On July 7, 2010 Chicago was invaded by a three-story-tall sculpture of an eyeball. Artist Tony Tasset modeled the giant sculpture after his own eyes.  Fittingly titled "Eye," the oversized piece was put on public view in the Windy City's Pritzker Park.  After building the giant orb from 24 pieces of fiberglass, Tasset and a team of assistants primed the peeper; coated it with off-white paint; and added hundreds of veins, a detailed blue iris and a black pupil.  The giant piece will be on display at the small downtown park through Oct. 31.

Jennifer Viscusi, O.D.

One of the biggest problems facing contact lens professionals is how to get their patients to change their contact lenses and dirty cases on time. Lenses and cases that have been used too long can build up bacteria that lead to eye infections.  Even patients who think they are diligent about cleaning will get some contamination as their lenses and cases get older.  One patient has come up with their own solution to this dilemma. LensAlert is a timer that tracks both lens and case replacement schedules. You can set the lens timer to count down 14 or 30 days.  The case timer can be set to count down 90, 60 or 30 days. If you are someone who has trouble remembering to change your lenses or your case, maybe LensAlert is right for you. LensAlert is sold online and now appears in some retail stores such as Acme and Target.

Jennifer Viscusi, O.D.

I am sure we have all wondered at some point in our lives why the sky is blue.  The sun emits light of all spectral colors.  If an astronaut in space looks at the sun it appears white.  If that same astronaut then looks away from the sun they see outer space as black because the photons not coming directly at them pass through space unobstructed and are not reflected to them.  On earth, the atmosphere, which is made up of ozone, dust, water droplets, and many other reflecting molecules, is positioned between the sun and our eyes.  As the light from the sun enters the atmosphere, the blue photons are scattered more than the green, yellow or red.  Therefore during the daytime when we look away from the sun we see more of the blue photons that are bent toward us and the sky appears blue.

Alan Szczesniewski D.O. F.A.O.C.O

Eyes ulcers may be more than twice as common as in past studies, according to a recent review of a million people in Northern California.  Moreover, contact lens wearers were about 9 times more likely to develop the condition compared to non-wearers and women Contact Lens wearers were twice as likely as their male counterparts.  The rise in disposable and overnight wearing contacts and the ease of Internet ordering are potentially dangerous, according to Dr. Gritz.  Please do not take the wonders of contacts for granted.  Call us if you have any problems, keep your scheduled re-evaluation visit and do not rely on Internet vendors who know nothing about you.

Michael E Starrels, MD

Facial Recognition is one of a parent's few early rewards.  We can use the observation that under controlled conditions infants will attend to the reflection of their own faces in a mirror and that the attention is lost at progressively greater distances with increasing age.  A new study shows that standardized testing of facial recognition with mirror distance correlates well with other currently used methods of measuring a baby's sight.

Michael E Starrels, MD