balance, instead of paying for expected co-pays and deductibles, consider spending your balance on FSA-approved vision expenses.

1. Eye Exams

Preventative eye exams are the key to diagnosing infections and progressive diseases, such as macular degeneration, which can cause irreversible blindness.

Despite these risks, some insurance plans do not cover annual eye exams. Treat your eyes well this winter and use your FSA and HSA balances to visit your ophthalmologist.

2. Eyeglasses and Contact Lens

Even if your annual eye exam is covered in your insurance plan, necessities like eyeglasses and corrective lenses are often only partially covered.

Correcting your vision is important to daily functions, and these necessary adaptive devices are included in the compatible expenses list for both FSA and HSA accounts.

3. Corrective Eye surgery

While many eye surgeries are classified as elective procedures and not covered under most insurance plans, procedures like eye surgery help many people see clearly and can make lasting improvements to your quality of life.

Rather than spending money on glasses and contact lenses each year, consider a one-time surgery that can correct your vision, so you will never have to purchase corrective devices again.

Ophthalmologist

Your Vision is Important – Don’t Wait

Regardless of your vision needs, if you have money in your FSA or HSA, now is the time to spend it! Invest in your health. Our team of ophthalmologists in Ann Arbor, MI, and other areas offer various types of eye care solutions such as cataract eye surgery, macular degeneration treatments, LASIK eye surgery for hyperopia, retinal detachment surgery, and astigmatism treatments.  Our doctors provide treatments that can help you see better and ensure your eyes are healthy. We put our patients first. So, don’t wait, schedule your appointment today. Your vision may depend on it.

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6 Ways to Maintain Healthy Vision

Keeping your eyes healthy is critical for your day-to-day safety as you maneuver around, interact with others, and communicate. Millions of Americans are living with visual impairment, and even more are susceptible for preventable eye diseases and injuries. Below are six things you should be doing now to maintain healthy vision as you age.

Download Maintaining Healthy Vision White Paper

  1. Reduce Time Spent Staring at a Computer or Tablet: A study from the Vision Council revealed that 68% of millennials suffer from digital eyestrain, which can develop into Computer Vision syndrome (CVS). Technology’s infiltration into our daily activities is unavoidable, but you still need to be mindful of time spent staring at screen by taking 20-minute breaks every couple hours. Dr. Clint Simpson of TLC Eyecare & Laser Centers recommends following the 20-20-20 rule: during those 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds. Adjusting your workstation so the top of the screen is about 4 to 5 inches below eye level also helps.
  2. Quit Smoking: Smoking’s consequences are generally associated with cancer and heart disease, but it also affects your vision. The risk of developing age-related cataracts, optic nerve damage and macular degeneration all drastically increase by smoking.
  3. Take Out Contacts: Leaving your contact lenses in while you sleep deprives your cornea from getting the oxygen it needs from the outside air. Keeping contacts in all the time is like breathing through a mask. Lack of oxygen results in your eyes growing blood vessels where they don’t belong. This has negative effects on your vision. Remember to always wash your hands when placing and removing your contacts and replace them as often as you replace your toothbrush.
  4.  Use Safety Glasses/Goggles: Whether working on a home project, doing yard work, or performing a repair on your car, you need to be protecting your eyes. Dust, debris, chemicals and metal shavings are common things that can get into the eyes and elicit damage. Whenever working on anything that might propel objects into the air, wear safety glasses or goggles.
  5. Wear Sunglasses: The general rule here is if you are putting on sunscreen, you should be wearing sunglasses as well. Sunglasses will protect your eyes from UV light, which has shown increases in the development of pterygium and cataracts. Make sure the glasses block 99-100% of both kinds of UV light, UVA and UVB.
  6. See an Eye Doctor: Every 2-3 years you should have a dilated eye exam. After age 45, it should be every 1-2 year(s) in order to screen for glaucoma, cataracts and macular degeneration. For children, a baseline eye screening should be conducted no later than 2 years of age. You should always consult with a professional and not rely on a self-diagnosis with an assist from WebMD. The best way to maintain healthy vision is with regular eye exams.

Protecting your vision starts with simple, everyday habits that make a big difference. From taking regular screen breaks and wearing UV-blocking sunglasses to using proper safety eyewear and scheduling routine eye exams, these proactive steps help you maintain clear, healthy vision for years to come.

Don’t wait until problems arise. Take control of your eye health today and schedule your comprehensive eye exam with Specialty Eye Institute to keep your eyes seeing their best!

RELATED CONTENT: Glaucoma Mini Series

Filed Under: Blog

How Much Does LASIK Eye Surgery Cost?

LASIK Eye Surgery Cost

The cost of LASIK eye surgery can be a concern for many individuals, even though it is an extremely common procedure and millions of people have had this surgery to correct their vision. These surgeries have a success rate of over 90% and are generally considered safe, quick, and incredibly successful. 

LASIK eye surgery is a procedure in which the shape of your cornea, the clear covering in front of your eye,  is permanently changed to improve your vision and reduce your need for glasses or contact lenses. You can have this procedure done within 30 minutes and can walk out of the surgical center the same day. The recovery time is very quick, and the risk of complications is not high. 

It is genuinely a life-changing procedure that is an excellent choice for most people who want to drastically improve their vision. However, the cost of LASIK eye surgery can be a concern for many. 

Let’s discuss how much LASIK costs, the factors that can affect those costs, and the different options you have for paying for the procedure. 

What Factors Influence the Cost of LASIK Eye Surgery?

There are a couple of factors that can cause the price of LASIK eye surgery to fluctuate. Typically, they are out of your control and will entirely depend on the state of your vision, which technology your surgeon believes is best for your surgery, and the level of experience that your surgeon has. 

Required Vision Correction

Depending on the state of your vision,  your LASIK eye surgery cost could be less or more than the average. If your vision is in a poorer condition, then the cost of your surgery will most likely be raised. 

Laser Technology

The cost of the surgery also depends on the type of technology that’s being used. Newer technology, like custom LASIK, often costs more than older technology that can be used. Additional charges that are placed on surgeons by manufacturers of laser devices may get passed on to the patient. 

Surgeon Skill

Your LASIK surgery price can also vary based on your eye surgeon’s level of expertise. The more experienced they are, the higher they will charge. 

LASIK Surgeon

Does Insurance Cover LASIK?

Because LASIK is an elective surgery, insurance typically doesn’t cover the full cost of it. However, many providers will offer discounts for the surgery, and there are financing options available to help pay for it. 

Financing Options for LASIK

Payment Plans

There are a lot of providers that offer payment plans to ease the upfront cost of your LASIK eye surgery. They will usually put you on a finance plan that spreads out the upfront cost into lower payments over a certain period of time. Be sure to pay attention to any interest rates to ensure they’re not too high and be informed of the exact amount you will be paying. 

Credit Card Payments

Putting the surgery on your credit card is also a viable option for payment that allows you to spread out the initial cost of your surgery. Your credit card may offer points or benefits for spending so much on it, and you can make monthly payments to chip away at the cost over time. It’s important to take note of the APR when doing this, so you don’t end up paying more than you should due to high interest. 

FSA or HSA

Using the money saved in your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) or Health Saving Account (HSA) is an excellent way to pay for your LASIK eye surgery, particularly because you save money through pre-tax dollars. Many are able to pay for the majority or full amount of their procedure this way. 

Why Choose Specialty Eye Institute for Your LASIK Procedure?

Getting LASIK eye surgery is a big decision to make and having the right support is vital. At Specialty Eye Institute, we will be there for you every step of the way, from your first appointment to discuss your options, to your post-operation care. 

Specialty Eye Institute uses the most cutting-edge IntraLase Method for our LASIK surgery, ensuring that you are receiving industry-leading treatment. We have a commitment to providing the very best care, and we are able to do that by following our four core values:

  • Excellence
  • Patient-Centered Advocate
  • Compassion
  • Integrity

If you’re considering LASIK eye surgery, don’t hesitate to reach out to our friendly and knowledgeable staff. We’re also happy to provide our other services, like comprehensive eye care, corneal transplants, cataract surgery, and much more. 

Call today or Schedule an Appointment!

New Retina Institute Coming Soon

Drs. Carmelina Gordon and Surendar PurohitTLC Eyecare & Laser Centers Retina Institute will be opening its doors this summer!

The retina is a vital component of your eyesight, and time is of the essence when it comes to saving your vision. The Retina Institute was developed to expand the latest technology and clinical treatment options available, while offering specialized care for patients with immediate vision needs.

Drs. Carmelina Gordon and Surendar Purohit are excited to provide a place for patients to receive advanced, compassionate care in a relaxing and healing environment.

The Retina Institute will be located next to the Corporate Headquarters at 850 West North Street in Jackson, Michigan.

Filed Under: Blog

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