What began as the Classic Collection of seven styles, has evolved into over 125 styles of sunglasses, all of which are polarized and protect from 100% of harmful UVA and UVB rays.

The original office is located in Lahaina, Maui, and still design and test all of the sunglasses there.

For those who appreciate the sun, Maui Jim provides more vibrant colors of the world while protecting your eyes from the harsh effects of glare and harmful rays.

Maui Jim can make your life brighter, so you see the colors of your world at their best and always feel confident in your style.

Maui Jim believes color and light are the key to human experience. Their sunglasses show you its full spectrum, so you can see the world like you’ve never seen. Maui Jim believe everyone should experience all 16,777,216 hues of beautiful color that surrounds us every day.

UV Protection

UV rays can lead to serious health issues including sunburn of the eyes, cataracts, macular degeneration and cancer. All Maui Jim lenses block 100% of all harmful UV rays, protecting your eyes from damage and long-term health risks. Sunglasses that do not provide UV protection can actually cause more damage because they shade the eye, allowing for more UV rays to hit the pupil

DARK ADAPTATION

Intense sunlight can hamper the eyes’ ability to adapt quickly to lower light levels. Think about when you’re outside in bright light and not wearing sunglasses, then go indoors where the light is much dimmer; you see spots for a while until your eyes adjust.

By shielding your eyes from intense sunlight with our lenses, your eyes have a chance to gain faster adaptations when going from one extreme light condition to the next.

SKIN CANCER

5% to 10% of skin cancer occurs around the eyes. Always wear quality, protective sunglasses when outdoors—even on overcast days.

Our sunglasses have earned the Skin Cancer Foundation Seal of Recommendation as an effective UV filter for the eyes and surrounding skin. The frames also play a role, so larger frames and wrap styles should be considered for outdoor activities.

BLUE LIGHT PROTECTION

High-Energy Visible Radiation (HEV), also known as blue light, has lower energy rays than UV. However, recent research suggests they can penetrate the eye, and this has been associated with AMD (age-related macular degeneration).

Our patented PolarizedPlus2® lens technology reduces HEV without removing the beautiful visible blues colours from the world around you.

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A Pentacam is a non-invasive and non-contact diagnostic instrument that provides a 3-dimensional image of the anterior portion of the eye. It works by illuminating a thin layer within the eye. The cells in the eye are not entirely transparent and scatter light and in doing so they create a sectional image that is then photographed. While swiveling around the eye, the camera device generates a series of radially orientated images of the interior eye chamber.

All of the images are put together to create a three-dimensional model of the entire anterior chamber and data regarding the elevation, curvature, pachymetry, depth of the anterior eye chamber and other important information in the well-known form of colour maps.

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Having type 1 or type 2 diabetes may put you at risk for a number of common diabetes-related eye problems. These include cataracts, glaucoma, macular oedema and diabetic retinopathy (damage to blood vessels that lead to the retina), which may lead to the retina becoming detached.

Causes

In most cases, diabetes affects the eyes because high blood sugar which can damage the tiny blood vessels that lead to your retina, causing them to be weakened or narrowed. This may lead to a number of complications, from blood getting into the vitreous (or gel-like area) of the eye, to the retina becoming detached.

Symptoms

At first, you may not experience any symptoms – the type of damage that is most commonly associated with diabetes happens gradually, and may not necessarily be noticed. Eventually, you may experience symptoms that vary depending on the eye issue you have, including:

• Eye flashes and floaters
• Blurred vision
• Dark spots
• Loss of vision

As these symptoms are often gradual and difficult to detect, regular eye examinations are advisable.

Treatment

There are a number of measures that you can take to prevent diabetes-associated eye problems. For example:

• Have regular eye examinations – visiting your eye care professional for regular check ups is the first step in supporting the health of your eyes
• Keep your blood glucose and blood pressure as normal as possible – high blood sugar and hypertension are high risk factors for damage to the tiny blood vessels in the eye, which is the starting point for more serious complications. Making sure your blood glucose and blood pressure are maintained at the right levels can help you stop problems before they start.

These symptoms can also be a sign of other eye conditions. If you have any of the symptoms, please check with your eye care practitioner.

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Developed originally by NASA, LLLT has proven effective in treating DED’s root cause: Meibomian Glands Dysfunction. LM® LLLT uses custom-made LED light to gently warm up the eyelids, causing the meibomian glands to unclog and release oils, providing immediate relief to the patient.

The treatment improves symptoms of the disease after only a few hours.

The Meibomian glands resume the production of lipids necessary to the eye’s functionality, managing Dry Eye Disease effectively. The treatment is not painful, it lasts only a few minutes and allows for an immediate return to normal activities. To manage Dry Eye Disease long term, just a few sessions (1 to 4, depending on severity) at different intervals (5 to 10 days) are needed, ultimately achieving an optimal result.

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At Total Optical, we have partnered with laboratories that provide lenses with superior features so that our patients may see as clearly as possible. For example, Mau Jim have a suite of lenses that come with high quality features such as:

High contrast: When you choose Maui Jim eyeglasses with proprietary High Contrast Lens, you’ll see the difference right away — day and night. More contrast makes it easier to read fine print and makes colors appear more vivid and crisp. Driving at night is safer and more comfortable, thanks to less glare from headlights and streetlights.

Reduce blue light: Every pair of Maui Jim polarized sunglasses and Maui Blue Light Protect clear lenses filter out high energy visible (HEV) light. Better known as bothersome blue light — and produced by the digital screens many of us stare at for hours every day — HEV causes eyestrain, headaches, tired eyes and blurred vision. Put a stop to all that with all-day blue light protection.

Say no to UV: All Maui Jim lenses — clear lenses and polarized sun lenses — deliver 100% UV protection. Why is that important? UV rays can cause sunburn of the eyes (ouch!), cataracts, macular degeneration and cancer.

Prevent skin cancer: Did you know 5-10% of skin cancer occurs around the eyes? Maui Jim polarized sunglasses hold the Skin Cancer Foundation Seal of Recommendation. Wear them every day — even on overcast days — to protect the eyes and surrounding skin.

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THERE ARE LOTS OF ACTIVITIES THAT CAN HELP YOUR CHILD TO IMPROVE THEIR VISUAL SEQUENTIAL MEMORY SKILLS:

-Play word games such as hangman, word searches or crossword puzzles.

-Practise memorising sequences of objects, shapes or colours. For those not yet familiar with letters or words, visual sequential memory can be developed by stringing bead patterns on necklaces, memorising sequences of shapes or by remembering a series of objects (e.g., a shopping list).

-Talk about your day with your child and then recall each other’s events.

-Practise finding patterns in letters, numbers, shapes or objects within a sequence to help remember it. It may help to look for patterns or repeated parts. This streamlines the memory process by reducing the number of units the child needs to remember.

-Use prepared flash cards or pieces of paper with pictures of familiar objects pasted on them, one object per page. Begin by showing your child three flash cards sequentially, allowing one second for each card, then ask the child to name the items in the order they were seen. As sequential memory improves, increase the number of cards for each round.

-Use visual images to help your child remember information in a particular order. A useful activity for children is to place a number of images (three or four to begin with) that relate to a specific subject and ask them to tell a story about the images, linking one to the next but using the correct name for each image. Remove the cards and take a short break, then ask your child to retell the story. Increase the number of images displayed as your child becomes more confident.

-To build auditory sequential memory, play a game of repeat after me. For young children, use one syllable words they easily recognise, beginning with two words, such as “cat” and “mouse”. Ask the child to repeat the words in the same order that you said them. Increase the number of words repeated one at a time. How many words can you remember correctly?

-You can use clapping or stomping patterns with older children. Clap a specific sequence, such as “clap-clap-pause-clap,” and ask the child to repeat it. As the child masters sequences of four beats, increase to longer sequences.

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Visual perceptual skills are the brain’s ability to make sense of what the eyes see. It is important for everyday activities such as dressing, eating, writing, and playing. There are seven different categories of visual perceptual skills. We will review each of these categories over the next few days, as well as some visual perceptual activities that are helpful for children.

1. Visual Spatial Relations

Visual spatial relations is the ability to determine one form or part of a form that is turned in a different direction than the others. This is why some of our children have such a hard time recognizing b and d or p and q. They don’t understand that just because it’s rotated, it’s a different letter. They also have difficulty differentiating between in and out, over and under, and left and right, because those are spatial skills concepts.

Activities to Improve Visual Spatial Relations

Some gross motor activities to help practice visual spatial skills include:

-Crawling under and through objects without touching them i.e. table, chairs, ropes

-Doing gross motor activities with eyes closed

-Completing obstacle courses

-Riding a bicycle around an obstacle course

-Climbing activities

-Locating objects in relation to oneself i.e. in front of, behind, to the left of etc.

-Imitating body positions

-Locating objects from verbal or written instructions

Some fine motor activities to help practice visual spatial skills include:

-Copying shapes from one piece of paper to another in the same position

-Copying 3D block and lego designs

-Puzzles

-Sorting shapes, pictures, symbols, sequences and words into same or different groups.

-Activities that require the child to determine the object that is different or going the wrong way in a group of objects.

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The lipid (oil) layer is produced by glands called the meibomian glands. They are the white squiggly lines imaged with infrared in the lower eyelid above.

Meibomian Gland Dysfunction (MGD) causes the oil in the glands to become thick and pasty (like butter) and block the glands’ opening onto the eyelid. Over time this can lead to gland atrophy. MGD treatments aim to improve the quality of the oil, returning it to a smooth and runny consistency (think vegetable oil vs butter).

Eye drops:

Artificial tears are not a treatment in themselves as they do not fix the cause of the disease. However, artificial tears are important in the short-term to provide symptom relief, and help make your eyes feel more comfortable and reduce redness and inflammation.

Nutrition:

Studies have found that increasing the Omega-3 in your diet helps to improve the consistency of the oil produced by the glands. Omega-3 is a naturally occurring fat found in many foods, particularly in oily fish varieties, including salmon and tuna. Your optometrist may recommend a small tin of tuna a day, or alternatively esterified Omega-3 capsules taken daily to ensure you meet the required recommended daily dose for your dry eye therapy.

Hot compresses and lid massage:

As mentioned above, MGD causes the oil in the glands to become thick and pasty like butter. Hot compresses, using specialized heatpads from your optometrist applied to the eyelids help to ‘melt’ the oil in the glands. The now smooth and runny oil can be expressed from the glands by gently massaging the eyelids. Your optometrist would
demonstrate and explain this procedure. Studies have shown that a strict three-month regimen of daily hot compresses not only provides immediate comfort, but can also lead to long- lasting improvement of your condition.

Antimicrobial lid cleansing:

MGD is often associated with blepharitis, a chronic infection of the eyelids that causes microscopic dandruff-like material to build up at the base of the eyelashes. This material then blocks the glands and causes MGD to worsen. If you have blepharitis, your optometrist will recommend regular lid cleansing to help reduce the bacteria and material build-up. The latest clinical evidence recommends lid-cleansing products containing manuka honey or tea tree oil. Your optometrist will advise you of the best local products available to you.

For patients with more severe MGD where conventional therapies are failing to provide enough relief, our clinic has the most cutting-edge technologies available on the world market to aid in your treatment.

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Myopia is rapidly becoming a serious public health concern worldwide, yet new research¹ shows that 65% of Australian parents (with children 0-17 years old) and 69% of New Zealand parents do not know what myopia is, and only 12% of parents in both countries recognise the health risk that their children might develop later in life from child myopia.

This is of significant concern given that high myopia (a refractive error of at least -5.00D in either eye) is also associated with comorbidities including retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataracts and myopic maculopathy.² The risk of developing any of these conditions increases along with any increase in myopia.

It has been established that managing myopia in its early stages can slow its progression. Reducing the potential risk of developing high myopia and its associated conditions later in life.³  This not only involves correcting the blurred distance vision associated with myopia but also employing treatments and strategies proven to slow the progression of myopia in children. 

What Can You Do?

• Monitor eyesight and eye health with regular eye exams by a qualified optometrist
• Spend more time outdoors. A recent study showed children who spent an additional 40 minutes outdoors each day were at less risk of developing myopia
• Act early and speak with an optometrist as soon as symptoms emerge

Why Management is Important

It is not only eyesight that suffers.  It is important to remember that the impact of myopia is personal and can affect an individual’s quality of life. Higher degrees of myopia can not only be visually disabling, but also have financial, social and personal consequences.¹¹

If a child has been diagnosed with myopia, it is vital that parents not only discuss how to correct their short-sightedness with their Optometrist, but also what management options are available to slow progression of myopia, and which will best suit the child and their lifestyle.

Slowing the progression of myopia is important to reduce the risk of developing high myopia and its associated conditions later.⁴ This is of significant concern given that high myopia is also associated with comorbidities including retinal detachment, glaucoma, cataracts and myopic macular degeneration. The risk of developing any of these conditions increases along with any increase in myopia.⁵

At Total Optical, we prescribe special contact lenses and spectacle lenses that may help to slow the progression of myopia.

1.  MiSight 1 day – the first soft contact lenses proven to slow the progression of short-sightedness (myopia) in children.
2. MiyoSmart – MiyoSmart is an innovative spectacle lens for myopia control developed by Hoya together with its research partner, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Based on a two-year clinical trial results, MiyoSmart is proven to curb myopia progression by up to 59% and halt myopia progression by 21.5% with its award winning D.I.M.S technology.

¹ CooperVision Australia and New Zealand: Child Myopia in Australia and New Zealand – Consumer Perceptions Surveys.  Conducted by YouGovGalaxy August/September 2018, between Wednesday 29 August and Monday 3 September 2018. The sample comprised 1,003 Australian parents and 500 New Zealand parents of children at home aged 0-18 years.
² Holden B; Fricke T; Wilson D; Jong M; Naidoo K; Sankaridurg P; Wong T; Naduvilath T; Resnikoff S. Global prevalence of myopia and high myopia and temporal trends from 2000 through 2050. American Academy of Ophthalmology 2016
³ Sankaridurg PR, Holden BA. Practical applications to modify and control the development of ametropia. Eye 2014; 28:134-141 ⁴ Sankaridurg PR, Holdent BA. Practical applications to modify and control the development of ametropia. Eye 2014; 28: 134-141
⁵Holden B; Fricke T; Wilson D; Jong M; Naidoo K; Sankaridurg P; Wong T; Naduvilath T; Resnikoff S. Global prevalence of myopia and high myopia and temporal trends from 2000 through 2050. American Academy of Ophthalmology 2016 

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