It’s June and summer vacation is around the corner. Have you downloaded and read The Vision Council’s latest guide, “UV Got to Have Shades”? It includes what you need  to know about UV, especially for summer. It says, “The sun emits three kinds of ultraviolet radiation: UVA, UVB and UVC. While UVC is absorbed by the Earth’s atmosphere, UVB radiation is only partially blocked and can burn the skin and eyes. UVA rays are not filtered and cause the most damage to vision health.” A few more facts: Americans are most likely to wear sunglasses while driving and in the mountains. Those are two ideas for questions that make sense to ask every next patient. Visit visioncouncil.org and download it to be best prepared for National Sunglasses Day on June 27.

June is also Child Vision Awareness Month. Reach out to get children’s eyes examined. Use it as a message in a Facebook post and as the subject of an e-newsletter to every patient. They have kids or know someone that does. And since kids spend more time outdoors during summer, protection from the sun is important. From the guide: “Only 7.4 percent of American adults report that their child(ren) ‘always’ wears sunglasses.”

Summer is also a time to relax with your favorite CE and get those credits out of the way. Visit Pro to Pro, our new education center at 2020mag.com/ce. With over 70 courses to choose from, many of them with a grant that pays your exam fees, it makes summer the best time to complete your CE requirements.

Summer means a time for exploration and who knows, you might uncover a wooly mammoth in a dig. Our Preston Fassel went on an optical dig and tells us about “specialty fitting the wooly mastoid” and other needs in our CE this month titled “Specialty Fitting Patients With Differences, Mastoid and Nose.” This CE helps us understand the purpose of the mastoid process and how to properly compensate for it when adjusting glasses. Specialty fitting also means understanding the special needs of a Down syndrome patient with better frame choices and adjustments as well as being able to comfortably adjust a pair of frames for a patient who has had his or her nose broken.

Any comments or questions, please let me know.

• Mark Mattison-Shupnick, ABOM
[email protected]
2020mag.com/education