Frequently Asked Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

Eye Care

Eye Care

Professional Advices:

Orthokeratology (Ortho-K) is a treatment for controlling children’s myopia progression. It is a non-surgical treatment that requires wearing specially designed hyper-gas permeable contact lenses, which reshapes the cornea temporarily to form “peripheral defocus” to slow down myopia progression. (For most users, their vision can be maintained throughout the day without using glasses or contact lenses after wearing Ortho K for few days to a week.)

The cornea reshaping effect is only temporal, if the wearer stops wearing the Ortho K lenses, the effect for myopia control will diminish and the cornea will return to its original shape within a few days to weeks, so as the refractive error. l Therefore, in order to effectively control myopia, the wearers need to wear the Ortho-K lenses overnight every night.

Ortho-K lenses must be cleaned and disinfected properly every day, and the wearers must maintain regular checkups and strictly follow instructions given by the professional optometrist. An inappropriate use of Ortho K lens can be risky and can lead to adverse effects such as corneal epithelial damage, solution allergy or at worst vision impairment.

During the follow up visit, optometrists will examine not only the ocular health and the change in refractive power, but also the lenses condition. They may also prescribe new lenses for the children if necessary.

The cost for the Ortho-K treatment provided by our Centre covers all lenses during the fitting process and all the check-up fees for the first year.

Professional Advices:

We recommend everyone to have a comprehensive eye examination annually. After the first examination, optometrists will suggest the date for next visit.

For adult customers, if their eyes are healthy and nothing needed to follow up, They should still have an eye examination every two years, because symptoms of many eye diseases are not conspicuous at the early stage, regular check-ups and early treatment can prevent these diseases from causing permanent visual impairments.

Children, particularly those with myopia, are advised to conduct a refraction test (to ascertain myopic power) every 6 months and undergo a comprehensive eye examination every year.

Professional Advices:

For school children, when the vision is not good enough to fulfil the visual needs for their study, for example, they have difficulty in seeing materials on the blackboard or projector, they should wear glasses to correct myopia and improve their vision.

The optometrists will provide professional recommendations after the refraction and visual acuity assessment.

Professional Advices:

While this might be only a bad habit developed when watching TV, it might perhaps a cause for concern as well – it could be a result of poor visual acuity or binocular vision impairment, you are advised to arrange her a comprehensive eye exam at our Centre.

If this only happens when your child is watching TV but not on other occasions, you can also conduct a simple test by placing an object at the distance that she normally watches TV and see if she tilts her head when looking at it.

Professional Advices:

In normal circumstances, 0.5 dioptre of astigmatism does not affect your vision, so you do not have to wear glasses if you have no other visual problems.

However, if you are highly sensitive to astigmatism or have special visual needs, you can consider wearing glasses to improve your vision.

Maintaining good visual habits is an effective way to prevent astigmatism from progression. For instance:

When reading or using electronic screens, do not turn off all light and ensure there is sufficient lighting.

1.Make sure your TV screen has no flare and reflection.
2.Put your TV or monitor close to your eye level.
3.Take a 20-second break from work every 20 minutes and look at objectat least 20 feet away.
Adopt a good reading posture. Avoid head tilting or reading too close (keep a distance of 40cm).
4.When using computer, place the monitor away from your eyes at arm’s length (75cm). The screen should be put at about 15 degree lower than your eye level.

Professional Advices:

Myopia is inherited as well as acquired. Studies show that engagement in excessive near work, such as reading or computer work, and a lack of outdoor activities are likely causes for myopia.

In addition to fostering good visual habits to protect the eye, parents should pay attention to their children’s myopic problem at its early stage, allowing them to receive timely and tailored treatment. They should carefully monitor their children’s myopia progression, arranging for them an eye examination every half a year. If myopia progress quickly, they should consult optometrists on ways to control it in order to prevent diseases that might induced by high myopia.

There are a number of products on the market that can effectively control myopia progression, including Ortho-K lenses, daily soft contact lenses and special designed spectacle lenses.

Each myopia control method has its strengths and weaknesses. After the comprehensive eye examination, optometrists will provided the children with the suitable myopia control solution based on their age and visual condition, as well as explaining to them the advantages and limitations for each solutions. To learn more about myopia control and which product is best for your child, make an appointment with Optical 88 Professional Eyecare Centre today.

Professional Advices:

The refractive power of children may change rapidly, therefore, they should have a comprehensive eye examination every year. If any visual problems were found, solution can be provided timely to ensure the healthy development of their eyes in this important stage.

Professional Advices:

1.Squints the eye, tilts the head or closed one eye when seeing things
2.Rubs the eye frequently, blinks heavily or tearing.
3.Reads books, watches TV or uses computer with unusually short working distant.
4.Commits copying errors frequently or dislikes reading or writing.

If you observe any of the above signs, you are advised to arrange for a comprehensive eye examination for your kids at our Centre to better understand the ocular and visual condition.

Professional Advices:

Amblyopia happens when the visual acuity of the eye compromised and therefore, the blur image fails to stimulate proper development of the optical zone in the brain.. Amblyopia is mainly caused by strabismus, high myopic, hyperopic or astigmatic power or big difference in refractive power between two eyes, as well as inherited cataracts or ptosis.

Before age of 8, amblyopia may be treated. The common treatment for amblyopia is to use eye patch to cover the good eye, forcing the use of the amblyopic eye to stimulate the vision. Amblyopic patients with refractive error have to use spectacle to correct the refractive error prior to the use of eye patching. Strabismus patients need to receive vision therapy or orthoptic treatment before applying eye patching. Inherited cataract or ptosis patients should undergo necessary treatment before any amblyopia treatment.

Parents should arrange for their children children an comprehensive eye examination at around age 4. If amblyopia is found after the prime age of 8, treatment may not be effective. After the amblyopia treatment, continued vision therapy is encouraged in order to improve the amblyopic person’s binocular vision and stereopsis.

Professional Advices:

Have you ever tried to catch tiny files flying right in front of you, only to find it was an “illusion”? You were probably not seeing real flies – these flying objects were in fact floaters in your eyes!

Our eyes are filled with the transparent, gel-like vitreous humour. When it contains undissolved particles that interfere with your sight, you may see tiny fly-like objects before your eyes. These particles may appear as spots, threads, or fragments, becoming what we refer to as “floaters”.

Floaters are not an eye disease. They are entoptic phenomenon caused by vitreous degeneration or a complication of other eye diseases. Degenerative floaters are mostly found in the elderly or those with severe myopia. They pose no threat to visual health and requires no treatment. However, if the floaters are caused by eye diseases, such as retina tear, perforation, detachment or inflammation; vitreous hemorrhage or hyalitis, prompt diagnosis and treatment is necessary to prevent it from developing into blindness.

People suffering from floaters should seek help from an ophthalmologist or optometrist to undergo a dilated fundus exam. If eye diseases are found during the check-up, surgery or laser treatment should be applied in order to prevent further visual deterioration or permanent loss of vision. Even if the floaters are caused by vitreous degeneration, the patient should take heed on the changes in floater quantity, location and size. Further inspection is necessary if the problem worsens.

Professional Advices:

Glaucoma is a visual impairment caused by optic nerve damage. It can be classified into two types: acute glaucoma and chronic glaucoma.

Acute glaucoma: when the fluid-filled anterior chamber becomes narrow or blocked, fluid can’t adequately flow through the eye, and the eye pressure may increase abruptly, leading to acute glaucoma.

Chronic glaucoma: this is the most common type of glaucoma. When the fluid in the eye does not flow properly through the drain of the eye, intra-ocular pressure increases gradually and results in chronic glaucoma. However, intra-ocular pressure is not the only cause for chronic glaucoma.

Symptoms
Acute glaucoma: severe eye and head pain, red eyes, blurred vision, nausea or vomiting
Chronic glaucoma: has no clear symptoms until a later stage, when optic nerve has been damaged and visual field narrowed.

Diagnosis:
To detect glaucoma, optometrists have to look into a patient’s case history and conduct a full eye examination, which includes:
1. Intra-ocular pressure: High intra-ocular pressure might lead to optic nerve damage. However, glaucoma could happen in spite of normal intra-ocular pressure.
2. Anterior chamber: anterior chamber contains the drainage channels, and when it’s blocked, fluid drains out of the eye too slowly. This increases eye pressure and leads to glaucoma.
3. Optic nerve inspection: a dilated retina examination can detect the condition of the optic nerve.
4. Visual field test: Optic never damage results in a poor visual field.

Treatment
Personalised treatment should be carried out. Common solutions include:
1. Eyedrops: to ease eye pressure by reducing the production of fluid or facilitate drainage.
2. Laser treatment: to open a hole on the iris and cause the fluid to drain out of the eye.
3. Surgery: If medication and laser treatment fail to control glaucoma, an eye surgery might be needed.

Preventive measure:
As most people with glaucoma have no early symptoms, it could cause visual loss beyond repair once the optic nerve is damaged. It is therefore important to conduct an eye examination regularly so that glaucoma can be diagnosed and treated in time.

Professional Advices:

Presbyopia is not an eye disease. It’s a functional degeneration caused by the natural course of aging. As crystalline lens become hardened with age and lose its elasticity, its ability to focus diminishes. Presbyopia usually occurs beginning at around age 40. Dioptres will continue to grow until the ages between 60 and 65. There is no preventive measures for presbyopia.

When you begin to develop presbyopia, you will experience blurred near vision, feeling harder and slower to focus your vision on near objects. You cannot read or work at the computer comfortably for a long period, and need to remove near objects in order to focus properly. Intense use on near work will lead to eye fatigue, eye strain, a burning sensation, watery eyes and headaches.

If you are diagnosed with presbyopia, don’t worry about it. Optometrists will advise you the appropriate corrective solution based on your visual needs and eye condition, including wearing glasses, contact lenses, or undergo surgery. Most people with presbyopia prefer wearing glasses.

There are single vision lenses and progressive lenses for presbyopia wearers. With just one single dioptre, single vision lenses are for persistent close reading. A separate pair of lenses is needed for looking at distance objects. Progressive lenses offer a smooth transition from distance through intermediate to near vision, supplying all the in-between corrections. They have a pear-shaped progressive powers of correction, with distance vision at the top, near vision at the bottom, and mid-distance in the middle. Wearers will need some time to adapt to the lenses.

Single-vision reading glasses are readily available on the market, but they are not recommended by optometrists. That’s because these lenses have only one single vision, but most people have a different dioptre for each eye, together with astigmatism. Worse still, the optical centre distance of these glasses may not fit your pupillary distance, which can lead to eye discomforts.

Professional Advices:

Many people believe that ultraviolet radiation only does the damage when the sun is at its brightest. This is not entirely true. The UV is indeed very strong in blazing sunshine, but on cloudy days, outdoor UV can be dangerous as well. When we are planning for outdoor activities, we should pay attention to the UV Index announced by Hong Kong Observatory, whether it’s a sunny day or cloudy day, and take protective measures.

In addition to direct exposure to sunlight, we should be careful about reflective UV rays. Surfaces such as water or concrete ground can reflect UV rays to our eyes. The snowy ground surface is in particular reflective to UV radiation. When we go skiing, therefore, we should wear appropriate sunglasses to protect our eyes.

With larger pupils and thinner crystalline lenses, children are more vulnerable to the intrusion of UV rays. They should therefore make it a habit to protect themselves against UV radiation. When going on outdoor activities or water sports, wear sunglasses when the UV index is high, and bear in mind no to look at the sun directly.

There are a wide variety of sunglasses on the market, with prices ranging from tens to thousands. While these sunglasses showcase lenses with different colours, their UV resistance does not rest on their colour, but their material and surface coating. If we wear a pair of coloured sunglasses with lenses unable to block UV rays, our pupils will dilate due to reduced light, forcing our eyes to receive even more UV rays. That’s why we should purchase sunglasses at recognised stores and opt for models with UV resistance.

Professional Advices:

Cataracts are roughly classified into three types: age-related cataracts, congenital cataracts and secondary cataracts, among which age-related cataracts are the most common. In addition to aging, ultraviolet light is another major factor that causes cataracts, so people with over-exposure to sunlight should take preventive measures against cataracts. Secondary cataracts develop as a result of trauma or use of drugs such as steroid. People with a family history of cataracts or severe myopia are more susceptible to cataracts.

Treatment:
Surgery is the only solution to cataracts. With the present-day technology, we no longer have to wait until cataracts become ‘mature’ in order to perform the surgery. The most common surgery in treating cataracts is phacoemulsification. It involves the use of an ultrasonic machine to crack and remove the natural lens, and replace it with an artificial intraocular lens. This is a simple and fast procedure, and patients usually make quick recovery.

At the early phase of cataract development, your visual condition is subject to change. A pair of glasses can be used to help you correct your vision. If the visual deterioration persists and the glasses can no longer cope with your visual needs, you should consider undergoing an operation to regain your vision.

Professional Advices:

In normal circumstances, the eye accommodate to focus the near objects whereas“relaxed” when looking at objects far away.

Prolonged periods of near work or reading may lead to muscle spasm inside the eye. This prevents the eye from “relaxing” when looking at distant objects and results in blurry distant vision. This condition is known as pseudomyopia because the symptom is similar to that of myopia.

During an eye examination, a nervous examinee may experience pseudomyopia. In such case, optometrists can apply eyedrops to temporary relax the eye muscle before refraction so as to avoid pseudomyopia affecting the accuracy. 

Hearing

Hearing

Hearing loss is often difficult to notice at its onset. If you have noted any difficulty in watching telephone, telephone usage or daily communication, you are recommended to have a hearing test. After comprehensive audiological assessment, your audiologist should be able to determine your degree and nature of hearing loss, and recommend choices of hearing aids and/or assistive listening devices to suit your listening needs.

It is not recommended to purchase non-prescribed hearing aid(s) without any hearing test. A non-prescribed hearing aid may not provide optimal amplification for you, or it may provide too much amplification to damage your residual hearing. Hearing aids should be adjusted according to individual degree of hearing loss and listening needs. Please consult your audiologist for any advice on hearing aid.

Apart from the speaker’s voice, hearing aid(s) amplifies environmental sounds as well. As human brain needs time for adaptation to amplified sounds, it is recommended that hearing aid users get used to listening in typical quiet environment first before using the hearing aid in noisy listening environment. Modern digital hearing aid technologies also facilitate listening in noisy environment through directional microphone and automatic noise reduction to enhance speech understanding in different situations.

With proper care and maintenance, your hearing aid(s) should last for at least 3 to 5 years or above.

The price depends on the style, technology level, brand and also features of hearing aid(s) you choose. Remember, the price of hearing aid also includes follow-up service, adjustment and maintenance fee. Your hearing professional will recommend a hearing product that suits your lifestyle and communication need.