Happy Memorial Day Weekend!  Whether you're hitting the beach or just relaxing in the backyard with friends and family, the start of summer means it's time to make sure your sunglass style is on point.  We're breaking down the biggest eyewear trends for 2016 and don't forget, not only will these frames have your friends talking but you'll be protected from sun damage and skin cancer to boot. I've included links to great holiday deals in the posts below if you are shopping for these looks, but don't forget you can also use your vision insurance on prescription sunwear from these great designers at your local eye doctor's office!

All About Round

Hands down the biggest trend for the season is round eyewear.  This retro look channels the boho-friendly 70s style that's everywhere these days: off the shoulder tops, fringe accents.  To prevent that Minnie Mouse look, avoid bulky plastic frames and veer towards thinner metals that let the shape do the talking.  A lighter brown or gradient tint is also ideal to really achieve that retro vibe.

Chloe Carlina frame via

Shop Round:


Mirrored Lenses
Mirrored lenses can update any sunglass style, and by reflecting light off the front of the lens, they also help reduce glare. Last year it was all about the silver mirrored look, and those styles are still hugely popular for the summer.  But this season's biggest trend in mirrored is going gold for an even bolder statement.  Just remember that as light bounces off the surface of your glasses, it can reflect back onto your nose, so make sure you apply sunscreen!

Model Karli Kloss wears Linda Farrow gold mirrored frames

Shop Gold Mirrored Lenses:


Browbar Frames
In both sunglasses and ophthalmic eyewear, browbars are the biggest accent trend in frames this year. To prevent the dreaded unibrow appearance, go thin on your frame material with a barely-there browbar piece.  Thinner metals will let your own natural eyebrows show through so there's no optical illusion of a unibrow created.

Want plastic frames and a brow bar? These Christian Dior frames do it right by combining the thicker plastic frame material with a barely-there thin metal browbar in the center.

Shop Browbars:


Pantone Tints
2016 boasts 2 Pantone colors of the year, and we've seen both rose quartz pink and serenity blue make strong showings in tinted lenses.  How do you know the right tint for you? Blue tints are popular for water activities, but are notorious for glare issues.  That's why you'll see so many blue tinted lenses with flash mirrors to help reduce glare.  Rose tints are great for glare reduction naturally, and offer very comfortable vision for both outdoor and driving needs.

Are you a Serenity Blue?

Model Gigi Hadid rocks the ever popular Dior So Real frame in blue mirrored lenses

Shop Blue Tints:


or Rose Quartz Pink?

The Fendi Crystal cat-eye comes in blue too, just in case you can't decide

Shop Rose Tints:
Full-Time Protection
Common misconception: many people just wear sunglasses outside at the beach or pool, but we need protection year round.  Just like you can get sundamage to your skin on cloudy days, your eyes can also suffer UV damage with everyday outdoor exposure.  If you aren't great about changing into your sunglasses every time you step outdoors, there's no reason your eyes need to pay the price. Transitions lenses offer 100% UV protection, and immediately convert to sunglasses when exposed to UV light. Added plus: the new graphite green tint is really fashion forward and green tints provide the highest contrast vision of any colored tint!

Model Laurence Leboeuf in graphite green lenses

Want more 2016 trend advice?  Check out my friend and eyewear expert Daniel's blog featuring eyewear style advice from fashion expert Tim Gunn.

One thing is certain in this life (besides death and taxes): eventually we will all get cataracts.  As one the most commonly performed surgeries in the USA, cataract removal is a highly specialized refractive procedure in today's world, restoring vision and also minimizing the reliance on glasses in some cases.  But while scientists have been perfecting artificial lenses (called IOLs), manufacturing a "holy grail" lens that focuses from distance to near like a young person's natural lens has proven extremely difficult. Imagine a world where you didn't have to implant an artificial lens that is limited by the physics of acrylic -- a world where you regrew your own lens that acted just like the 20 year old eye that you remember so fondly, adjusting freely to distance and up close ranges with reckless abandon.  Sound like a pipe dream? Not so fast.

An adult cataract via

Fresh off the presses in last month's Nature, scientists in China successfully regrew natural lenses in infants with congenital cataracts using their own lenticular stem cells. The idea to use stem cells to regrow a lens was a common nuisance following cataract surgery. Sometimes after removing the cataract and replacing it with an IOL, cells will grow across the implant and cause blur and distortion.  It's called posterior capsule opacification.  These cells are easily removed with a quick laser procedure, but where did they come from?  During cataract surgery, ophthalmologists leave the capsular bag of the natural lens behind to help hold and support the implant in its' proper place.  The capsule may have a few 'lens epithelial stem cells" or LECs as the study author refers to them left behind from the lens removal, which begin to divide and grow.  All this time doctors have treated these cells like annoying debris, but Dr. Lin and his team of researchers had a different opinion.  If these stem cells were growing, why wouldn't they keep growing a whole new lens?  They tested their theory in mice and rabbits, and when those studies proved effective they moved forward to the biggest challenge yet, human infants.

In 3 months, Dr. Lin's team reported the presence of a biconvex lens following cataract removal. A small 2 mm scar remained where the incision was made during cataract surgery that would have damaged the stem cells in that area.  Larger incisions would cause larger scars, making the surgery ineffective.  This is one of the reasons that many doctors question whether an adult procedure of this nature is possible; typical adult cataract surgery techniques require incisions 3 times larger than those used by Dr. Lin and his colleagues.

There are very few options for infants born with congenital cataracts; implanting IOLs to correct vision after removing the cataract causes significantly more issues in babies than in adults, and many doctors prefer leaving the child aphakic (without any internal lens) and relying on contact lenses for vision correction to avoid the risks.  Dr. Lin and colleagues conducted their research on a group of 12 infants with bilateral congenital cataracts. Half of the children were left aphakic (normal standard of care) using normal cataract extraction procedures, and the other half were left aphakic with "minimally invasive" cataract surgery that left layers of LECs behind. In 3 months a biconvex lens had regenerated in the eyes with stem cells left behind, and in 8 months that lens was the size and shape of the lens of a normal infant that had not undergone cataract surgery, and also showed accommodative (or focusing) ability. 

Game Changer?  Since we are dealing with infant eyes, we still know very little about how these regenerated lenses will perform visually in the coming years.  Will a cataract return much younger in life than expected? Will vision ever be truly normal? These are questions that only time will answer. The other pressing issue being raised is will this type of procedure potentially work in adults? Could we have a future where an 80 year old having cataract surgery will be able to regrow a brand new lens with all it's previous, youthful focusing ability? Doctors and scientists have raised several doubts:

• When Dr. Lin and his colleagues performed the "minimally invasive" technique required to leave behind enough stem cells to regrow a lens, they made only a small, 2 mm incision into the capsular bag.  In today's adult cataract surgery, a 6 mm incision into the bag is standard. Removing an adult cataract through such a small incision would be extremely challenging with today's technology, so we would need innovations to make this procedure possible in adults. 
• Could adult stem cells have the same capacity to regrow a lens as infant stem cells do?  Would you need to leave behind more of them to get the same result?  We just don't know what an elderly adult's stem cells would be able to accomplish yet.
• Will patients be willing to wait 3-8 months (or longer if adult stem cells work slower as some predict!) to be able to see again after cataract surgery? In today's world of IOL implantation, cataract patients see clearly the very next day.  Waiting for months at extremely high Rx ranges (without a natural lens, your Rx would hover in the +20.00  mark!) would probably be a dealbreaker for patients even considering this type of procedure.

You probably didn't see this one coming, but one of the biggest challenges new optometrists face is having an income for the first time. Living on loans for so many years of school, your first paycheck is an amazing luxury. And then every 2 weeks you get another one. But having an income can be a serious trap; we've all worked hard to get to this place where we finally can do things, buy things, travel, eat out, buy a new doctor appropriate wardrobe. With the luxury of having money for the first time comes a new problem -- you need to decide what to do with it. There is a strange paradox of having a great paycheck coming in (feeling you've made it!), but being deeply in debt from undergrad and professional school loans (nope, actually you are really, seriously broke still). Managing your money properly in those first few years after getting your first job can set the stage for your future financial success. Today's guest is Dr. Syed Hussain, the writer behind the informative and extremely readable financial strategies blog for professional students, The Broke Professional.  A 2009 graduate from the Pennsylvania College of Optometry at Salus University, Dr. Hussain has worked in nearly every type of modality of eyecare. He saw himself and fellow classmates struggle with financial decision making and planning after graduating, despite having good paychecks, and decided to do something about it!

Dr. Syed Hussain

Why did you decide on optometry? 
I come from a family of pharmacists which drove me to optometry since they warned me not to become a pharmacist.  All joking aside, I always wanted to work in the healthcare field and wanted a position that wasn't super stressful, has plenty of practice options and great income potential.  Optometry seemed like the best choice to me and still does.



You've worked in private and corporate settings.  What made you to decide corporate optometry was right for you?
I have been working full time in a corporate setting since 2010.  I enjoy corporate practice because I can still fully treat patients how I'd like and have free time outside of work to spend time with family and pursue my other passions (like blogging!).  

Now more than ever our patients are needing guidance for the right products for them -- what eye drops to use, what makeup can limit irritation, what cleanser can take it off without adding more chemicals to their irritated skin? We Love Eyes is a great product made by an OD who understands what patients truly need in skincare, and if you are an optometrist interested in carrying her product line in your office you can contact them to set up an account. For individual purchases you can buy We Love Eyes products directly from the website.

My Review



Both the We Love Eyes cleansing oil and the pump foam eyelid cleanser work incredibly well; with just a few swipes my makeup was entirely removed, and my skin felt hydrated and irritant free.  The cleansing oil especially left my eyelid area feeling extremely hyrdrated, and I could readily imagine my patients with chronic dry skin, rosacea, or eczema along their eyelids benefiting from regular use. And because this cleanser is so gentle, I had no irritation or discomfort cleaning right into my eyelash roots to remove mascara and eyeliner away from the waterline where our tear film glands (Meibomian glands) reside.




Let the picture do the talking.  I put 5 drops of the We Love Eyes Tea Tree Eyelid Makeup Remover Oil  on a cotton pad and gently swiped across my eyelid.  Makeup gone, no irritation, no burning, and the tea tree oil will fight inflammation and reduce skin bacteria counts the rest of the night!

Negotiation can be so intimidating for new doctors, so I was thrilled to get a chance to pick the brain of optometrist Mark Phebus, the expert behind 20/20 Consulting.  Wouldn't it be great if you had your own personal coach with years of negotiating experience to guide you through your contract and help find ways to maximize your offer? That's Mark.  He's a graduate of Indiana University School of Optometry with a residency in primary care and ocular disease and now practices in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Since he began practicing, he's worked in both private and corporate practice optometry, and learned firsthand the importance of negotiating his own contract in the trenches of these experiences.  He sat down with us to answer a few questions about how to make the most of your negotiation.

64.6% of all new graduates were female in 2014 which means now more than ever we need to make strides to close the gender pay gap in our profession.  photo is my 2011 graduating class from the Southern College of Optometry

• Experience:  Did you complete a residency? How long have you been working? Often times job postings are listed with new grads in mind so a doc bringing years of experience would be able to leverage that for a better initial offer.  If you are a new grad, there is still a chance you can advocate for yourself as bringing more experience that an average candidate despite your lack of prior work history or higher training.  Did you extern at a highly competitive or challenging environment?  Completing externships at VA hospitals or clinics offering specialization in pediatrics or brain trauma treatment can give you experiences that even older doctors can't match.  How many patients did you see during your externships?  Keep a log of the number of total patients you saw (I know it is tedious, but just keep a spreadsheet going that you update daily during your rotations).   You may surprise yourself (and your employer) by how many patients you have already cared for, despite your lack of traditional work experience as a new grad.
• Specialties: Does your employer have interest in bulding specialty contact lens services, pediatrics, vision therapy, or low vision? Even if you haven't actually had experience in these areas, just telling your employer that you are interested in developing that area of specialty to expand the scope of their practice can set you apart.  Of course, make sure you follow up by talking about what training you will do (educational events, online lectures, pursuing certification, etc) to make sure you can deliver on this promise for providing specialized care.
• Skills Outside of Patient Care: Think about work you did in optometry school or before that could be valuable to your employer in their office.  Did you perform research or publish journal articles? Did you work in an optical lab cutting lenses? You might not be logging optical hours grinding lenses for your new practice, but even if your employer doesn't have an in-house lab, your optical skill set gives your employer confidence that you will be a great resource working with the opticians in your workplace.  You can even offer to train new staff in their optical duties. 
• Languages: Being bilingual is a huge asset.  You can build up your employer's patient demographic in whatever language you speak.  
• Social Media: Maybe your employer doesn’t have a passable website, or isn't using social media to its fullest (or at all). You could employ your skill set towards creating a valuable digital footprint for the company.   These social media skills are increasingly recognized by employers because an ad for their office in the Yellow Pages just isn't going to cut it anymore. You'll be worth your weight in gold to many private practice ODs if you can come in and take over that side of the practice.
• Technology: Are you applying for a position where they have not yet changed over to electronic medical records?  The window is quickly closing on how long doctors have left to change over before penalties arise, and they need skilled, EMR ready doctors like yourself to get the system in place. As a new or recent grad. you have also just worked with the latest and greatest new technology in eyecare at your school. You were running all of your own OCTs and fundus autofluorescence cameras.  Not only are you now valuable to the doctors you work for because you can show them how to use new technology to its full capacity, but you can also help train their staff on the proper ways to run this equipment for quality scans.  

Want to add value to your employer's business?  Specialty contact lenses have a huge demand, and can quickly grow the practice you work at with referrals from other area doctors that don't provide such services. image via

1. They want to add monetary value to their practice by seeing more patients
2. They are looking to find a retirement  plan, and need to bring someone on to phase themselves out. 
3. They want both options 1 and 2 because retirement is at least five years away.

We've been fortunate in our industry to have several new multifocal contact lenses to launch in the past year that are offering significantly better optics for patients with higher reading needs.  Both the Clariti 1-Day Multifocal and the Acuvue 1 Day Moist Multifocal are fantastic lenses.  But we haven't had new innovations in a monthly multifocal contact lens material in quite some time.  Enter Bausch and Lomb's Ultra for Presbyopia. Built on the extremely comfortable Ultra monthly lens platform, the lens utilizes a 3-zone progressive multifocal design with a near center, gradually transitioning lens space to distance, reading, and intermediate zones.  The lens also has aspheric optics for enhanced distance vision and improved ability to compensate for low amounts of aberrations or astigmatism. On a personal note, many doctors note the steeper base curve of the Ultra lens as a potential issue for proper fit on patients with flatter corneas, but I have found that steeper base curve lenses can enhance visual acuity in multifocal lenses (the C-Vue Multifocal lens was almost always superior in the steeper base curve than in the flat). As long as the lens isn't fitting too tightly to be a health risk for the patient, the stepper base curve of Ultra may also be one of the advantages this lens has over it's competition for better visual performance.