Frequent headaches could be a symptom of an uncorrected vision problem or dry eye syndrome! That’s right, if you experience a lot of headaches, it would be worth your time to schedule an eye exam.

Digital Eye Strain and Headaches

Thanks to modern technology, we spend hours a day looking at bright screens, and a common price we pay for these fabulous conveniences is digital eye strain. Typical symptoms include blurred vision, tired and aching eyes, difficulty focusing, and — you guessed it — frequent headaches.

Eye strain doesn’t have to come from screens, either. A vision problem like hyperopia (farsightedness), presbyopia (age-related farsightedness), or astigmatism puts a lot of strain on the eye as it attempts to compensate. With astigmatism, the cornea is shaped abnormally, so it bends light in ways it shouldn’t, leading to a lot of squinting. That alone can sometimes contribute to headaches.

With hyperopia and presbyopia, the lens of the eye focuses images a bit behind the retina instead of right against it, which makes nearby objects look blurry. Trying to read small print quickly turns into a headache, sometimes literally. The older we get, the less flexible the lenses in our eyes become and this can happen to people who never needed glasses earlier in life.

Eye Problems Can Be a Headache for Kids Too

Kids with undiagnosed vision problems are as susceptible to frequent headaches as adults are. That’s just one of many reasons every child should have a comprehensive eye exam with a real eye doctor, not just a school nurse with a big E chart. There could be a vision problem besides basic refractive errors (like nearsightedness or farsightedness) causing them headaches, but kids wouldn’t be able to make that connection for themselves.

The Wonders of a Correct Prescription

The changes in our vision are gradual enough that they’re hard to notice. It might take months or years to really register how much harder it is to see distant details or read up close. Most people who experience headaches related to vision problems simply need an updated prescription for their glasses or contacts! This combined with treatment for dry eye syndrome can help improve patient’s quality of life and productivity at work and school.

When Headaches Are Tied to Sight-Threatening Conditions

One symptom of glaucoma (an eye disease that involves the buildup of pressure against the optic nerve, resulting in permanent vision loss) is headaches, and cataracts can also cause them. Cataracts develop as the proteins in the lens clump together, clouding the vision. Regular eye exams are essential for catching sight-threatening conditions early on.

A Dry Eye Syndrome Exam Is No Headache!

We all have busy schedules and it’s hard to find space for something like an eye appointment, but it’s worth it, especially for anyone suffering frequent headaches with no idea what’s causing them. You can cross eye problems off the list of potential causes by scheduling your next eye exam with the award-winning team at Levin Eye Care Center!

Contact Us Today!

Vision Therapy Success for Oscar!

Oscar was having trouble in school with focus and reading but even with help from teachers, it’s was not enough. That’s when his parents decided it would be best to perform a google search and find the help he needed for his vision and school work. The reviews speak volumes about the success and importance of the Vision Therapy program offered by our office.

Since enrolling Oscar in Vision Therapy he can now identify words precisely and perform visual tasks successfully. Corrected vision is very important to a child’s learning, social development, and even extends to athletics. This is critical to a child’s progress and long-term success. 

Oscar Improved 

• Reading speed and comprehension 
• Speed completing schoolwork
• Longer attention span
• Covering one eye
• Less Fidgeting

Since finishing our Vision Therapy program at Levin Eye Care Center, Oscar is able to move his eyes independently now and keep his attention focused for longer times.

We are so proud of his progress and is on his way to becoming a star student and super reader in the classroom! Leaders are readers and the future is bright for Oscar and his family.

If you have a child or adult who has any of these symptoms, we can help! Call or text us at 219-659-3050 to schedule an appointment today!

Patient Coordinator & Insurance Biller

Full-time position

We are seeking highly qualified applicants for the full-time position of Patient Coordinator -Insurance Biller. Must have at least 2 years of experience in the medical field. Must be able to multitask in a high-volume private practice.

This is an opportunity for the right person who is flexible/adaptable to change and desires to learn new skills. Must have a positive personality and friendly demeanor. If you have ambition, great motivation, and have the right attitude, then this position is for you.

Requirements:

• Must have a minimum of two years of experience required.
• Must be able to multitask in a high-volume practice.
• Must have excellent communication skills.
• Bilingual preferred.
• Only local candidates near Whiting Indiana will be considered.
• Punctuality and reliable transportation is a must.
• You must also be extremely organized, extremely customer-oriented.
• Business professional dress code.

Experience in Receptionist duties Minimum 2 years of experience. Must have excellent communication skills, bilingual helpful.

Full-Time Employee Benefits include:

• Medical Insurance, Vision and Dental insurance
• Employee discounts
• Holidays and Vacation
• Career Development

Position includes but not limited to: Greeting patients, answering phones, accepting payments, scheduling appointments, and is responsible for the administrative functions of the office along with knowledge of insurance billing practices.

The ideal candidate must have excellent customer service and communication skills, and have a professional business appearance. Only those with 2 years of experience in the field of optometry or medical field will be considered for the position listed.

All applicants must have a valid driver’s license and be willing to undergo a background check and drug testing in accordance with local laws and regulations.

Send resumes to Eyecare@levineyecare.com

Original Article Published in the Northwest Indiana Times on May 16th, 2021.

Dr. Steven Levin says what happened on April 16 came as a complete surprise. At the annual meeting of the Indiana Optometric Association, Levin received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indiana Optometric Association(IOA).

“I was very humbled and surprised to receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award,” said Levin, a longtime Northwest Indiana optometrist at Levin Eye Care Center in Whiting. Levin said that in 50 years’ time the award has been given to just 14 people. In choosing recipients, the Indiana Optometric Association awards points in four categories, each with several qualifications that must be met.

Levin has been honored with other recognitions in his career:

• 2001 — Indiana Optometrist of the Year Award, the IOA’s highest award, for the member who has demonstrated contributions to the profession; service on behalf of the visual welfare of the public; and service to the community.

• 2002 — National Optometrist of the Year Award from the American Optometric Association, its highest award in the nation, for “leadership and foresight into children’s educational and public visual welfare initiatives and community service.”

• 2007—Elected to the National Academies of Practice as a Distinguished Practitioner. The nonprofit organization elects “distinguished professionals advancing interprofessional health care by fostering collaboration and advocating policies in the best interest of individuals and communities.”

Levin, a board-certified member of the College of Optometrists of Vision Development, specializes in vision therapy as well as providing a broad range of optometric care. Vision therapy changes lives, Levin said. Some visual conditions need more than glasses, contact lenses and/or patching and are best resolved through a program of vision therapy rehabilitation.

Vision therapy is designed to correct eye-related deficiencies for all ages. The list is long and includes struggles with blurred vision, learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, lazy eye, double vision, special needs, autism spectrum disorders, stress-related issues, motion sickness, hand-eye coordination, traumatic brain injuries, and more.

Levin said a common condition, visual stress with reading, can affect children’s academic performance. “Kids do a lot of close work on homework and on screens like iPads, computers and other devices. Reading skills are based on ocular high motor skills that can be affected by close screen work. That can bring visual problems for them.”

Vision therapy helps students see information, process it and use it. First, there’s in-office therapy to work on fine motor skills, then home therapy. “Students who were suffering academically have become excellent students,” Levin said, adding it’s just one reason regular eye exams are important. Levin said various visual problems affect at least 40% of children in the school system. “They may not even realize there’s a problem.”

Helping students do better in school and his dedication to resolving other vision problems are significant factors in the recognition Levin has received. “I’ve worked with so many people to change their lives — children with learning disabilities, people with traumatic brain injuries – to get them back to their work environment; helping people with stroke. We really do change lives with the rehabilitation we do.”

Levin, who graduated with honors from Illinois College of Optometry at Chicago, is also involved in many public organizations. “I believe in giving back.”

At 48 years and counting, Levin said: “It’s been a wonderful, rewarding career for me. Looking back on my career, I’ve been so blessed with my patients and with so many people I’ve met. My patients are phenomenal. I think about the children who are doing better in school now. I think of how it’s a privilege to be able to also serve the public.”

He’s quick to credit his staff. “We have a wonderful staff. You can tell because there are hundreds of five-star reviews online. We do a thorough job in all our evaluations. I pride myself on customer service and my associate Dr. Delia Malone feels the same way.”

Further corroboration is evident: The most recent first place rankings for Levin Eye Care Center in The Times of Northwest Indiana’s Best of the Region polls happened last year and this year. Levin said he intends to continue providing the best vision care for children and adults in the Region, with the same professional, compassionate care that has earned him the awards for excellence.

Levin Eye Care Center offers a full scope of optometric services with the latest technology available in the industry, providing eye wear designing and dispensing; contact lens fitting and follow-up, including disposable, bifocal and lenses for astigmatism; treatment of eye diseases and co-management of cataract surgery; laser vision correction (LASIK) co-management and consultation; sports vision enhancement and/or improvement; treatment for dry eye syndrome; and much more. “I love taking care of patients,” said Levin, expressing an award-winning approach to his practice.

Congratulations to Clara, who graduated from our vision therapy program!

She has made tremendous gains in reading and writing times, and we’re excited to see her blossom into a top student!

Clara can now read and write for longer periods of time without frustration and anxiety and loves to learn.

  Before                                  After

The results have been amazing and dramatic! Her hand-eye coordination and visual-motor skills improved since completing vision therapy at Levin Eye Care Center.

If you want your child to reach their full potential, call or text us at 219-659-3050 for more information and to schedule your appointment for a comprehensive eye exam.

Scleral lenses are an exciting innovation in contact lens technology that is used to treat a patient with high astigmatism, irregular astigmatism, keratoconus and dry eye disease.

With these specialty lenses the contact lens vaults over the cornea creating a new surface free of astigmatism or irregularities such as those found in patients with keratoconus, high astigmatism, and irregular astigmatism.

We have had successful fittings that brought vision from just seeing ‘the big E’ to almost perfect vision while wearing the lenses.  Successful use has helped people maintain their employment, regain their ability to drive, and enjoy their life.

Benefits of wearing Scleral Lenses:

• High prescriptions
• High Astigmatism
• Keratoconus Correction
• Wearing Comfort for Dry Eye
• Can promote healing of the Ocular Surface

An added benefit of the lenses’ ability to vault over the cornea is that it creates a moisture lock on the cornea all day long. Unlike other contact lenses that pull moisture away from the cornea, the liquid chamber beneath the scleral lens creates a moist environment for the cornea all day long.

Whether a patient suffers from Dry Eye Syndrome, has an anatomical abnormality of the eye or an autoimmune condition that contributes to their dry eye, scleral lenses do not discriminate the cause and they can help maintain moisture on the cornea and provide relief.

Schedule a comprehensive evaluation today at Levin Eye Care Center to see if Scleral Lenses are right for you!

What comes to mind when you think of a Comprehensive Eye Exam?

We’re guessing your list probably includes vinyl recovery beds, jars full of wooden tongue depressors, and the big E eye chart. For over a century and a half, that big E chart (officially called the Snellen chart) has been an excellent diagnostic tool for identifying nearsightedness…but not much else. There are many other ways a child’s vision might not be working properly, which is why it’s so important for children to get a comprehensive eye exam with an optometrist!

The Link Between Vision and Learning

Being able to see clearly and perform visual tasks well is hugely important to a child’s education, social development, and even athletic performance. Up to 80% of learning is visual, with all those whiteboards and textbooks and writing assignments to look at, among many other things.

The Less Obvious Vision Problems

What does the Snellen eye chart miss? Basically any vision problem that isn’t nearsightedness. A comprehensive eye exam, on the other hand, will also test for farsightedness, astigmatism, color blindness, visual perception, hand-eye coordination, and important binocular vision skills like focusing, tracking, and teaming. Any of these problems can negatively impact learning if they go untreated.

When a Vision Problem Remains Undiagnosed

Unlike adults, children don’t have the vocabulary or understanding to recognize what “good eyesight” is supposed to be like. They only have their own experience to go off of, so if it hurts to focus on close-up work for long, they probably won’t know why. Children might believe they’re not smart enough for school. In fact, children display a lot of the symptoms common in learning disorders, and without a comprehensive eye exam, there’s a good chance they’ll be misdiagnosed with one.

Recognize the Symptoms of Eye Problems

Some eye problems are easy to spot, such as an eye that points the wrong direction. However,Other symptoms are more subtle.

These include: 

• Reading comprehension problems
• Difficulty completing schoolwork
• Short attention span (particularly for close-up tasks)
• Frequent headaches
• Covering one eye
• Frequent blinking and eye rubbing
• Fidgeting

Give Your Child a Good Start with an Comprehensive Eye Exam

Every child should have a comprehensive eye exam early in their schooling so that any eye problems can be caught and treated quickly. With the new school year starting, this is a great time to schedule an eye exam for your child. We can either rule out or identify any vision problems, even the less obvious ones, and determine the best steps to take next!

We look forward to seeing you and helping you see well!

Tears play a vital role in the health and function of our eyes. That’s what makes dry eye such a serious problem.

Tears serve as our eyes’ first line of defense against irritants like dust and germs, washing them away with every blink. They also enable our eyes to turn and swivel comfortably. When the tears run dry, our eyes are left itchy, irritated, red, and sometimes swollen. Millions of adults in the US alone suffer from dry eye. So why does this happen and what can we do about it?

Causes Of Dry Eye

The tear film in our eyes has a specific composition, consisting of an outer oily layer, a watery layer, and a mucous layer. There are several ways it can be disrupted, each resulting in dry eye. The overall tear production can decrease, tear evaporation can increase due to a disruption of the oily layer, or the composition can become imbalanced. These problems can be caused by a variety of factors, including:

• Medications like antihistamines, decongestants, antidepressants, birth control pills, and others
• Advancing age
• Autoimmunie disorders
• Hormonal changes during pregnancy and after menopause
• Dry, windy, or smoky environments
• Seasonal allergies
• Long periods spent staring at a screen, which can reduce blinking frequency

Relief For Dry Eyes

Whatever the cause is behind dry eye, it’s important to treat it so that it doesn’t have a chance to get worse. Dry eyes are more vulnerable to getting scratched and infected, and without enough tears, vision can become blurred. If your dry eye is the result of too much screentime, try to take frequent breaks and remember to blink normally. For other causes, artificial tears (eye drops) are a great solution.

You can also incorporate more foods rich in Vitamin A and omega-3 fatty acids into your diet, such as liver, carrots, broccoli, fish, and walnuts. These are important nutrients for eye health and tear production. You might also want to switch from contact lenses to glasses.

Make an appointment today and come See us!

Your best chance of getting your tears flowing again is to come see us so that we can determine the cause of your dry eye and find the treatment that will give you the best results. We can also make sure that the dryness hasn’t led to additional complications.

We love having you as our patient!

Eye color is one of the first traits we notice when we meet someone new.

If you’ve ever met someone with two different colored eyes, then you’ve seen what heterochromia looks like. Only three out of every five hundred people have it, though, so it’s not that common (but you might have seen an odd-eyed cat or dog). Heterochromia happens in a few different ways and has a few different causes.

Genetic Versus Traumatic Heterochromia

In most cases, heterochromia is the simple result of unusual genetics, a harmless mutation changing the way the pigment develops in one or part of one iris. There are a few famous examples in movies and TV, such as Dominic Sherwood and Anthony Head, who both have blue eyes with a brown patch in one, and Josh Henderson and Alice Eve, who each have one blue eye and one green.

Even people who aren’t born with heterochromia can still develop it as the side effect of injury or disease. Surgery or trauma can cause a change in the appearance of one eye. David Bowie was a famous example of this due to his one permanently dilated pupil. Diseases like diabetes, eye tumors, or glaucoma can also affect the appearance of one eye differently than the other. This is the case for Mila Kunis, who suffered eye inflammation in one iris for years.

The Types of Heterochromia

Heterochromia comes in a few varieties, as we’ve already hinted at with our celebrity examples. It can be complete heterochromia, segmental, or central. Complete heterochromia (or heterochromia iridum) is where each iris is a different color. Segmental heterochromia (heterochromia iridis) is where a patch of a different color appears in one iris.

The most common form of heterochromia, central heterochromia, is where the two irises match each other but have rings of a different color around the pupils — such as when someone has green eyes but a thin ring of hazel around the middle. The results aren’t quite as instantly striking as mismatched eyes, but they still look pretty cool.

Mismatched Eyes in Culture

Different cultures have interpreted heterochromia in different ways throughout the ages. Eastern European pagans believed that being born with different colored eyes meant they had witch eyes. Some Native American cultures, meanwhile, believed it meant the person had “ghost eyes” with the ability to see into heaven and earth.

Whatever Their Color(s), Let Us Take a Look at Your Eyes!

If you weren’t born with heterochromia but have noticed a change in the color of one or both of your eyes, it’s a good idea to schedule an appointment so that we can take a look and find out the cause. If it’s an untreated side-effect from an injury or a symptom of a health condition, we can help!

Our patients have beautiful, unique eyes!

Most people who start needing glasses or contacts while they’re young have at least one of three common vision problems : myopia, hyperopia, and astigmatism.

These common vision problems are all refractive errors, which means they’re problems with the way the eyes focus light, rather than an eye disease. Refractive errors have to do with the physical shape of our eyes, so let’s take a closer look!

Myopia: What’s Right In Front Of You

Myopia is the technical term for nearsightedness, meaning that you can see clearly up close but distant objects are blurred. This happens when the eyeball itself is too long, or when the cornea is too curved. That additional curvature or length causes light to focus in front of the retina instead of on it, which makes the resulting images look fuzzy.

The way glasses or contacts correct myopia is by compensating for this error to extend the light’s focus onto the retina where it belongs. These lenses are concave (thinner in the middle), and always have a negative prescription.

Hyperopia: Gazing Into The Distance 

Hyperopia, better known as farsightedness, means that you can see distant objects clearly, but everything up close is blurry. This common vision problem happens for the opposite reasons that myopia does. Instead of being too long, the eyeball is too short, or else the cornea is too flat. This causes light to focus behind the retina, making near images fuzzy.

In order to correct hyperopia, corrective lenses must be convex (thicker in the middle) and have a positive prescription. The larger the number, the stronger the prescription.

Astigmatism: A Warped Perspective

The third common refractive error people experience is astigmatism, and it’s a little different from the other two. A normal cornea is uniformly curved so that there is a single focal point. A cornea with astigmatism is more football shaped, creating multiple focal points, which makes things appear blurry at any distance and bends their images.

Astigmatism is often paired with one of the other refractive errors, and it requires more complex lenses to correct than they do. Typically, the lens will be somewhat cylindrical rather than spherical.

Keep Your Prescription Updated!

All three types of refractive error can worsen over time. This is which is why most people don’t keep the same prescription forever. If it’s been a while since your last eye exam, or if you’re noticing blurriness where there used to be clarity, having sharp vision again is just one appointment away!

Thank you for always putting your trust in us!  Ask your Doctors at Levin Eye Care Center with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.