Select each service for more information:

Eye Examination for Adults and Children
We examine patients of all ages from birth to seniors. Eye exam are comprehensive, covering all major eye functions. They include a review of your eye problem, eye and health history, visual acuity with and without any prescription eyewear, determination of your new prescription (refraction), ability to change focus (accommodation), eye alignment, eye muscle strength and coordination, eye tracking, external eye health (including check for cataracts), internal eye health (including optic nerve and retina), depth perception or 3D vision, color vision, pupil reflexes, eye pressure(glaucoma check), and peripheral vision. Exams are concluded with a discussion of the diagnosis and treatment.

Supplemental tests are performed when standard tests indicate a potential problem that requires further investigation or confirmation. See below for description of additional tests.

Pediatric Eye Exams cover the same eye functions as adults (described above), but may be performed with different techniques or instrumentation. Young children (infants and toddlers) do not have to be verbal to have a complete eye exam, nor do they need to know the alphabet. Examination results and expected norms are discussed with parents, as well as recommendations for proper eye development and prevention of future eye problems. Children with fears about going to the doctor are handled with unprecedented care. Dr. Bloch is residency trained in pediatric eye care and is a semi-professional magician. He will finesse his way through the exam with games, clever chatter, showing cartoons, and performing magic tricks. Your child will won’t even realize their being examined. In many cases, children have so much fun they want to do it again.

Contact Lens Evaluation and Fitting
Getting fitted for contact lenses requires additional tests and measurements. During this extended examination, the doctor will measure the outer size and shape of your eye (cornea). He will then fit contact lenses to your eyes to match the shape and prescription that you require to see properly and feel comfortable. New contact lens wearers will be trained on how to insert, remove, and care for the contact lenses in a session following the lens fit. Follow up visits will be scheduled according to each patients needs to monitor any health or vision changes that may occurred from contact lens use.

Contact lenses come in all prescriptions including nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, and bifocal. Not all prescriptions are available in all types of contact lens materials, some patients will do better with soft contacts others will do better with gas permeable contacts. Patients with higher prescriptions have fewer options and require more expensive lenses. Special contact lens fits for irregular shaped eyes and post-surgical cases are also available, but will require extra time and fees. During the exam, the doctor will discuss which lenses are best for you and their cost.

Treatment of Eye Infection, Allergy and Disease
Patients with red eyes may have an eye infection, allergy, disease, or injury. Dr. Bloch can see you for a red eye problem either during regular office hours or after closing on an emergency basis. If you suffer a red eye, painful eye, or lose vision quickly please call us so we can provide you prompt medical care.

Dispensing of Eyewear
We carry a large selection of both adult and pediatric eyewear. We stock frames which range from name brand to designer and that fit any budget. To name a few, we have Marchon, Fendi, Calvin Klein, Nautica, Nike, Coach, Vera Wang, Gallery, Disney, Ray Ban , and X-Games. Our opticians can help you select the styles and features that make you look and feel the best. We will also explain all your lens options including different lens designs, materials, tints, and coatings. Whether you are looking for everyday glasses, sunglasses, reading glasses, computer glasses, or sports glasses we have the right products for you.

If glasses are not for you, we dispense contact lenses from all major contact lens manufacturers. We sell both conventional and disposable contact lenses, including lenses for astigmatism, to change your eye color, and bifocal lenses. We can refill your most recent prescription or provide a new one for you. If needed, contact lenses can be order by phone and mailed to you.

Assessment of Eye Problems Causing Reading or Learning Difficulty
Since 80% of what a child learns in school happens through vision, it is crucial their eyesight and visual processing skills be tested. A child performing poorly in school, especially in reading, could have an undetected vision problem despite 20/20 clarity.

Your child can be tested for uncontrolled focusing, improper tracking, poor eye coordination, visual memory and other visual organizational skills that impact reading, spelling, writing, math, and comprehension. See the tabs on Warning Signs for Vision problems and Not All Vision Problems Require Glasses for more information.

Vision Therapy - A Comprehensive Program of Eye Exercises & Eye-Training
Not all vision problems can be corrected with the use of glasses or contacts. Sometimes a persons eye muscles are weak and do not work efficiently. Just like other muscles in the body can fatigue, cramp, and be inflexible, so can eye muscles that control focusing, eye alignment, and tracking. When a person wants to gain strength, flexibility, stamina, speed, and accuracy in performance, they work out. Likewise, eye exercises or Vision Therapy can be prescribed to enhance visual performance. With special exercises prescribed by the doctor, you can see clearer, focus longer, and track better. In some instances, you may even be able to get rid of your glasses.

Many children show signs of vision problems which can develop into vision-related learning problems in school. Ask about our highly successful, comprehensive vision therapy program. With regular vision therapy sessions of treatment, our trained professionals can help turn these problems around. Watch the delight in your child’s eyes as their learning skills improve and they begin to have greater success in school, and in life.

Visual Processing Skills Training
In some cases, a person will continually mistake what they see. This occurs because they either see it wrong from uncorrected eyesight or they have trouble organizing what they see. Vision Perception Training helps you better organize what you see. It teaches you how to pay attention to and remember visual details. It is used to treat patients that have difficulty with visual memory, poor eye-hand coordination, reduced awareness of their surroundings, confusion of right and left, recognizing differences in similar objects, and classifying by size, shape, or spatial orientation. In students, this could present in multiple ways such as forgetting what they read, inaccurate copy skill, reversing letters/words/numbers, sloppy handwriting, frequently misspelling, poor comprehension, clumsiness, and more.

Reading Therapy
Dr. Bloch has created the Reading Without Limits Program which improves reading skills for anyone behind in their reading skills, including those with dyslexia. Using a four phase evaluation, the root cause of you or your child’s reading problem can be uncovered. Dr. Bloch will determine which visual, auditory, and cognitive factors are limiting your reading ability. Training in this area works on quicker identification of words, visual tracking skills, and eye coordination skills. Patient will be shown how to recognize words by visual pattern recognition rather auditory pattern recognition (phonics) or sight reading (memorization). Also, eye movements used in reading will be retrained to perform better using special Visual Cross Training techniques. Most students using this process generally learn to read and spell above their grade level in under three months. This program has become so successful, it is has become the preferred method of learning to read by parents, teachers, and other health care professionals. Please visit readingwithoutlimits.com for more information about this extraordinary program.

Low Vision Examination and Treatment
Supplemental examination and treatment is available for individuals who suffer permanent vision loss from damage to the retina or optic nerve. Patients who have been diagnosed with lower than normal vision due to macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts, or other disease, may need their vision magnified in order to see better. Low vision examination determines the extent of a person’s remaining vision and which optical devices will permit the greatest enhancement of their vision. In most cases, low vision problems are treated with different types of magnifiers such as magnifying glasses, hand magnifiers, magnifying mirrors, special telescopes, and video magnifiers. Other visual aids used by partially sighted individuals include prisms, filters, special lights, and large print materials. During the exam, the doctor will discuss which devices will best suit your needs and lifestyle.

Special Testing/Procedures
Dilated Retinal Examination is a recommended procedure for all new patients and patients with medical problems that could damage the inside of their eyes. This procedure allows the doctor to get a complete view of the inside of the eyes by opening your pupils with muscle relaxing eye drops. Without this procedure an eye problem could be missed. You can compare this procedure to looking through the peep hole on a hotel room door versus opening the door completely. You can see more through the open door than you can through the peep hole. Many retinal problems will go undetected by you because there are no pain receptors in the retina. Consequently, it is recommended you get a dilated exam at regular intervals as a preventative measure or whenever the doctor suspects a problem.

Retinal Photography is a recommended procedure for all new patients and patients with medical problems that could damage the inside of their eye. Retinal photography is a camera that photographs the inside of the eye. It documents the optic nerve, retinal blood vessels, and other important retinal features. The photos are used to compare eye health from year to year. The procedure can be done with or without dilation(open pupils).

Cycloplegic Refraction is a procedure used to accurately determine a person’s prescription. In some cases, patients are unable to respond favorably to the eye exam due to overactive focusing muscles. Therefore, the doctor will use eye drops to relax the overactive eye muscles and then retest for a prescription. After the procedure, the patient will see blurry and be more light-sensitive for up to 24 hours. Consequently, avoidance of desk work, outdoor activity, and possibly driving may necessary during that time.

Threshold Visual Fields is a computerized procedure for determining peripheral and central vision loss. It tests for damage to the optic nerve and nerve pathways in the brain. It is indicated when the doctor notices a problem with a screening visual field or sees suspicious looking optic nerves. It is also used for patients who have suffered head injury, stoke, headaches, and some chemical imbalances in the body.

Corneal Topography is a procedure used for determining the surface structure of the cornea(the clear top surface of the eye that covers the colored part). It measures any surface irregularities that may interfere with determining an accurate prescription, fitting contact lenses, or performing corrective laser surgery.

Visagraph Test is a computerized procedure to evaluate eye movements used while reading. From this test, multiple eye movement abilities as they relate to reading can be recorded and played back. The Visagraph instrument measures how often the eyes stop, start, move forward, move backward, skip around, and coordinate during reading. It provides essential information about reading speed, reading efficiency, and comprehension. This procedure is recommended for anyone with poor reading ability or comprehension problems.

Vision Perception Testing is an evaluation of a person’s ability to remember and organize visual information. It tests skills in the areas of discrimination of details, spatial orientation, size and shape classification, foreground versus background recognition, filling in missing details, visual memory of single items, visual memory for sequential items, letter/number reversals, left-right awareness, hand-eye coordination, and copy skills. These tests are recommended for any student that is having trouble learning in school or with poor sports performance.

Decoding/Encoding/Dyslexia Testing is an assessment of person’s ability to read, write, and spell correctly. It determines whether a person uses the proper assembly and sequencing techniques necessary to analyze word structure. This testing is recommended for anyone having difficulty learning to read or spell.

Laser Vision Correction

Are you are tired of wearing glasses or contact lenses? If so, Laser Vision Correction may be a good option. Laser Vision Correction is a surgical procedure that permanently improves your vision by using a laser to reshape the surface (cornea) curvature of your eye. The over or under curvature of the cornea is what creates nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

By using special computerized equipment, the eye doctor can obtain very precise measurements about the curvature and thickness of the cornea to determine if your eye is compatible with laser eye surgery. Depending on your specific measurements and eye health, Dr. Bloch can recommend which laser procedures are best for you.

The first step in considering Laser Vision Correction, is to get an updated eye exam. Then, based upon the most current findings, the doctor can better discuss your situation. If everything appears favorable, a complimentary consultation will be set up with NVISION Laser Eye Centers. At that consultation, you can tour the impeccable surgical facility, have additional tests, meet the surgeon, get more information about what to expect, and discuss payment options. You are not charged for the laser correction work-up until you decide to have the procedure.

Your satisfaction and confidence in us is our highest priority. That is the reason Dr. Bloch and NVISION want you completely informed about the procedure and comfortable with the people handling your eye care. When you are ready, NVISION will perform the eye surgery and Dr. Bloch will manage your pre-operative and post-operative care.

shutterstock_292769039Carlsbad and North County San Diego residents get the best adult or children's eye doctor eye exam, eyecare, eyewear, eye glasses, vision / eye prescriptions, contacts, laser vision correction, vision therapy, reading therapy, eye infection treatment, eye allergy treatment, and vision problem diagnosis in the Carlsbad offices of Bloch Vision Care and Children's Optometric of North County. We are trained and qualified pediatric / children's eye doctor and children's vision therapy experts. We service the vision needs of patients residing in Carlsbad, North County San Diego, San Marcos, Oceanside, Vista, La Costa, Encinitas, California.

 

Excellent experience with Dr. Bloch! After a nightmare experience elsewhere, I found Dr. Bloch’s office for my 11-year-old daughter who wanted contacts prior to starting 6th grade this year. Dr. Bloch established a great rapport right from the start with both of us; he is very personable, knowledgeable, and incredibly funny. You almost feel like it’s a comedy routine, but he gets the job done … and well! My daughter struggled getting the contacts in and out herself, though, and it was only due to Dr. Bloch’s personal assistance that she was able to do it at all. He appears to be very gifted in knowing how to approach each situation with children. With careful questioning, he was able to figure out exactly what was causing my daughter’s struggles and found the perfect solution to help her find success! I appreciate all that Dr. Bloch did for us. We will definitely return and recommend him to all our friends.Kristina H. - Flagstaff, AZ