In Ontario there is a special
government program, which helps
some individuals who fit the criteria
to pay a portion of their vision aids.
However, eSight isn’t covered at
this time.
When she was pregnant Bietz was
thinking of ways to make purchasing the eyewear possible. She got
them on December 10, the day her
baby was born. She had a planned
C-section in order to organize when
she got the glasses with her child’s
birth. Just a few hours after her son
was born, she was given the eyewear.
“When he was given to me with the
glasses on, I could see the expression on my younger brother’s face.
I could see the look on my husband’s
face. I had never seen that before.
I got to see all of his little features
and who he looked like and the little
expressions and lines on his face.
I really carved it into my memory.
I just sat there and stared at him for
the longest time.” she said.
“I will never forget that, even if
I go completely blind, I will never
forget the way he looked that day.”
The first time she went shopping
with the glasses was a really big
deal. “The women who did my
eyebrows were helping me with my
makeup,” she said. They told her to
put on the glasses to see what they
had done. She put them on and was
pleased. “I never get to do that,” she
said. “I’m always trusting people …
I am a girl. I try to put myself
together. I try to look professional.
It is nice to be able to take a look for
myself and see the coverage or see
if I want the lipstick colour a little
bit darker. Maybe I want a little
more blush. It is a big thing for me
to have that kind of independence.”
The glasses do not correct her
disease. She still sees her blind spot.
However, the sight that she does
have the technology enhances it.
“I think that enhances my quality of
life,” she said. “I can read the schedule at the bus stop and decide when
I am going to take it. Before, I either
had to ask somebody to read it for
me or stand there and just wait until
it came. Such a small thing has such
a huge impact on my day.”
They slip right on and off and there
is a really easy to find button that
turns eSight on and off. “I can
adjust the contrast. I can adjust the
distance to see clearly. There is an
even auto setting. I can take pictures
with the device of things I see that
I want to read or look at later,”
Bietz said.
Dr. Juricic told us that, “Because
they are electronic the person can
actually increase the magnification
up to fourteen times. They can
adjust the brightness level and also
the contrast level especially when
it comes to reading. A lot of my
patients prefer reading text white
on black and the eSight eyewear
allows them to do that.”
There are a lot of devices available
and Dr. Juricic suggests that eyecare
professionals research some of
the new devices. “Many people who
have graduated quite some time ago
might not be aware of where technology has gone when it comes to
electronic eyewear or portable
eyewea