Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, January 13, 2018

Mountain View News Saturday, January 13, 2018 
3 
Mountain View News Saturday, January 13, 2018 
3 
Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis 


“You can’t buy happiness but you can buy new 
glasses, which is almost the same thing.” 

“The only thing worse than being blind is having 
sight but no vision.” 

“Life is like a visit to the optometrist...looking 
through a new set of lenses 
can give you new- found clarity.” 

You probably have spent months looking at 
the windows of the former children’s store there 
by Happy’s Liquors wondering when Lumen 
Optometric would appear and what it would be. 
So did we. Out with daughter, Leah, a week or 
so ago, she badly needed an adjustment to her 
glasses as they were about to press right through 
the bridge of her nose. We decided to take a chance 
on Lumen Optometric to see if they could help her. 
Why Lumen? Lumen is Latin for light and Lumen 
Optometric is shining a new light on optometry 
and what a nifty place it is.

We met Eric To, the optometrist and the heart 
and soul behind Lumen Optometric and learned 
that there’s a lot more going on in there than just 
picking out a new pair of frames. We asked Eric 
what made him decide upon Sierra Madre as the 
location for Lumen Optometric and it’s that same 
thing that every new business owner says, “Well, 
we liked coming up to Mother Moo for ice cream 
and just loved the town.” Eric and his wife had 
been scouting locations and kept seeing that empty 
storefront right across the street from Mother 
Moo’s and checked into it. This was a match made 
in real estate heaven and construction began. 
Eric, who lives in Monterey Park and still travels 
to Manhattan Beach a couple of days a week to 
continue his work there, is a graduate of Southern 
California College of Optometry and has so much 
to bring to our community.

Why did it take so long for Lumen to finally 
open? Eric explained that the lighting was just not 
right for what he needed and it had to be totally 
redone. People who aren’t going to settle for “almost 
right” are just what we all need more of.

Eric showed us all through Lumen and, let me 
tell you, friends and neighbors, Eric has the latest, 
newest and best equipment to deal with the various 
problems our eyes are prone to. Have you heard of 
Corneal Reshaping? We had not. In young patients 
corneal reshaping can slow down near-sightedness 
considerably. Eric can make a contour map of the 
cornea in question and build a specific, one-of-akind 
lens for that cornea. Eric’s youngest patients 
are in the 6 year old group and more frequently 
about 8 or so. Eric creates a reverse geometry lens, 
these little guys sleep in it and the cornea changes 

shape to help that near-sightedness issue. That is 
amazing, isn’t it!

Dry eye syndrome is another of Eric’ specialties. 
Most dry eye sufferers are prescribed eye drops 
which only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. 
This eye mapping that we saw was remarkable in 
that we could see every part of the internal and 
external parts of the eye.

I’m getting above my pay grade here trying 
to explain simply what Eric To can do for you at 
Lumen Optometric. Here’s just a bit more that 
happens there: All lenses are made from scratch, 
custom built for each patient. Eric doesn’t just pick 
out the #6 lens, and hope it will work, his are for 
you and you alone. He can help you with migraines, 
too. 

Here’s something we need to think about – 
computer screen time matters a lot as the eyes don’t 
blink as frequently as they do when we’re up walking 
around...possibly putting away our Christmas 
decorations or having lunch with someone fun up 
the block at Corfu, Monsieur Crepe or Faubourg. 
No, when we’re parked in front of the computer 
for hours our eyes take a beating as they don’t fully 
blink and, hence, are continually open. Half the 
world is telling us to put away the screens and do 
other stuff! 

One more thing, Eric is so very proud of his 
restroom, which was designed and decorated by 
his wife. It’s gorgeous! He has little individual 
mouthwash packets which he imports from Japan 
and there were so many other really nice touches in 
there. 

Lumen Optometric is at 14 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. 
and his phone is: 626-921-0199. You can check out 
his websites, too: info@lumenoptometric.com orwww.lumenoptometric.com. Go in, meet Eric, and 
talk about your eyes. He can make a huge difference 
in your eye comfort. And he’s one of those 
professionals who don’t mind explaining things 
to you. A new direction in your eye care could go 
a long way toward making a Happy New Year for 
you...trust me!

I know Christmas is over, but these Christmas 
items below are so nice to have... 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis 

“Star of Wonder – A Christmas Story”

Is available there. This is a wonderful Christmas 
Love Story...trust me!

Star of Wonder the CD is now on TuneCore! 
Take a look! 

Blog: www.authordeanne.com 
Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com