Our eyes are the gateway to a complex vision system that processes millions of bits of information every second. With seventy percent of the body’s sense receptors located in the eyes, it’s important to keep them healthy!” Tim Wright OD
Tim Wright OD, cofounder of the wRight Eye Care in Plano, Texas is an optometrist with extensive training in integrative optometry and complementary therapies including nutrition and nutraceuticals, epigenetics, the ocular biome and more. Dr. Wright believes that eye care certainly involves more than an annual checkup. He believes in viewing optometry from a 360-degree perspective, accommodating all aspects of care, including natural treatments, diet, nutritional supplements, exercise, stress management, and more.
What is Integrative Eye Health?
Integrative Eye Health is a complementary approach which combines optometry care with eye health maintenance and addresses the physical or emotional stress and lifestyle choices that plays a factor in the symptoms of common vision problems.
Integrative optometry goes beyond just testing symptoms but also continues to understand the wider causes that lead to common medical conditions or illnesses. The goal is to stimulate the human body’s natural healing response and promote wellness. At the wRight Eye Care, we apply integrative medicine to our philosophy to help our patients not only address eye or vision conditions but find natural solutions to improving their health.
Why we Recommend Integrative Eye Health
The connection between overall health and eye health is rarely addressed during conventional eye exams, which are based on standard protocols for prescribing eyeglasses, drugs or surgery. Conventionally trained optometrists and ophthalmologists, lacking education in nutrition and alternative approaches, treat the eyes as isolated organs. In contrast, systemically oriented, integrative eye experts treat them as integrated parts of the whole body. As the eye is bathed in the same chemicals and nutrients as the rest of the body, eye conditions can be affected by problems affecting the rest of the body – and these too need to be corrected.
Our Approach
Our approach does not eliminate all surgeries or conventional medical treatments. What it does, is offer a different way of looking at your condition that may delay surgeries or in some cases prevent them, while allowing you to live your life in a happy and fulfilling way. Many of our patients may still use conventional medications but less of them, as they are empowered to manage the inflammatory processes which help control outcomes.
An integrative approach that I use toward conditions related to vision will include evaluation of persons’ lifestyle, their habits, their diet, their exercise routine, the stresses in their life, and their family history. I do not just treat the numbers or the symptoms. I treat the person behind the numbers. Eye doctors are very good at measuring things such as eye pressure or eyeglass prescriptions. But we have to look at the why behind the problem.
For example: When evaluating a chronic inflammatory eye condition we look at the entire health and lifestyle history, which means that we look at how all areas of your life are connected.
- Do you work long hours at a computer screen or with a hand-held digital device?
- Do you suffer from:
- dry eyes
- eye allergies
- macular degeneration
- glaucoma
- iritis (uveitis)
- Does stress at your job or in your relationship influence overeating?
- Do you have digestive issues? (bloating, gas, reflux, constipation, diarrhea)
- Do you sleep well?
- Are you using a sleeping device that may have a dehydrating effect on the eyes?
- How is your energy and enthusiasm for life?
- Do you exercise?
- Do you take supplements to promote eye health?
Together we’ll work to reach your health goals in better managing your eye conditions, achieving optimal weight, reducing food cravings, increasing sleep, good ocular hygiene, and maximizing mental and physical energy. As we work together, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of the food and lifestyle choices that work best for you and implement lasting changes that will improve your energy, balance and health. When the body is healthier the eyes are healthier.
If you’d like to start today and enjoy the numerous documented therapeutic benefits of Integrated Eye Health at TruAge Wellness Center, please consider requesting our online Initial Health & Medical Investigation Form with us.
Your in-office consultation begins with a comprehensive history & lifestyle evaluation to determine your specific metabolism, the status of your hormone levels and the overall functionality of your physiology. We will work with you to identify any imbalances you may have and develop an individualized treatment plan. Treatment plans may include behavior and lifestyle changes, nutraceuticals, therapeutic nutrition plans, stress management techniques, health coaching, and/or advanced diagnostic testing.
Our program may also include functional laboratory tests for brain and body aging, metabolic errors, genetic markers, traditional risk factors, nutritional deficiencies, food allergies, heavy metal toxicity, and structural integrity of your muscles and joints.
