As we begin 2012, I hope you will join me in resolving to do whatever we can to keep our eyes—and those of the people we love—safe and healthy all year. To get us started looking forward to the year ahead, I thought I’d take a quick look back at some of what we covered here in 2011.
One of the most frequent topics on this blog last year was children’s eye health. In fact, the year’s first post discussed the “Know the Glow” campaign, an awareness initiative organized by The Vision Center at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. The “glow” is one that appears in one or both eyes of kids in flash photographs that is often the first indication of a serious eye disease.
We focused primarily on children in several sports-related posts. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that more than 90 percent of sports-related eye injuries can be prevented with the right eye protection—a statistic we all should keep in mind. This year we looked at how important that protection in a post timed to coincide with the spring sports season, in a summer-themed post and in the story of Mike Delaney, who became a sports-eye-protection advocate after losing the vision in one eye after being hit by a softball.
Technology was another frequent topic on the blog in 2011. Our technology-related posts included a look at computer vision syndrome, reports on vision-related apps (here and here) and a remembrance of Steve Jobs, a technology visionary whose company’s products reflected his commitment to accessibility.
I am not a veterinary ophthalmologist, but in looking back at last year’s posts, I wonder if I might have missed my calling! That’s because we used this blog to learn about the amazing eyes of several animal species including scallops, barreleye fish and whales, sharks, eagles and even flies.
We also met some amazing humans—historical and fictional. We used “True Grit” hero Rooster Cogburn as the peg for a blog at Civil War-era eye care, wondered if we’ll see Sam Foster (of Foster Grant fame) selling sunglasses on HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire,” questioned if Ben Franklin really invented bifocals (apparently he did), checked in on Woodstock-era activist Wavy Gravy, who is now fighting blindness in the developing world and met champion triathlete (and Seattle resident) Aaron Scheidies, who happens to be blind.
Interestingly, the most popular post on this blog last year was not about eye disease, the mechanisms of human or animal vision, technology or bigger-than-life personalities. It was about, of all things, love songs! Yes, this post, a roundup of songs with “eye” or “eyes” in the title that we published just before Valentine’s Day, appears to be our winner. Go figure! (I may just have to come up with a follow-up list in February for all you “eye-tunes” fans!)
It was my great pleasure and privilege last year to share more than 50 posts with you here (not to mention hundreds of Tweets!). I’m sure this year we’ll cover many important topics related to eye health, meet some more very interesting people (and probably a few animals, birds or insects) and also have some fun along the way.
Thanks for spending time with me here, and best wishes for a safe and healthy 2012!
