Hello again, been a long time since I last blogged. Sorry about that, but, rest assured, it won’t happen again. I have some new ideas about this blog and can’t wait for the responses.
I’m compelled to discuss a patient we saw yesterday in our Cerritos optometry office who stopped in for the sole purpose of telling us how thrilled he was with his new lenses. Sounds kind of crazy, eh? Well, it’s true. This patient, like so many we see, is an engineer at one of the surrounding aerospace companies; yes, that makes him a rocket scientist. You think your job can be tough, try examining rocket scientists all day. Don’t get me wrong, they are an exciting group, bursting with flamboyance, and, well, can we also add in a little bit perfectionism.
So this particular rocket scientist, we’ll call him Albert (as in Einstein) works on satellites, specifically the type of satellites that peer back at earth using very powerful telescopes-the same type of technology that gave us Google Earth. ”Spy stuff,” if you will, is his work.
Albert was complaining that his glasses, which he wore all the time, continuously became smudged and needed to be cleaned throughout the day. He was aware that it was the “anti-reflective coating” creating his troubles, and thus opted to not replace the coating on his new lenses. Albert, last year, had decided to use the entry-level “AR” coating when ordering his glasses despite the conversation he had with our optician urging him to upgrade to the newer technology, premium “AR” coating. (He chose not to spend the additional forty dollars)
Here’s the ironic thing…..are you ready….Albert uses the same new technology, everyday, in his satellites, and even knows the specific reasons why it works so well as well as why it is so necessary to maximize resolution, or vision. Albert uses the same technology because it allows his satelites to see better, stay cleaner, reduce glare, and obtain higher resolution. But, for some reason, for his own eyes, he simply saw it as an additional forty bucks and opted out.
Now, we all try to save money where we can, but, in my opinion, something as important as our vision should certainly take a priority. Why, because we use our sight every waking moment. Whether driving our cars, staring at a computer screen, following a tennis ball, or simply watching television, our vision is always being utilized. Our general daily existance evolves from interacting with our world visually. The way we feel, think, and function stems from the feedback we process from our eyes. We think about the flavor and value of the food we eat. We care about our physical comfort through controlling our environmental temperature and our clothing. Mostly, we always try to maximize our senses to create our personal best; to feel our best, and perform accordingly.
The newer high-tech “AR” coatings enhance our vision, remove unwanted glare, and stay remarkably clean. Unlike their predecessors they actually repel oils and dust, eliminating the past problems of fingerprints, and smudging. They also are highly resistant to scratching-a big issue over previous years. Why on earth would we not want to see as best as we possibly can? When we see better, we feel better, we have more energy, we perform on just about everything we do better, and we improve our overall being.
This all became very evident to Albert in just a few days while wearing his new glasses. He couldn’t believe the difference from his previous experience with older coatings and just had to run in to our office to tell us how thrilled he was. Wow, just think if last year he only knew…..oh yeah, he did.
Thanks for reading,
Dr. David Rosenblum
Eyesite Optometry
Cerritos/Newport Coast
