Routine eye exams are important, regardless of your age or physical
health. During a complete eye exam, our eye doctor will not only determine
your prescription for eyeglasses or contact lenses, but will also check your eyes for common eye
diseases, assess how your eyes work together as a team and evaluate your eyes as an indicator of
your overall health.
These tests range from simple ones, like having
you read an eye chart, to complex tests, such as using digital retinal imaging technology to
evaluate retinal health.
Eye care experts recommend you have a routine eye exams to assess
your risk for
potentially damaging eye conditions, as well as to keep on top of any changes in vision you may
be
experiencing.
How Often Do
You Need to See the
Optometrist, Based on Age?
The Canadian Association of Optometrists recommends an annual eye exam for any patient who
wears eyeglasses or contacts. If
you don’t normally need vision correction, you still need an eye exam every year. Doctors
often recommend more frequent eye examinations for people with diabetes, high blood pressure
and other disorders, because many diseases can have an impact on vision and eye health.
Since the risk of eye disease continues to increase with advancing age, everyone over the age
of 60 should be examined annually.
If you are over 40, it’s a good idea to have your eyes examined every one to two
years to
check for common age-related eye problems such as presbyopia, cataracts and macular
degeneration.
Children's Eye Care
Pediatric Eye
Exams In Brampton
It is very important to take your children for eye exams on a regular basis. Pediatric eye care
incorporates special techniques and technology to ensure accurate testing and help us
accommodate young children.
A baby’s visual system develops gradually over the
first few months of life. They have to learn to focus and move their eyes, and
use them together as a team. The brain also needs to learn how to process the
visual information from the eyes to understand and interact with the world. The
foundation for motor development such as crawling, walking and hand-eye
coordination also comes with the development of eyesight.
You can ensure that your baby is reaching milestones
by keeping an eye on what is happening with your infant’s development and by
ensuring that you schedule a comprehensive infant eye examination at 6 months.
At this exam, the eye doctor will check that the child is seeing properly and
developing on track, and look for conditions that could impair eye health or
vision (such as strabismus (misalignment or crossing of the eyes),
farsightedness, nearsightedness, or astigmatism).
Since there is a higher risk of eye and vision
problems if your infant was born premature or is showing signs of developmental
delay, your eye doctor may require more frequent visits to keep watch on his or
her progress.
Eye Check-Up in Preschool Children: 2-5
The toddler and preschool age is a period when
children experience drastic growth in intellectual and motor skills. During this
time they will develop the fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and
perceptual abilities that will prepare them to read and write, play sports and
participate in creative activities such as drawing, sculpting or building. This
is all dependent upon good vision and visual processes.
This is the age when parents should be on the lookout
for signs of lazy eye
(amblyopia) – when one eye doesn’t see clearly, or crossed eyes (strabismus) –
when one or both eyes turn inward or outward. The earlier these conditions are
treated, the higher the success rate.
Parents should also be aware of any developmental
delays having to do with
object, number or letter recognition, color recognition or coordination, as the
root of such problems can often be visual. If you notice your child squinting,
rubbing his eyes frequently, sitting very close to the tv or reading material,
or generally avoiding activities such as puzzles or colouring, it is worth a
trip to the eye doctor.
Eye Exams in School-Aged Kids: Ages 6-19
Undetected or uncorrected vision problems can cause
children and teens to suffer academically, socially, athletically and
personally. If your child is having trouble in school or after school activities
there could be an underlying vision problem. Proper learning, motor development,
reading, and many other skills are dependent upon not only good vision, but also
the ability of your eyes to work together. Children that have problems with
focusing, reading, teaming their eyes or hand-eye coordination will often
experience frustration, and may exhibit behavioural problems as well. Often they
don’t know that the vision they are experiencing is abnormal, so they aren’t
able to express that they need help.
Signs of vision
problems in older children also include :
Short attention span
Headaches
Frequent blinking
Avoiding reading
Tilting the head to one side
Losing their place often while reading
Double vision
Poor reading comprehension
The Eye Exam With Our Optometrist In Brampton, Ontario
In addition to basic visual acuity (distance
and near vision, or refractive errors) an eye exam may assess the following
visual skills that are required for learning and mobility:
Binocular vision: how the eyes work together as a team
Focusing
Peripheral Vision
Colour Vision
Hand-eye Coordination
Tracking
The doctor will also examine the area around the eye and inside the eye to check
for any eye diseases or health conditions. You should tell the doctor any
relevant personal history of your child such as a premature birth, developmental
delays, family history of eye problems, eye injuries or medications the child is
taking. This would also be the time to address any concerns or issues your child
has that might indicate a vision problem.
Children’s Eyeglasses, Contacts & Other Treatments
If the eye doctor does determine that your child has a vision
problem, they may discuss a number of therapeutic options such as eyeglasses or contact lenses,
an eye patch, vision therapy or Ortho-k, depending on the condition and the doctor’s specialty.
Since some conditions are much easier to treat when they are caught early while the eyes are
still developing, it is important to diagnose any eye and vision issues as early as
possible.
Following the guidelines for children’s eye exams and staying alert
to any signs of vision problems can help your child to reach his or her potential.
Eye Exams
Technology –
Advanced Eye Care
We use the most up-to-date technology to ensure the best eye care possible. Here are some of the
different types of tests and equipment you may experience on a visit to Thompson Family
Optometry.
Digital Retinal Imaging & OCT Scans
We use cutting-edge digital imaging technology to assess your eyes.
Many eye diseases, if detected at an early stage, can be treated successfully without total loss
of vision. Your retinal Images will be stored electronically. This gives the eye doctor a
permanent record of the condition and state of your retina.
This is very important in assisting your Optometrist to detect and
measure any changes to your retina each time you get your eyes examined, as many eye conditions,
such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration are diagnosed by detecting
changes over time.
Digital Retinal Imaging allows your eye doctor to evaluate
the
health of the back of your eye, the retina. It is critical to confirm the health
of
the retina, optic nerve and other retinal structures. The digital camera snaps a
high-resolution digital picture of your retina. This picture clearly shows the
health of your eyes and is used as a baseline to track any changes in your eyes
in
future eye examinations.
An Optical Coherence Tomography scan (commonly referred to as an
OCT scan) is the latest advancement in imaging technology. Similar to
ultrasound,
this diagnostic technique employs light rather than sound waves to achieve
higher
resolution pictures of the structural layers of the back of the eye.
A scanning laser used to analyze the layers of the retina and optic nerve for any
signs of eye disease, similar to an CT scan of the eye. It works using light
without radiation, and is essential for early diagnosis of glaucoma, macular
degeneration and diabetic retinal disease.
With an OCT scan, doctors are provided with color-coded, cross-sectional images
of the retina. These detailed images are revolutionizing early detection and
treatment of eye conditions such as wet and dry age-related macular
degeneration, glaucoma, retinal detachment and diabetic retinopathy.
An OCT scan is a noninvasive, painless test. It is performed in about 10 minutes
right in our office. Feel free to contact our eye care center in Brampton to
inquire about an OCT at your next appointment.
Visual Field Testing
A visual field test measures the range of your peripheral or “side”
vision to assess whether you have any blind spots (scotomas), peripheral vision loss or visual
field abnormalities. It is a straightforward and painless test that does not involve eye drops
but does involve the patient’s ability to understand and follow instructions.
An initial visual field screening can be carried out by the
optometrist by asking you to keep your gaze fixed on a central object, covering one eye and
having you describe what you see at the periphery of your field of view. For a more
comprehensive assessment, special equipment might be used to test your visual field. In one such
test, you place your chin on a chin rest and look ahead. Lights are flashed on, and you have to
press a button whenever you see the light. The lights are bright or dim at different stages of
the test. Some of the flashes are purely to check you are concentrating. Each eye is tested
separately and the entire test takes 15-45 minutes. These machines can create a computerized map
out your visual field to identify if and where you have any deficiencies.
Optical Biometry
The axial length, measured in millimeters, is the distance from the
anterior surface of the cornea to the back surface of the retina. Growth curves provide
predictive value to anticipate if a child is likely to increase in myopia and whether
intervention is recommended.
Meibography
Meibography is a method to image meibomian glands that reside in the
upper and lower eyelid. Through this technology living glands can be visualized to help diagnose
root causes of dry eye syndrome.
Corneal Topography
Corneal topography is a special photography technique that maps the surface of the clear, front window of the eye (the cornea). It works much like a 3D (three-dimensional) map of the world, that helps identify features like mountains and valleys. But with a topography scan, a doctor can find distortions in the curvature of the cornea, which is normally smooth. It also helps doctors monitor eye disease and plan for surgery.
We now offer online booking and ordering for contact lenses!
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The users of this Website agree to comply with the terms set out below.
TERMS OF USE
Thompson Family Optometry owns and operates a Website at drrickthompson.ca (hereinafter referred to as the “site” or
“Website”). Thompson Family Optometry® trademark except as otherwise noted on the site, which is accessible
to all users (hereinafter referred to as the “user” or “users”). Refrain from using this Website unless you
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RISKS ASSOCIATED WITH INFORMATION
Information on this Website is intended for informational purposes only and has no contractual value.
Thompson Family Optometry reserves the right to modify the content of this site. At any time, without prior notice.
Thompson Family Optometry assumes no liability for errors or omissions in the content of this Website or for
information reliability or completeness of said information.
Information published on this Website is based on marketing, statistical or commercial services or other sources
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Thompson Family Optometry. We do not assume any liability for the accuracy or completeness of said information and in
no circumstance should this information be regarded as such. Opinions and information as presented on this site
reflect our position as of the date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
UPDATING OF THE WEBSITE UNDER THE RESPONSIBILITY OF Thompson Family Optometry
Thompson Family Optometry, its employees and directors will not be liable for damages incurred as a result of the
information published on this site, for the views and advice published, expressed or implied regardless of its
nature.
Thompson Family Optometry expressly refuses any and all responsibility for the manner in which the user of the site may
use the information contained, in any decisions that may be made and in the actions that may or may not be taken
based on said information.
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Presentations made and contained on this site are the intellectual property of Thompson Family Optometry. Reproduction
in whole or in part of this site on any other medium in prohibited without the express permission of
Thompson Family Optometry.
User may solely use the information contained on this site for personal use. Reproduction in whole or in part of
said information on paper may only be performed for personal use. Said information is not to be copied,
distributed or transmitted to third parties nor may it be inserted in a document or other medium.
HYPERTEXT LINKS
The links to external Websites and their content shall not be prejudged and Thompson Family Optometry will in no way be
held responsible for any direct or indirect prejudice that may result from gaining access to and usage of said
sites.
CONFIDENTIALITY
Thompson Family Optometry draws the attention of the user to the fact that all communication transmitted through this
Website remains in the public domain and not the private domain. Thompson Family Optometry cannot accept responsibility for the
security of the transmission of information.
The confidentiality and integrity of the information circulating over the internet cannot be ensured.
Thompson Family Optometry cannot accept responsibility in the case that data contained on this site is intercepted.
Thompson Family Optometry site uses cookies. These cookies are small text files saved on the hard disk of a user's
computer. These files are completely harmless and cannot contain viruses. These cookies are used to analyze
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number of visitors, path taken to access the site and length of each visit are measured. The cookies cannot, in
any way, identify the user. All data is completely anonymous and compiled solely for the purpose of improving
the site and tailoring the content to the needs of its visitors.
The person responsible for the protection of personal information is the owner of : Thompson Family Optometry
VIRUSES AND TECHNICAL GLITCHES
Thompson Family Optometry makes no representations that the content of this site is free of infections, viruses, worms,
Trojan horses and/or other codes with contaminating or destructive properties. It is the user's responsibility
to take protective measures.
Thompson Family Optometry DECLINES ALL RESPONSIBILITY IN THE EVENT OF ANY INTERRUPTION OR NON-AVAILABILITY OF THE
SERVICE
Under no circumstances shall Thompson Family Optometry be held responsible for transmission errors of any sort, such as
loss of or damage to data, or changes of any type whatsoever, including direct or indirect damage resulting from
the use of the services provided on this site.
JURISDICTION
This Agreement shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the province of Ontario.
Any dispute arising of this Agreement shall be brought before the court in the judicial district of
Thompson Family Optometry's head office. Address: 470 Chrysler Drive - Units 3 & 4
Brampton, ON
L6S 0C1; Tel: 905 793-2020.
PUBLISHING FIRM
Thompson Family Optometry
470 Chrysler Drive - Units 3 & 4
Brampton, ON
L6S 0C1 Tel: 905 793-2020
Acceptance of the Privacy Policy
Thank you for visiting drrickthompson.ca (the “Website”), provided to you by Thompson Family Optometry (“We”). We
respect the privacy of every individual who visits the Website and are sensitive to privacy
issues on the Internet. We believe it is important that you know how we deal with information
received about you.
This privacy policy (the “Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect
the personal information of our customers and Website users ("you"), describes the types of
information we may collect from you or that you may provide to us, and our practices for
collecting, using, maintaining, protecting, and disclosing that information. The Website is for
general audiences and is not specifically targeted to or intended for use by children.
We will only use your personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy unless
otherwise required by applicable law. We take steps to ensure that the personal information that
we collect about you is adequate, relevant, not excessive, and used for limited purposes.
Privacy laws in Canada generally define "Personal Information" as any information about an
identifiable individual, which includes information that can be used on its own or with other
information to identify, contact, or locate a single person.
By accessing or using the Website, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy
Policy, and you are consenting to our processing of your information as set out in this Privacy
Policy. We may modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time; if we change this Privacy
Policy in a manner that materially impacts your privacy rights, we will provide a notice to you.
Your continued use of the Website or our services after any modification to this Privacy Policy
will constitute your acceptance of such modification. However, when required by law, we will
confirm your consent to the revised Privacy Policy terms. This Privacy Policy is incorporated
into and considered a part of the Website Terms and Conditions of Use, located here
What information we collect
We collect and use several types of information from and about you, including:
Personal Information, that we can reasonably use to directly or indirectly
identify you, such as your full name, email address, telephone number and any other
identifier we may use to contact you online or offline.
Non-personal information is information that does not directly or
indirectly reveal your identity or directly relate to an identified individual, such as
demographic information, or statistical or aggregated information. Statistical or aggregated
data does not directly identify a specific person, but we may derive non-personal
statistical or aggregated data from Personal Information. For example, we may aggregate
Personal Information to calculate the percentage of users accessing a specific Website
feature.
How we collect the information
Information You Provide to Us
The information we collect directly from you may include:
Communicating with us: When you contact us about a customer service issue,
Vision Entrepreneur services or to make other inquiries, we collect the content of those
communications, as well as your full name, clinic name, email, phone number, city, province,
and any additional information that allows us to answer your request.
Information We Collect While You Interact With Us Through Cookies and Other Automatic Data
Collection Technologies
We use your information, including your Personal Information, to manage our business and to
maintain and develop commercial relationships with you. We will collect, use, and disclose such
information only to the extent that is necessary for those purposes.
We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal
Information:
To provide you with information, products, or services that you request from us.
To fulfill the purposes for which you provided the information or that were described when
it was collected, or any other purpose for which you provide it.
To improve the Website, products or services, marketing, or customer relationships and
experiences.
To allow you to participate in interactive features, social media, or similar features on
the Website.
To measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you and others,
and to deliver relevant advertising to you.
In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
For any other purpose with your consent.
How we share your information
We will not rent or sell your information to third parties without your consent. We only share
your data as specifically provided in this Privacy Policy.
Other Disclosures
In addition to any disclosure you may have consented to or permitted under the terms of this
Privacy Policy, we may transfer your data, including Personal Information to third parties in
the following limited circumstances:
information you expressly consent to be shared;
when relating to anonymized information (individuals cannot be identified by it);
when you decide to make the information indexable by search engines, to share or to
distribute the information to people or otherwise to make it available to the public;
to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request
within or outside your country of residence when we have a good faith belief that the law
requires it;
to enforce this Privacy Policy, the Terms, or an agreement, including investigation of
potential violations thereof;
to detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues, or protect the
operations or you;
to protect our rights, property or safety as well as yours, the public, or others;
in connection with an acquisition, merger, change in control, debt financing,
reorganization, sales of assets, bankruptcy or other change of our corporate structure or
status; or
as necessary in connection with the performance of requested services or solutions, or as
otherwise appropriate in connection with a legitimate need.
How we store and secure your information
Information Security
We are committed to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, availability and privacy of your Personal Information. We have put appropriate physical, technological and procedural security measures in place designed to help prevent your Personal Information from being lost, used, modified or accessed in an unauthorized way, or improperly disclosed. Examples of such measures include restricted access to offices, training of personnel, using passwords and well-defined internal policies and practices. We also use encryption technology and Secure Socket Layers ("SSL") in all areas of the Website where your personal account information is required.
In addition, we limit access to your Personal Information to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need-to-know. They will be required to process your Personal Information only on our instructions and they are subject to an obligation of confidentiality. Our service providers are required to maintain adequate security protections in place designed to help safeguard your Personal Information and are not permitted to use it for any purpose other than fulfilling services to us.
If you have any questions about securing your personal data, please contact us in accordance with the “How to Contact Us” section below.
Information Retention
We will retain your Personal Information for as long as it is needed:
to provide the products and services that you have requested;
to communicate with you about a purchase or a request you have made to us;
to manage your choices and rights you have exercised pursuant to this Privacy Policy;
to comply with our legal and regulatory obligations and to demonstrate compliance,
to resolve disputes and to enforce our rights and agreements.
We may retain non-personal information that has been sufficiently aggregated or anonymized for a longer period.
Once the retention period is over, we will dispose of your Personal Information as provided for in our internal data retention and disposal policy.
Where We Store Information
We use facilities operated by "Amazon Web Services" and located in Canada as our information storage and processing infrastructure. Our service providers can also, from time to time, store your Personal Information in accordance with purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy.
How to contact us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you can contact us at 905 793-2020.
Cookie Policy – drrickthompson.ca
This Cookie Policy explains what cookies are and how we use them. You should read this Policy to
understand what type of cookies we use, the information we collect from the cookies, and how
that
information is managed. For further information on how we handle, store and keep your personal
data
secure, see our Term of use.
What are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files which are stored on the browser or hard drive of your computer or
mobile
device when you visit a webpage or application. A “session cookie” stores temporary information
that
is deleted when you close your web browser or turn off your computer or device. A “persistent
cookie” enables the site to recognize when you return to it and remains stored on your computer
until you delete it. Cookies work to make your experience browsing our site as smooth as
possible by
remembering your preferences the next time you visit the site.
What types of cookies do we use?
There are four variety of cookies which operate on our website:
Essential cookies allow you to be able to experience the full functionality
of
our site. For example, these cookies allow you to change your preferred language and enable
the
website to remember it. Without these cookies, some parts of our site may not work as they
should.
Performance cookies tell us how you use our site and help us to improve it.
For
example, these cookies count the number of visitors to our website and see how visitors move
around when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our site works, for example,
by
ensuring that users find what they are looking for easily. The information collected by
these
cookies is anonymous.
Google Analytics are performance cookies used to track visits to
our
website and user behaviour on site. The data collected is anonymous and is used for
benchmarking purposes to monitor the performance of our site and to measure user
engagement on our site.
Social media cookies from social media sites such as
Facebook, Instagram, and
Pinterest
are used to enable social media buttons on our site to work. Social media buttons
allow
you to share content and interact with your social network. These social media
platform
may set their own cookies on your device. We do not control the settings of these
cookies so we suggest you check the social media website for more information about
their cookies and how to manage them. Our website will not collect or store any
personally identifiable information from the user. To find out how you can opt out
of
accepting these cookies, please visit the cookie policy and privacy policies of the
social media site.
Customizer cookies allow our site to remember your preferences, helping to
customize your experience on our site.
Our customizer cookie, which helps us to manage the technology and cookies which are
used across our site.
Targeting/advertising cookies are set by third party advertising partners
through our digital touchpoints to build profiles based on your interests. These cookies
enable
us to send you relevant content and advertising based on your preferences and track the
effectiveness of our ad campaigns.
Below are several advertising and targeting cookies that are used to identify
different
browsers and devices. They collect data anonymously for the purposes of ad
selection,
reporting, behavioural targeting, and cross-device advertising (i.e. associating
multiple devices together). In some instances, we may provide a hashed version of
your
email address or other information to the platform provider for such proposes. More
information can be found at the following links.
How do you change cookie preferences or block cookies?
Within your browser, you can choose whether you wish to accept cookies or not. Different browsers
make different controls available to you. Generally, your browser will offer you the choice to
accept, refuse or delete cookies at all times, or those from providers that website owners use
i.e.
third party cookies, or those from specific websites. Each browser’s website should contain
instructions on how you can do this.
If you block cookies on our website, you may be unable to access certain areas of our website and
certain functions and pages will not work in the usual way.
Changes to the Cookie Policy
We may update this Policy from time to time. If we make significant changes we will let you know
but
please regularly check this Policy to ensure you are aware of the most updated version.
This Cookie Policy was last updated on September 25, 2023.
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