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 Natural Awakenings Lancaster-Berks

Strasburg Family Eyecare is the Comprehensive Choice for Family Vision Health and Wellness

Dec 23, 2016 08:09AM ● By Gisele Rinaldi Siebold

Strasburg Family Eyecare staff

At the heart of Strasburg Family Eyecare, LLC, is a professional staff that truly cares for the vision of children and adults. The practice is built on friendly staff, professional optometrists and state-of-the-art technologies to diagnose and treat vision problems (low vision and vision therapy services), refractive errors and Post Trauma Vision Syndrome. 

 

Dr. Robert Lauver is a Fellow of the College of Optometrists in Vision Development and is board certified by the College of Vision Development as a Developmental Optometrist, specializing in pediatric vision development and Neuro-Optometric rehabilitation (traumatic brain injuries). He is joined by Dr. Maia Moyer, a primary care optometrist with a specialty in low vision, and Advanced Vision Therapist Mrs. Jessica Lauver. 

 

With a mission to provide the most up-to-date, professional and personal comprehensive and developmental eye exams, along with quality products to families, vision is Strasburgs specialty and educating the community is key. 

 

Vision is learned and develops from infancy. Eighty percent of what the brain processes daily is visual, and 65 percent of the brain is wired for visual processing; 20/20 is only the beginning,” shares Robert.  

 

Vision disorders occur in one in every four children. In fact, 60 percent of children receiving learning support have undiagnosed vision disorders contributing to their learning problems,” continues Jessica. Many vision problems go undetected by pediatric screenings or school screenings. This is because these screenings only screen visual acuity, which is just one of the 17 skills that make up the complex process of vision,” she explains. 

 

Pediatric exams start at age six months and continue annually until the age of 18. Robert begins all his pediatric exams with an Anxiety Check. He evaluates the childs level of anxiety before the exam actually begins. For those children who appear nervous and unsure, he uses his assistant, Mr. Fish, to help calm nerves and complete the painless exam. Two types of exams are offered for children: routine and developmental. A checklist is available on the website to help parents determine what type of exam to schedule for their child. 

 

Routine exams take approximately 20 minutes and examine the health of the eye, including cornea, retina and intraocular lens, and checks if the patient has any need for prescription eyewear. During this exam, several tests are performed: visual acuity, color blindness, cover test, refraction, slit lamp exam, glaucoma test and pupil dilation (if there is a family history of eye disease or diabetes). 

 

Developmental eye exams are specialized exams done when a patient continues to have symptoms even after a refractive error has been detected and/or prescription eyewear is prescribed. This exam takes approximately one hour, checks for 17 visual skills needed for success in reading, learning, sports and life, and typically results in a recommendation for vision therapy. During this exam, several measurements are performed in order to determine if the visual system is functioning properly: eye alignment (near and far); focusing (near and far); eye teaming (eye tracking); stamina of eye muscles; brain-eye interaction; eye fixation; and flexibility of the visual system. 

 

If is it determined that vision therapy is needed, results and corrective options are discussed in detail. The office has an on-site vision therapy program through Advanced Vision Therapy Care, led by Jessica. The therapists work directly with Robert for the duration of therapy to ensure the best possible outcome. 

 

Comprehensive exams are essential. Even if a patient has good visual acuity, there can be undetected eye disease linked with underlying systemic diseases, such as glaucoma or macular degeneration, which can be linked to diabetes. It is important for us to look for binocular vision impairments because if it is determined that they exist, we can delve further into what these impairments may be causing, such as learning disabilities, migraines, tension headaches and other problems,” explains Robert. 

 

Treatment is also provided for vision and learning, sports vision training, autism and neurological rehabilitation from traumatic brain injury and stroke. Options for treatment include: neuro-visual stimulation, advanced vision therapy and syntonics (optometric phototherapy). 

 

Eye wellness is related to total-body health,” notes Robert, because the body is synergistic in nature. At Strasburg Family Eyecare, we have based our approach on the techniques used by larger establishments, such as the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins, because we truly care about our patients’ quality of life. We take the time to ask questions about not only eye health, but also overall health, so that we can assist our patients in experiencing life to the fullest and healthiest visual extent possible. 

 

Location: 20 Lancaster Ave., Strasburg. For more information, call 717-687-8141, email [email protected] or visit StrasburgFamily.com and AdvancedVT.com. See ad, page 39 and 52.

 

Gisele Rinaldi Siebold is a contributing writer toNatural AwakeningsLancaster-Berks edition. Connect with her at[email protected].