Category: Health

Here’s How To Open a Champagne Bottle Without Hurting Your Eye

Champagne signals a time of celebration – but opening bubbly can come with some risks. A Champagne cork can fly up to 50 mph as it leaves the bottle — fast enough to shatter glass. If the cork hits an eye, it can cause bleeding, abrasions and even glaucoma.

“Champagne cork eye injuries really do happen, and they have real consequences,” said Andrew Iwach, MD, ophthalmologist and glaucoma specialist.

Dr. Iwach treated one patient who developed cataracts and advanced glaucoma after a champagne cork injury to the eye. The accident happened almost 20 years ago, and the patient was treated at the time of the accident. But with no follow-up exams, she didn’t realize that she was silently losing her vision over a 20-year period.

“Not only should you be seen at the time of an injury, but you may need long-term follow-up care to prevent late stage permanent vision loss,” Dr. Iwach added.

If you do sustain an eye injury from a champagne cork, seek immediate medical attention from an ophthalmologist – a physician that specializes in medical and surgical eye care. Dr. Potthoff is an ophthalmologist and cataract surgeon in Traverse City, MI.

Avoid an eye injury by following these tips:

Keep the Champagne cold.

Champagne bubbles are filled with gas that expands when warm. To preserve your eyesight and prevent the bottle from opening unexpectedly, always chill your Champagne in the fridge or on ice to about 45 degrees.

Don’t shake, rattle or point the bottle towards anyone.

Agitating Champagne increases pressure. Never point a bottle in someone’s direction. It could cost them their sight.

Control the cork.

Tear off the foil then remove the wire hood. Place a towel over the top of the bottle and grasp the cork. Point the bottle at a 45-degree angle away from yourself and any bystanders. Slowly and firmly twist the bottle not the cork. Do this until the pressure in the bottle begins to push the cork out naturally.

Celebrate safely.

Toast and clink carefully to avoid breaking the Champagne glasses.

To learn more ways to keep your eyes healthy, visit the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s EyeSmart^® website.

This article reprinted with permission from the American Academy of Ophthalmology’s EyeSmart Campaign (http://www.aao.org/eyesmart).

Fireworks Eye Safety

As July 4th rapidly approaches, it’s important to remember that fireworks can cause serious injury, including to your eyes. The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) recommends attending a professional firework display instead of buying your own fireworks. In the case of attending a professional display, including the Traverse City, Michigan fireworks display at the Open Space Park on July 4th or the Cherry Festival Finale fireworks on July 7th, the AAO recommends respecting safety barricades and never touching unexploded fireworks.

In case you do happen to be around non-professionals who have purchased fireworks for personal use, remember to wear safety glasses to protect your eyes! Also, be especially careful not to let children handle fireworks.

In the event that you or someone nearby does sustain a firework-related eye injury, here is what the AAO recommends:

• Seek medical attention immediately, the ER can connect you with the local eye doctor on call.
• Do not rub your eyes.
• Do not rinse your eyes.
• Do not apply pressure.
• Do not remove any objects that are stuck in the eye.
• Do not apply ointments or take any blood-thinning pain medications such as aspirin or ibuprofen.

And finally, here is a helpful YouTube video about firework safety:

Stay safe and happy 4th!

 

 

 

What happened to Lebron’s eye?

If you are/were watching Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals you may be wondering what happened to Lebron James’ eye. In the second quarter Draymond Green fouled Lebron and essentially poked him in the eye in the process. Ensuing camera angles showed Lebron’s left eye with a “spot” of blood on it. This is called a subconjunctival hemorrhage, it results from a broken or ruptured blood vessel on the surface of the eye.

In this case the bleed was caused by trauma, but a subconjunctival hemorrhage can also happen spontaneously (especially in people on blood thinners) or as the result of coughing or bearing down (Valsalva manuveur).

No treatment is needed for a subconjunctival hemorrhage as they are self-limited. The blood can be expected to resolve like a bruise, with improvement over the next few days and complete resolution in a week or two. Given the limited nature of Lebron’s eye bleed, I would expect it’ll look a bit better by Game 2 and may be completely resolved by Game 3.

Visiting the eye doctor, what you can expect

Going to the eye doctor can be scary if you don’t know what to expect. In this article we will outline what you can expect when you visit your Traverse City optometrist or ophthalmologist.

Eye Questions from the Eye Doctor

Your visit to the eye doctor will start with some questions. Your eye doctor will want to know what kinds of issues you are having with your eyes. Is your vision blurry? If so, does it get better when you blink or is it constantly blurry? How long has your vision been like this? Do you wear glasses or contacts? Have you ever seen any flashes or floaters? Do your eyes hurt? Do your eyes feel irritated or burning? When does this happen? How frequently? Have you tried anything to help with your eyes? Have you ever had any eye surgeries? Has another eye care provider ever diagnosed you with any eye conditions? Do any eye disease run in your family? Being able to correctly describe your eye symptoms can go a long way in helping your eye doctor reach the correct diagnosis.

Eye Function

Next, your eye care provider will want to evaluate how your eyes are functioning. There are many ways to assess visual function, but the most common is by testing your visual acuity. This happens when your eye doctor asks you to read letters on a chart. The smaller the letters you can read, the better your visual acuity. Visual acuity is most commonly tested one eye at a time. You may have noticed that sometimes your optometrist or ophthalmologist will ask you to read the letters on the chart through a tiny pinhole, this helps your eye doctor evaluate how well your eye should be able to see with the correct glasses prescription.

Your eye doctor will also perform other simple tests on your eyes, such as checking your pupils, evaluating your eye movements, measuring your eye pressure (intraocular pressure), and testing the visual field of each eye.

Eye Exam

Because eyes are relatively small as far as body parts go, your eye doctor needs magnification to carefully examine them. He or she also needs to be able to examine your eyes with a variety of light intensities and varying beam sizes. This is all made possible by a slit lamp. A slit lamp is the shiny gadget where your eye doctor asks you to position your chin in the chinrest while he looks through something akin to a microscope and shines bright lights in your eyes. The various knobs and dials allow your eye doctor to examine the various structures of your eye. By dilating your pupils, your eye doctor is able to examine your entire eye, including the lens, vitreous, and retina.

Based on what your eye doctor finds while examining your eyes, he or she may recommend additional in-office testing. For instance, if he suspects you may have glaucoma he may perform a visual field test. Or if she is worried about macular degeneration, an OCT (optical coherence tomography) scan may be performed. One of Dr. Potthoff’s favorite parts about ophthalmology is that the testing produces visual reports, which can be used to educate the patient about the condition of their eyes.