Good morning! I have made some executive changes (at a nominal cost) to improve the layout and navigation of the web page! While the content should be the exactly the same, I have finally made some long awaited to changes to make this a more valuable resource for patients with Macular Degeneration and Diabetic Retinopathy. Some of the improvements; Navigation Bar - you'll notice more … [Read more...]
When You Need Cataract Surgery
February 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Cataract surgery is needed when your vision is not as good as you'd like, and, your eye doctor feels that the elective procedure would help. In cases of diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration, there may be other factors that weigh in to the decision of having cataract surgery. Cataracts are usually elective surgery. While insurance does cover most cataract surgery, there are a … [Read more...]
Dilated Pupils: Those Drops Are So Annoying
February 24, 2010 By 8 Comments
Dilating drops are useful tools for examining the eye. A dilated pupil exam provides direct visualization and is the best way to examine the retina and is second to none. The dilating drops are annoying, but are necessary. Any and every time your doctor needs to look at your retina (or other structures such as the optic nerve), your pupils should be dilated. Dilating drops cause mydriasis … [Read more...]
Low Vision and Talking Books; Look Into It
February 23, 2010 By 3 Comments
EJ is one of my favorite patients. She has a great family that supports and loves her. At her visits, we talk about the latest on TV (we have spent hours talking about American Idol), current events and how she loves to read. EJ is legally blind from advanced macular degeneration and cant' "read." EJ uses Talking Books. Though I deal with patients that have lost vision from retinal … [Read more...]
Eye Surgery Can Blind
February 22, 2010 By 16 Comments
There are risks to eye surgery, especially intraocular operations such as cataract removal or vitrectomy. Cataracts are the most common eye surgery and vitrectomy eye surgery is usually performed by a retina specialist for various problems of the retina and vitreous. Infection, inside the eye, called endophthalmitis, is uncommon, yet can blind. There are all sorts of "eye" surgery. There … [Read more...]
Macular Edema: So Many Types
February 18, 2010 By 2 Comments
Macular edema simply means accumulation, or build-up, of fluid of the macula. Synonyms include; clinically significant macular edema (CSME), diabetic macular edema (DME), cystoid macular edema (CME) and retinal edema. There are slight nuances with some of the terms, but basically it means "swelling." Macular Edema - a generic term indicating fluid build up in the macula, but can be from any … [Read more...]
Your Retina Feels No Pain
February 17, 2010 By 4 Comments
Retinal disease is painless. Diabetic retinopathy doesn't hurt and neither does macular degeneration. For that matter, a retinal detachment is nothing. What does cause eye pain? It can be sinus disease. There are only a handful of problems that cause eye pain. Neither diabetic retinopathy nor macular degeneration causes eye pain, not even a feeling. Corneal abrasions, like skinning … [Read more...]
Two Kinds of Blind
February 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment
There are two types of blindness that I deal with; legal and complete. Diabetic retinopathy can cause both types while macular degeneration generally causes just legal blindness. Other types of vision loss are actually perceived; what I call "refractive" blindness and psychological blindness. Legal blindness is defined as vision worse than 20/200, but it does not mean that there is total … [Read more...]
Neovascularization Causes Blindness
February 15, 2010 By 16 Comments
Both macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy can cause "blindness" from neovascularization. Both are diseases of the retina, both can lead to "blindness," both increase with age/time and both can be associated with abnormal blood vessel formation known as "neovascularization." The two diseases differ in the location of the neovascularization. Diabetic Retinopathy - In cases of … [Read more...]
