Videos

A helpful step-by-step guide on how to take photos of your eye, should you need them examined remotely by your optometrist. This guide shows you how to take the six images your optometrist will require. Find out how to access emergency eye care.

How to spot if your child could have vision problems and why glasses are no longer the best option for short-sighted children. Thankfully, there is something you can do to slow the progression of short-sightedness, reducing the chance of your child developing serious eye conditions in later life. Here award-winning optometrist, Ian Cameron, explains.

Welcome to the Tear Clinic. We hope you are already enjoying the benefits of the treatment and advice you have received to date. Here we have uploaded a number of videos which we hope will be beneficial. Using an eye bag Inserting eye drops

A helpful guide from Ian Cameron on to how to rinse your eye safety and effectively at home.

Are you looking after your eyes when working from home? Here Ian Cameron provides tips on how to set up your home office and how to avoid digital eyestrain, as well as numerous other handy tips.

If your child is short-sighted (myopic), you may be aware of the benefits of myopia management, slowing the progression of the short-sightenedness. Until now, we have had great success managing myopia through the use of specialist contact lenses. However contact lenses aren't for every child and we're delighted that these new glasses offer the same benefits. Here Gillian and Ian explain more.

Here Ian Cameron, of Cameron Optometry in Edinburgh, shares his tips on how to help your child (and you!) avoid digital eyestrain. Following these suggestions may also help your child avoid developing myopia (short-sightedness). Parents regularly debate how much screen time their children should have for numerous reasons, one of which may be their concern for their vision. With a dramatic rise in children developing myopia (shortsightedness), some point at the rise in the amount of time children spend in front of screens, usually iPads or phones, be it at school, doing homework, communicating with friends or playing games. Add in watching TV, and most children are spending hours a day looking at a screen. Tips for parents: Blue light that is emitted from screens can be very tiring for children’s eyes, causing headaches, blurred vision and disturbed sleep patterns. Purchase your child some blue light filtering spectacles or tinted lenses, which will filter out the harmful effects of blue light. Holding phones, tablets, games consoles and kindles close to the face, requires children to use their eyes’ zoom function causing eyes to tire. Increase text size and encourage them to hold the appliance at arms length, will help. Encourage them to take a 20-20-20 break: every 20 minutes, take a 20-second break, looking at something 20 feet away. A rule we should all stick to. Although genetics play a significant role in whether a child will be short-sighted, other risk factors include how much time they spend indoors and how much time they spend focussing on near tasks. So spending more time outside may help. Ensure children have their eyes examined annually but immediately if they have any issues with their vision. An eye examination will investigate any prescription, or muscle weakness that may be making close vision tasks difficult. Please see our leaflets on blue light and digital eyestrain for further information or speak to your optometrist if you have any concerns. Visit cameronoptom.com/myopia for further information on short-sightedness in children.

We are always keen to support the NHS and alleviate the pressure on them. With that in mind, we would encourage you to make us your first port of call regarding any eye care issues. Please note, we can only provide emergency eye care to current patients of Cameron Optometry.   Emergency eye care within practice opening hours: If your emergency occurs during normal working hours (Monday – Friday 9am-4.30pm), then please call us on 0131 225 2235. One of our team will take your details and ask you a series of relevant questions. You will then be directed to an optometrist who will be able to advise. A phone call is preferable to an email to ensure that it comes to the immediate attention of our team. It may well be that you don’t need to come into the practice, and we are able to advise on the phone/video call. If we need to see you, we will offer you an appointment as soon as possible. Emergency care for our patients out with opening hours: If your eye care emergency happens out with practice opening hours, then please call the practice on 0131 225 2235 where you will hear a voice message with mobile phone numbers for our optometrists who will endeavour to take your call. We are able to triage your emergency by phone, using video call where required, and advise whether you need to be seen or provide you with advice and treatment by phone. Individuals who have not visited Cameron Optometry before: Unfortunately at this stage we are unable to provide advice to patients who are not currently members of the practice. Hopefully your own optometrist will be able to provide an emergency service. Otherwise, you will find details of other ways to deal with your issue below. Emergency eye care at a local hospital: We are always keen to ensure we are the first port of call for eye care emergencies to alleviate pressure on the NHS, and because we have the expertise and equipment to diagnose and treat most emergencies. In the very unlikely event that we cannot see you, you can phone the minor injuries clinic at the Western General Hospital (WGH) on 0131 537 3481 between 8am and 8.30pm, or after that call NHS 24 on 111 for further advice. The minor injuries clinic at WGH have limited equipment so ask you to call them for advice before presenting to the clinic. The Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion is closed during evenings and weekends and does not have a walk in service. Patients will be turned away if they present without a referral from an optometrist or GP. Here is a reminder of what constitutes an eye care emergency.

During lockdown we learned a lot and, whilst we are delighted to be able to see patients in the practice again, video call triaging for patients with eye care emergencies was very effective. So, if you are an existing patient and have an eye care emergency or concerns about your eyes, we may still suggest the first step is a video call to assess you remotely. This ensures you can be seen quickly and saves you having to come into the practice unnecessarily. We now have an optometrist dedicated to assessing emergencies by video call every day. Hopefully it goes without saying that if we then think you need to be seen, we will arrange a time for you to come in, but equally, we treated many patients very effectively remotely, so will continue to offer this. Please always make us your first port of call in an eye care emergency as we have the highest quality equipment and most expertise in eye care, and it also helps alleviate pressure on your GP. This video gives more detail on what constitutes an emergency, but really if you have any change in your eyes or your vision, please get in touch. You may be asked by your optometrist to take photos of your eye. Here is our handy guide to take photos of your eye.