Amy and I got back from Orlando, last week. We attended the American Academy of Ophthalmology annual meeting, the world's largest gathering of ophthalmologists and those associated with our "industry." It's our huge trade show. For us, we got some national exposure for our new company. Telling a Story You may remember that we received a nice endorsement from the AAO earlier in the year. … [Read more...]
Eye Drops to Help You Heal
May 11, 2010 By 2 Comments
After eye surgery, there are several eye drops to help you recuperate, and heal, quickly. These eye drops usually include an antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, and sometimes, an eye drop to keep you dilated for comfort. There are many types of eye surgery; cataract, glaucoma, corneal, retina, etc. In general, the post-operative medications/drops that we use are about the same. … [Read more...]
Retina Surgery is “Same Day” Surgery
April 26, 2010 By 2 Comments
Retinal eye surgery, either vitrectomy or scleral buckle, is usually performed while the patient is awake and as an outpatient, allowing you to go home the "same day." Usually, there is absolutely no pain with retina surgery and recovery takes place in the comfort of your own home. In most cases, operations are performed under "local sedation." This term varies, but at our surgical center … [Read more...]
Medical Blogger: What’s in a Name?
March 29, 2010 By 2 Comments
Am I a Medical Blogger? A "blogger" is someone who blogs. "Blogging" is the act of writing articles, usually about a personal opinion, or posts, and publishing them on a blog. A "medical blogger" is usually a doctor that blogs about medical issues. I am not sure where I fit in. I am a blogger and I am a doctor, but I try to keep my opinions to myself. Blogging is Writing to … [Read more...]
Your Retina Sees Backwards
March 24, 2010 By 6 Comments
Images on your retina are reversed. Your retina "sees" everything backwards. Your brain reorients you. This image reversal is an adaptive advantage providing us with tremendous peripheral vision and the ability to view objects much larger than just a few millimeters. Everything is Upside Down...and Reversed The simplest illustration of how your retina sees is shown above. If you … [Read more...]
It’s Not What You Look At, It’s What You Look For
March 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Making a diagnosis can be difficult. Diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration are easy to diagnose, but you have to know to look for it to see it. The diagnosis then becomes pretty obvious. Knowing what to look for is essential to making a correct medical diagnosis. Retinal disease, such as ARMD and diabetic retinopathy, is easy to diagnose as we can also "see" the eye. I just … [Read more...]
Mom Should Have Washed Your Eye With Soap!
March 9, 2010 By 4 Comments
Your eye is as dirty as your mouth. The bacteria found on the eyeball and in the nose and mouth are very similar. The three areas are all connected anatomically and bacteria are free to roam to and fro. While each organ does have its own particular defense system to fight infection, the eye, by no means is "clean." It's Why Your Nose Runs When You Cry When you cry, you need to blow your … [Read more...]
Blood in the Retina: You Make the Call
January 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
A patient of mine returned this morning with complaints of decreased vision in the right eye. She is 84 years old, has a history of smoking and noted some "blurriness" in the right eye for the past few months. With both eyes open, however, she sees pretty well. The first thing we did was examine her. This is a retinal photograph of the right eye. What do you see? There is blood … [Read more...]
A “Toy Story”…………Stories that Blind
December 21, 2009 By 2 Comments
Most retina specialists are also surgeons. We operate on retinal detachments, advanced diabetic retinopathy.............and trauma. Trauma includes careless accidents involving projectiles...........like toys. This holiday season, think about eye safety. Paintball - I hate this one. A compact canister fired at a high rate of speed. The fancier the gun, the faster the projectile. … [Read more...]
Steroids Likely to Help Diabetes
December 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Ok, maybe a bit dramatic, but another article was recently published stating that intravitreal injections were used with success to treat diabetic macular edema. These effects lasted at least 5 years, the duration of the study. This was a small study where two groups were compared. One group received intravitreal injections of triamcinalone (a steroid) for the treatment of diabetic … [Read more...]
