Thursday, November 29, 2012
November is Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month
An Article from the Lebanon Journal, Lebanon PA Nov 2012
An estimated 25 million Americans currently have diabetes, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Unfortunately, rising rates of diabetes have contributed to a sharp increase in diabetic eye diseases and blindness. To raise awareness about this serious threat to healthy vision, the Pennsylvania Academy of Ophthalmology is urging all diabetic patients in Pennsylvania to obtain regular eye exams during November, Diabetic Eye Disease Awareness Month.
The most common diabetic eye disease is diabetic retinopathy, which affects 40 to 45 percent of Americans with diabetes according to the National Eye Institute. Diabetic retinopathy damages the delicate blood vessels inside the retina at the back of the eye. Damaged blood vessels in the retina may leak extra fluid and small amounts of blood or fat deposits into the eye. As the disease progresses, abnormal blood vessels can grow on the surface of the retina or optic nerve, which can lead to blindness. Diabetic patients are also at an increased risk for cataracts and glaucoma.
Diabetic eye diseases typically have no early symptoms, so regular eye exams with an ophthalmologist - an eye medical doctor - are paramount to help monitor eye health and preserve diabetic patients' vision. Once diagnosed, an ophthalmologist can help slow the progression of the disease.
Too often, diabetic eye disease progresses into blindness because patients don't get their annual eye health screenings. Early detection and treatment is critical to reduce and delay severe vision loss in diabetics.
To maintain healthy vision with diabetes, ophthalmic professionals recommend the following EyeSmart tips:
Get a comprehensive dilated eye examination at least once a year.
Control your blood sugar.
Maintain healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Exercise regularly.
Quit smoking, or never start.
As diabetic retinopathy progresses, symptoms may include specks or spots floating in the visual field, blurred central vision, vision that changes from blurry to clear, poor night vision, and vision loss. Treatments to slow the progression of diabetic retinopathy include injectable and oral medications, laser surgery and vitrectomy surgery.
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Hiding in Plain Sight - An interesting Article from The New York Times
Gray Matter
Hiding in Plain Sight
By DAVID R. SMITH and NATHAN LANDY
Published: November 17, 2012 New York Times Sunday Edition
How do you make something disappear? Easy ? bend all the light around it.
IMAGINE yourself at a magic show. The magician brings out a tiger and coaxes it into a large, colorful box on the stage. He closes the lid, says a few mysterious words and then — poof — opens the side panel, revealing the inside of the box to be empty. The tiger is gone. Cue applause.
Morgan Blair
We know, of course, that tigers are not apt to vanish into thin air; we know that such magic tricks are more trick than magic. But how is it possible that our eyes can be deceived so easily?
The answer has much to do with the way our sense of sight works. As we look around a room, our eyes detect the light that bounces off nearby people or objects, and our brains interpret the images formed from the patterns of light received. We can even figure out what material something is made of based on the way it reflects and transmits light: metal is opaque and typically very reflective; plastic, which is more dull and often translucent, absorbs some of the light and reflects the rest in all directions. Our brains, then, turn these signals from reflections into breathtakingly complex pictures of the world around us. And it all happens faster than the blink of an eye. Indeed, after every blink of an eye.
Such lightning-fast cognitions are possible partly because the brain makes certain automatic assumptions: it figures that light has traveled in a straight line from the object to our eyes. Remarkably, in that built-in assumption is the recipe for a bit of magic that humans (and mythical humans) have sought, from the time of Plato to the age of Harry Potter: invisibility.
The trick involves the ability to bend and distort light as it travels through space — in other words, to make it do what the brain assumes it won’t. In some ways, it’s the same sleight of hand that the magician uses with the tiger. He uses a mirror angled in such a way that when we think we’re looking into an empty box, we’re actually seeing the reflection from the bottom of the box and assuming it’s the back. Since we don’t expect that the light reaching our eyes has swerved, making a 90-degree turn along the way, our eyes “tell” us the tiger has vanished. (In reality, he’s hiding comfortably in the box.)
Now we’ve found a way to one-up this neat trick with science: changing the trajectory of light without using mirrors. We do it with the science of materials — designing a “cloak” that can make light curve around an object, and then emerge just as if it had passed in a straight line through space. (Think of it like water flowing past a rock in a stream.)
The phenomenon is indeed supernatural. That’s because nature doesn’t appear to offer any materials that can accomplish this feat. The reason is that light has both electric and magnetic components — and to make it swerve around an object, one has to redirect both of these very different components and have them sync up immediately after the detour. That’s impossible to do with metals, fabrics or any other traditional materials.
But research findings over the past decade have shown us how to develop artificially structured “metamaterials” — in which tiny electrical circuits serve as the building blocks in much the same way that atoms and molecules provide the structure of natural substances. By changing the geometry and other parameters of those circuits, we can give these materials properties beyond what nature offers, letting us simultaneously manipulate both the electric and magnetic aspects of light in striking harmony.
This year, with one such metamaterial, we built the world’s first invisibility cloak capable of managing both components of light.
There is a catch, admittedly. Our cloak works only on microwaves, not on visible light. And humans don’t “see” microwaves in the first place, making the idea of invisibility seem, well, a little extraneous.
Still, even if we mortals don’t see them, many essential devices do. Nearly every time you walk through security at an airport, your body is scanned with microwaves. Also, your cellphone, iPad and other devices make a similar kind of virtual eye contact with one another. So, even in the microwave realm, cloaking can potentially be used to remove obstacles from the paths of direct microwave communications (or hide things we don’t want detected).
More important, microwaves are part of the same electromagnetic spectrum as visible light. In principle, if cloaks can be made to work at microwave frequencies, they might one day be made to work at visible wavelengths.
This will be far more difficult: the wavelengths of visible light are more than 10,000 times smaller than those of microwaves, meaning that the corresponding metamaterials would have to be equally reduced in size.
What excites scientists and Harry Potter fans alike, though, is that our microwave cloak proves there’s no theoretical limitation that would prevent someone from building a visible-light cloak.
There are some tricky technological barriers to work out. But in this case, at least, not seeing is believing.
David R. Smith is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University, where Nathan Landy is a graduate student.
Hiding in Plain Sight
By DAVID R. SMITH and NATHAN LANDY
Published: November 17, 2012 New York Times Sunday Edition
How do you make something disappear? Easy ? bend all the light around it.
A Real-Life Invisibility Cloak . . . .
IMAGINE yourself at a magic show. The magician brings out a tiger and coaxes it into a large, colorful box on the stage. He closes the lid, says a few mysterious words and then — poof — opens the side panel, revealing the inside of the box to be empty. The tiger is gone. Cue applause. Morgan Blair
We know, of course, that tigers are not apt to vanish into thin air; we know that such magic tricks are more trick than magic. But how is it possible that our eyes can be deceived so easily?
The answer has much to do with the way our sense of sight works. As we look around a room, our eyes detect the light that bounces off nearby people or objects, and our brains interpret the images formed from the patterns of light received. We can even figure out what material something is made of based on the way it reflects and transmits light: metal is opaque and typically very reflective; plastic, which is more dull and often translucent, absorbs some of the light and reflects the rest in all directions. Our brains, then, turn these signals from reflections into breathtakingly complex pictures of the world around us. And it all happens faster than the blink of an eye. Indeed, after every blink of an eye.
Such lightning-fast cognitions are possible partly because the brain makes certain automatic assumptions: it figures that light has traveled in a straight line from the object to our eyes. Remarkably, in that built-in assumption is the recipe for a bit of magic that humans (and mythical humans) have sought, from the time of Plato to the age of Harry Potter: invisibility.
The trick involves the ability to bend and distort light as it travels through space — in other words, to make it do what the brain assumes it won’t. In some ways, it’s the same sleight of hand that the magician uses with the tiger. He uses a mirror angled in such a way that when we think we’re looking into an empty box, we’re actually seeing the reflection from the bottom of the box and assuming it’s the back. Since we don’t expect that the light reaching our eyes has swerved, making a 90-degree turn along the way, our eyes “tell” us the tiger has vanished. (In reality, he’s hiding comfortably in the box.)
Now we’ve found a way to one-up this neat trick with science: changing the trajectory of light without using mirrors. We do it with the science of materials — designing a “cloak” that can make light curve around an object, and then emerge just as if it had passed in a straight line through space. (Think of it like water flowing past a rock in a stream.)
The phenomenon is indeed supernatural. That’s because nature doesn’t appear to offer any materials that can accomplish this feat. The reason is that light has both electric and magnetic components — and to make it swerve around an object, one has to redirect both of these very different components and have them sync up immediately after the detour. That’s impossible to do with metals, fabrics or any other traditional materials.
But research findings over the past decade have shown us how to develop artificially structured “metamaterials” — in which tiny electrical circuits serve as the building blocks in much the same way that atoms and molecules provide the structure of natural substances. By changing the geometry and other parameters of those circuits, we can give these materials properties beyond what nature offers, letting us simultaneously manipulate both the electric and magnetic aspects of light in striking harmony.
This year, with one such metamaterial, we built the world’s first invisibility cloak capable of managing both components of light.
There is a catch, admittedly. Our cloak works only on microwaves, not on visible light. And humans don’t “see” microwaves in the first place, making the idea of invisibility seem, well, a little extraneous.
Still, even if we mortals don’t see them, many essential devices do. Nearly every time you walk through security at an airport, your body is scanned with microwaves. Also, your cellphone, iPad and other devices make a similar kind of virtual eye contact with one another. So, even in the microwave realm, cloaking can potentially be used to remove obstacles from the paths of direct microwave communications (or hide things we don’t want detected).
More important, microwaves are part of the same electromagnetic spectrum as visible light. In principle, if cloaks can be made to work at microwave frequencies, they might one day be made to work at visible wavelengths.
This will be far more difficult: the wavelengths of visible light are more than 10,000 times smaller than those of microwaves, meaning that the corresponding metamaterials would have to be equally reduced in size.
What excites scientists and Harry Potter fans alike, though, is that our microwave cloak proves there’s no theoretical limitation that would prevent someone from building a visible-light cloak.
There are some tricky technological barriers to work out. But in this case, at least, not seeing is believing.
David R. Smith is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Duke University, where Nathan Landy is a graduate student.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Time To Plan For Ski Season! All new Zeal by Maui Jim are here!
We know...we know...it was just 67 degrees in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago! Crazy, huh?! Even so, winter is just around the corner and it's time to get ready for ski season. It's very important to think about UV protection on the slopes, just like it's important to protect your eyes on the beach and on the water.
When you are skiing or snowboarding you are exposed to UV light from the sun above, but you are also getting bathed in UV rays that are reflected UP off the snow! That's why snow blindness, basically a UV burn on the front of your eyes, is such a big problem.
How about polarization? At Skyvision Centers we think polarization is a personal choice. On very bright days it can help to cut down on glare and reflections, but sometimes it actually makes it harder to pick out obstacles (think moguls! ) on those gray, flat light days.
We have a great selection of Oakley, Adidas and Ed Hardy and the all new Zeal by Maui Jim ski goggles in our Westlake, Ohio office, and we can order any hard to find lens/goggle combo. Now is the time to be thinking about protecting your eyes whether you are skiing or boarding! How about a new pair for a Christmas gift?
How about polarization? At Skyvision Centers we think polarization is a personal choice. On very bright days it can help to cut down on glare and reflections, but sometimes it actually makes it harder to pick out obstacles (think moguls! ) on those gray, flat light days.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Dr. White's Thanksgiving Musings
Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday …because there’s nothing to advertise. There’s nothing to buy. Ever since giving gifts to Indians went out of style Thanksgiving is no longer one of our gift–giving holidays. That’s a good thing!
No, Thanksgiving is the last of the pure holidays. Nothing commercial, nothing to promote, nothing but an opportunity to do just what it sounds like: give thanks. Think about it, there’s exactly one Thanksgiving holiday song. “Over the River and through the Woods” and all that. There’s pretty much only one industry that depends on this day, the turkey industry. Pretty small potatoes, that. Thanksgiving pretty much equals going home.
Think for a moment about your Thanksgiving, this year and in years past. There’s an awful lot of sameness about it, isn’t there? The years of the gatherings all blend together because this is the one holiday where we go out of our way to do those same things year after year. Same meal; same pies; same games; same traditions. For as long as it can be, same people.
My earliest Thanksgiving memories actually revolve around football. In New England the Thanksgiving day football game represents the peak of the high school football season. Most high schools played a game against some decades–old rival, some of these rivalries extending back to before World War II. It was always cold. Man, it was always so cold. I had my first cup of coffee at a Southbridge versus Bartlett Thanksgiving Day football game at Bartlett; they ran out of hot chocolate before halftime. The games themselves were huge, played by heroes too large to describe. No dream was bigger for my Pop Warner football teammates than to be a part of the Southbridge–Bartlett Thanksgiving game someday. I played in one as a freshman before we moved. Three more Thanksgiving Day games in Rhode Island, Lincoln versus Shea, rounded out my playing days, but every other year for two more decades Thanksgiving day started with two hours bundled up in the stands watching the game.
Then we ate! You remember what you had for Thanksgiving at age 10 and 15, 20 and 25 because you had the same thing EVERY YEAR! Each and every family has its traditions. Turkey, of course, but it was really the fixins that set each family apart. Ours was a pretty standard table, much more proletariat then patrician no matter how well-off the family might have been. Mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, creamed onions and corn, with the simplest bread stuffing bursting out of the bird. It’s funny how a Thanksgiving Day tradition can highlight the differences between families, too. My wife Beth’s family got all of their turkey day fixings from the local farms, everything fresh and homemade. Neither way was better or worse, and that’s really part of the point. It’s Thanksgiving, and it’s always enough…always good.
Even the changes that eventually come, the evolution of any particular family’s Thanksgiving day traditions, represent a call to home. When our oldest, Danny, went to college a couple years ago we decided to bring our family Thanksgiving celebration home, to our house. The kids returned to their own home and visits with their childhood friends, just like we had done for so many years in our “ancestral” homes. Thanksgiving is all about the coming together. The gifting is in the giving of your time, your presence to the rest of family gathered. Even stuff that comes in from the outside like the annual Detroit Lions massacre is about the coming together with everyone gathered around the television set in various stages of repose or food coma.
Yup, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Nothing fancy, nothing to buy, as little pressure as there can possibly be on an American holiday. All about home. All about family. All about being thankful for both. As cold as it may be outside it’s always warm in the house. There’s football, some kind of football, even if I don’t get to go to a traditional New England rivalry game. Each year is enough of the same that it, too, will blend in with all that came before.
And did I mention the pies?
No, Thanksgiving is the last of the pure holidays. Nothing commercial, nothing to promote, nothing but an opportunity to do just what it sounds like: give thanks. Think about it, there’s exactly one Thanksgiving holiday song. “Over the River and through the Woods” and all that. There’s pretty much only one industry that depends on this day, the turkey industry. Pretty small potatoes, that. Thanksgiving pretty much equals going home.
Think for a moment about your Thanksgiving, this year and in years past. There’s an awful lot of sameness about it, isn’t there? The years of the gatherings all blend together because this is the one holiday where we go out of our way to do those same things year after year. Same meal; same pies; same games; same traditions. For as long as it can be, same people.
My earliest Thanksgiving memories actually revolve around football. In New England the Thanksgiving day football game represents the peak of the high school football season. Most high schools played a game against some decades–old rival, some of these rivalries extending back to before World War II. It was always cold. Man, it was always so cold. I had my first cup of coffee at a Southbridge versus Bartlett Thanksgiving Day football game at Bartlett; they ran out of hot chocolate before halftime. The games themselves were huge, played by heroes too large to describe. No dream was bigger for my Pop Warner football teammates than to be a part of the Southbridge–Bartlett Thanksgiving game someday. I played in one as a freshman before we moved. Three more Thanksgiving Day games in Rhode Island, Lincoln versus Shea, rounded out my playing days, but every other year for two more decades Thanksgiving day started with two hours bundled up in the stands watching the game.
Then we ate! You remember what you had for Thanksgiving at age 10 and 15, 20 and 25 because you had the same thing EVERY YEAR! Each and every family has its traditions. Turkey, of course, but it was really the fixins that set each family apart. Ours was a pretty standard table, much more proletariat then patrician no matter how well-off the family might have been. Mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, creamed onions and corn, with the simplest bread stuffing bursting out of the bird. It’s funny how a Thanksgiving Day tradition can highlight the differences between families, too. My wife Beth’s family got all of their turkey day fixings from the local farms, everything fresh and homemade. Neither way was better or worse, and that’s really part of the point. It’s Thanksgiving, and it’s always enough…always good.
Even the changes that eventually come, the evolution of any particular family’s Thanksgiving day traditions, represent a call to home. When our oldest, Danny, went to college a couple years ago we decided to bring our family Thanksgiving celebration home, to our house. The kids returned to their own home and visits with their childhood friends, just like we had done for so many years in our “ancestral” homes. Thanksgiving is all about the coming together. The gifting is in the giving of your time, your presence to the rest of family gathered. Even stuff that comes in from the outside like the annual Detroit Lions massacre is about the coming together with everyone gathered around the television set in various stages of repose or food coma.
Yup, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Nothing fancy, nothing to buy, as little pressure as there can possibly be on an American holiday. All about home. All about family. All about being thankful for both. As cold as it may be outside it’s always warm in the house. There’s football, some kind of football, even if I don’t get to go to a traditional New England rivalry game. Each year is enough of the same that it, too, will blend in with all that came before.
And did I mention the pies?
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
What are Styes and Chalazia?
WebMD Medical Reference from Healthwise
What are styes and chalazia?
Styes and chalazia are lumps in or along the edge of an eyelid. They may be painful or annoying, but they are rarely serious. Most will go away on their own without treatment.
A stye is an infection that causes a tender red lump on the eyelid. Most styes occur along the edge of the eyelid. When a stye occurs inside the eyelid, it is called an internal hordeolum (say "hor-dee-OH-lum").
A chalazion (say "kuh-LAY-zee-on") is a lump in the eyelid. Chalazia (plural) may look like styes, but they are usually larger and may not hurt.
Styes and chalazia may be related to blepharitis, a common problem that causes inflammation of the eyelids.
What causes a stye or chalazion?
Styes are caused by a bacterial infection. Usually the bacteria grow in the root (follicle) of an eyelash. An internal hordeolum is caused by infection in one of the tiny oil glands inside the eyelid.
A chalazion forms when an oil gland in the eyelid becomes blocked. If an internal hordeolum doesn't drain and heal, it can turn into a chalazion.
What are the symptoms?
A stye usually starts as a red bump that looks like a pimple along the edge of the eyelid.
As the stye grows, the eyelid becomes swollen and painful, and the eye may water.
Most styes swell for about 3 days before they break open and drain.
Styes usually heal in about a week.
A chalazion starts as a firm lump or cyst under the skin of the eyelid.
Unlike styes, chalazia often don't hurt.
Chalazia grow more slowly than styes. If a chalazion gets large enough, it may affect your vision.
The inflammation and swelling may spread to the area surrounding the eye.
Chalazia often go away in a few months without treatment.
How is a stye or chalazion diagnosed?
The SkyVision doctors can diagnose these problems by closely examining the eyelid. It may be hard to tell the difference between a stye and a chalazion. If there is a hard lump inside the eyelid, the doctor will probably diagnose it as a chalazion.
How are they treated?
Home treatment is all that is needed for most styes and chalazia.
Apply warm, wet compresses for 5 to 10 minutes, 3 to 6 times a day. This usually helps the area heal faster. It may also help open a blocked pore so that it can drain and start to heal.
Use an over-the-counter treatment. Try an ointment, solution, or medicated pads.
Let the stye or chalazion open on its own. Don't squeeze or open it.
Don't wear eye makeup or contact lenses until the area has healed.
If a stye is not getting better with home treatment, talk to one of the SkyVision docs. You may need a prescription for antibiotic eye ointment or eyedrops. You may need to take antibiotic pills if infection has spread to the eyelid or eye.
If a stye or chalazion gets very large, the doctor may need to pierce (lance) it so it can drain and heal. Do not try to lance it yourself.
How can you prevent styes and chalazia?
Don't rub your eyes. This can irritate your eyes and let in bacteria. If you need to touch your eyes, wash your hands first.
Protect your eyes from dust and air pollution when you can. For example, wear safety glasses when you do dusty chores like raking or mowing the lawn.
Replace eye makeup, especially mascara, at least every 6 months. Bacteria can grow in makeup.
If you get styes or chalazia often, wash your eyelids regularly with a little bit of baby shampoo mixed in warm water.
Treat any inflammation or infection of the eyelid promptly. This information is not intended to replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise disclaims any liability for the decisions you make based on this information.
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
Friday, November 16, 2012
The Continuing Education Tailgate!
SkyVision Centers had a Tailgate last night at The Surgery Center! 45 local eye doctors came out, some of them dressed in their finest Browns and Buckeye gear for our fourth Continuing Education seminar presentation. Connie and the Surgery Center staff had classic football tailgate fare on hand to feed our guests.
Our invited speaker was Jeff Peres, President and CEO of the patient education company Eyemaginations. Jeff laid out the rationale for going the extra mile to make sure that your patients are as well-informed as possible. Not only does this make their care better and keep their eyes healthier, but Eyemaginations has some research that shows a higher degree of loyalty of doctors of all kinds who make special efforts to educate their patients. SkyVision Centers has used the entire collection of Eyemagination videos in our office and as part of our "at home" educational program since our founding. We are excited to offer the latest iPad programs in the first quarter of 2013!
Dr. White presented part 2 of his series on developing a protocol for seeing patients who have Glaucoma. The SkyVision protocol puts the interests of the patient first in an attempt to simultaneously provide the best possible outcomes in the most efficient and cost-conscious way. After showing the attendees how Drs. White, Schlegel, and Kaye take care of Glaucoma Dr. White asked for a voluteer from the audience to develpop a protocol for their office. Dr. Jim Kershaw raised his hand and Dr. White offered a couple of pearls for Dr. Kershaw to consider!
We are already planning our Winter Symposium, dreaming about what kind of surprise we will serve up for the local community of eye docs!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
iStent: A New Glaucoma Surgery
Dr. White spent some of his time at AAO looking at new technologies for the care of Glaucoma. He has been saying for some time that multiple forces in medicine and in the economics of medicine are pushing toward Glaucoma becoming a surgical disease. Here is one of the new technologies he found:
"Glaucoma is a progressive disease that causes damage to the optic nerve. At this time the only thing we can do is lower the eye pressure in order to stop any further damage. The vast majority of American Glaucoma patients control their pressure through the use of eyedrops. Part of the problem with this is remembering to take your eyedrops, and it's important to take your eyedrops properly. A new twist on medical care is having difficulty either paying for your medication, or getting your insurance to pay for the medication your doctor thinks is the right one for you.
Traditional glaucoma surgery is very effective, but there are a number of complications that can occur after even successful surgery. Ophthalmologists who care for Glaucoma have been on the lookout for new, better, safer Glaucoma surgeries for many years. The Glaukos company has invented a surgery using a micro-drain called the iStent for use as part of cataract surgery.
Briefly, the iStent is inserted in the natural drainage system of the eye to increase the outflow of the natural fluid in the eye and lower the eye pressure. The procedure looks very cool! I'm really looking forward to getting the special training so that I can add this to my standard surgeries. I think it will be great to not only improve people's vision with cataract surgery but also to be able to reduce their dependence on medications."
We will keep you up to date on the progress of the iStent at SkyVision.
"Glaucoma is a progressive disease that causes damage to the optic nerve. At this time the only thing we can do is lower the eye pressure in order to stop any further damage. The vast majority of American Glaucoma patients control their pressure through the use of eyedrops. Part of the problem with this is remembering to take your eyedrops, and it's important to take your eyedrops properly. A new twist on medical care is having difficulty either paying for your medication, or getting your insurance to pay for the medication your doctor thinks is the right one for you.
We will keep you up to date on the progress of the iStent at SkyVision.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Where does Dr. White do his Cataract Surgeries?
Although we have a very large, very beautiful main office in Westlake ( see pictures on our website) we don't have enough room to do our surgeries right there. So where does Dr. White do cataract surgery, especially surgery using all of the new Lifestyle implants? Well, glad you asked!
For more than 16 years Dr. White has been doing lots of his surgeries at a simply fantastic outpatient center called The Surgery Center in Berea, OH. You can find their website here. The Surgery Center has been run since it opened by a woman who is simply the best surgical administrator in America, Barb Draves! Barb was part of the original team who opened the center some 27 years ago, and it has grown into one of the busiest outpatient surgery centers in the whole country.
So why there? Why choose THIS particular outpatient center to use for our most exciting, premium cataract surgeries? In a word it all comes down to excellent patient care. The entire staff at The Surgery Center is fully dedicated to providing not only the very best care possible but also to give our Skyvision patients the best experience possible. Just like in our office at Skyvision Centers!
One of the most common comments we hear from our patients after their cataract surgeries at The Surgery Center is "the staff is so wonderful there!".
We couldn't be happier with the care our patients get at The Surgery Center, and we know you will be happy there if you need to have surgery!
For more than 16 years Dr. White has been doing lots of his surgeries at a simply fantastic outpatient center called The Surgery Center in Berea, OH. You can find their website here. The Surgery Center has been run since it opened by a woman who is simply the best surgical administrator in America, Barb Draves! Barb was part of the original team who opened the center some 27 years ago, and it has grown into one of the busiest outpatient surgery centers in the whole country.
So why there? Why choose THIS particular outpatient center to use for our most exciting, premium cataract surgeries? In a word it all comes down to excellent patient care. The entire staff at The Surgery Center is fully dedicated to providing not only the very best care possible but also to give our Skyvision patients the best experience possible. Just like in our office at Skyvision Centers!
One of the most common comments we hear from our patients after their cataract surgeries at The Surgery Center is "the staff is so wonderful there!".
We couldn't be happier with the care our patients get at The Surgery Center, and we know you will be happy there if you need to have surgery!
Monday, November 12, 2012
From AAO: "Meaningful Use"
Dr. White was busy over the weekend! We'll spread his thoughts and experiences out over the next few days:
"Every convention is always filled with surprises. The not-so-good one this year was learning as we were all arriving that Medicare would be drastically reducing what it pays for patients to enjoy the miraculous effects of cataract surgery. That's really a bummer because it is the first effort to discover how low medical insurance can go before doctors stop treating patients because of cost.
There is a government requirement that all EMR's demonstrate "Meaningful Use", a term that is defined in Washington by people who do not practice medicine. In its first few versions Meaningful Use was going to be a terrible burden on doctors and their practices, especially specialists like eye doctors. Through the efforts of SRS and other companies the final rules are somewhat less of a burden in general, but without creative thinking on the part of the makers of the EMR software it still looked like it was going to make things harder and slower in the office. Everything still pointed to a new paperwork hassle for docs and patients.
Here's where the pleasant surprise comes in: SRS stuck to their core philosophy and engineered a solution that looks like a winner! I was stunned when it was demonstrated to me. What looked like it would take at least an extra 10-15:00 for every patient every time they came in now looks like a one-time 5:00 entry and just a couple minutes each time thereafter. Believe me, knowing how good all to the staff at SkyVision is, and how much they care about providing a great experience for every patient, I just know they are going to make it look like "normal" in a very short time!
This is really fantastic news, and it was a really pleasant surprise, too! Stand by for SkyVision Centers to become fully on-board with Meaningful Use thanks to the fantastic work of everyone at SRS Software."
That sounds like something to get excited about!
"Every convention is always filled with surprises. The not-so-good one this year was learning as we were all arriving that Medicare would be drastically reducing what it pays for patients to enjoy the miraculous effects of cataract surgery. That's really a bummer because it is the first effort to discover how low medical insurance can go before doctors stop treating patients because of cost.
Good surprises happen, too! I was visiting the company that makes our Electronic Medical Record (EMR), a company called SRS Software. SRS is a great company that has built an EMR around a very simple, but very important idea: an EMR should not interfere with the Doctor/Patient relationship. Radical stuff, huh? The SRS software allows doctors to continue to use whatever type of patient flow they have always enjoyed without adding all kinds of time to both the visit and the doctor's administrative burdens.
There is a government requirement that all EMR's demonstrate "Meaningful Use", a term that is defined in Washington by people who do not practice medicine. In its first few versions Meaningful Use was going to be a terrible burden on doctors and their practices, especially specialists like eye doctors. Through the efforts of SRS and other companies the final rules are somewhat less of a burden in general, but without creative thinking on the part of the makers of the EMR software it still looked like it was going to make things harder and slower in the office. Everything still pointed to a new paperwork hassle for docs and patients.Here's where the pleasant surprise comes in: SRS stuck to their core philosophy and engineered a solution that looks like a winner! I was stunned when it was demonstrated to me. What looked like it would take at least an extra 10-15:00 for every patient every time they came in now looks like a one-time 5:00 entry and just a couple minutes each time thereafter. Believe me, knowing how good all to the staff at SkyVision is, and how much they care about providing a great experience for every patient, I just know they are going to make it look like "normal" in a very short time!
This is really fantastic news, and it was a really pleasant surprise, too! Stand by for SkyVision Centers to become fully on-board with Meaningful Use thanks to the fantastic work of everyone at SRS Software."
That sounds like something to get excited about!
Friday, November 9, 2012
"No-Touch" Laser Vision Correction
It's day one at the AAO! What's Dr. White been up to?
"Friday and Saturday are called 'Sub-Specialty Days' at AAO. These are highly specialized meetings where the leaders in the more specialized areas of eye surgery convene to really concentrate on that smaller slice of eye care. As I usually do, I am attending the Refractive Surgery meetings, and I might drop by the Cornea meeting for a bit, too.
The most interesting talk so far has been given by the very famous Dr. Lindstrom on doing Laser Vision Correction without using any type of flap or physical manipulation of the surface of the cornea. Dr. Lindstrom was specifically talking about late enhancements of prior LASIK cases, but it applies very well to patients who have had Advanced IOL Cataract Surgery, too.
Briefly, the laser that we use to do the treatment itself can also be used to prepare the cornea for laser. The epithelium, or "skin" of the cornea, is removed using the laser itself, and then the refractive treatment follows almost immediately. This helps to protect a previous LASIK flap, and after cataract surgery it will probably result in faster, more comfortable healing.
The fact that I have already learned something that we will be able to apply to our SkyVision Center patients before lunch is a very positive sign that this is going to be a very productive AAO!"
Exciting things are coming out of Chicago already! Keep us posted Dr. White.
"Friday and Saturday are called 'Sub-Specialty Days' at AAO. These are highly specialized meetings where the leaders in the more specialized areas of eye surgery convene to really concentrate on that smaller slice of eye care. As I usually do, I am attending the Refractive Surgery meetings, and I might drop by the Cornea meeting for a bit, too.
The most interesting talk so far has been given by the very famous Dr. Lindstrom on doing Laser Vision Correction without using any type of flap or physical manipulation of the surface of the cornea. Dr. Lindstrom was specifically talking about late enhancements of prior LASIK cases, but it applies very well to patients who have had Advanced IOL Cataract Surgery, too.
Briefly, the laser that we use to do the treatment itself can also be used to prepare the cornea for laser. The epithelium, or "skin" of the cornea, is removed using the laser itself, and then the refractive treatment follows almost immediately. This helps to protect a previous LASIK flap, and after cataract surgery it will probably result in faster, more comfortable healing.
The fact that I have already learned something that we will be able to apply to our SkyVision Center patients before lunch is a very positive sign that this is going to be a very productive AAO!"
Exciting things are coming out of Chicago already! Keep us posted Dr. White.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Blogging and Tweeting: Dr. White at the AAO
Dr. White is attending the largest meeting of eye doctors in the world, the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) meeting in Chicago. He's our Social Media guru, and he promised to keep us up to date on the happenings at the meeting.
Dr. White:
Glaucoma is on my mind for this meeting. This disease of the optic nerve is going to be more common. Medicines like eye drops have been the mainstay of treatment, but there are several very promising surgical solutions that are being introduced this weekend. I have been telling our staff that Glaucoma will soon become a primarily surgical disease.
So there you have it! You can also keep up with Dr. White on his Twitter feed @DarrellWhite. We'll report the "hashtag" to look for if you want to search for other docs attending, too. Looks like lots of stuff to come...See What's Next (R)!!
Dr. White:
"I'm here with a couple of very specific goals in mind. Ophthalmology was dealt a serious blow, and all of our older patients will suffer because of the changes in how Medicare will be paying for cataract surgery. In a time when more and more people will need this surgery, when we already have a shortage of eye surgeons on the horizon, these changes will probably hasten the premature retirement of eye surgeons who will decide it's not worth it to soldier on. I will be talking with the representatives of the AAO and trying to make sure that we will be able to weather this storm at SkyVision. I'm sure there will be lots and lots of discussion about Medicare and cataract surgery.
Glaucoma is on my mind for this meeting. This disease of the optic nerve is going to be more common. Medicines like eye drops have been the mainstay of treatment, but there are several very promising surgical solutions that are being introduced this weekend. I have been telling our staff that Glaucoma will soon become a primarily surgical disease.
Lastly, with our aging population we know that there will be more people with visual handicaps that can't be helped with traditional medical, surgical, or optical means. As a profession we need to be better prepared for this coming problem. I will be exploring the world of low-vision rehabilitation this weekend."
So there you have it! You can also keep up with Dr. White on his Twitter feed @DarrellWhite. We'll report the "hashtag" to look for if you want to search for other docs attending, too. Looks like lots of stuff to come...See What's Next (R)!!
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
What is a Photoreceptor?
How do we see? How do our eyes actually translate light into something that our brains can "see"? It all starts in the retina, the thin film of tissue that lines the inside of our eyes. Everything in the front of the eye, the cornea and the lens, focus light on the retina. It's then the job of the PHOTORECEPTORS to turn that focused light into electrical energy.
Maybe you remember something about this from high school biology class! There are two types of photoreceptors, the RODS and the CONES. People who have normal color vision actually have 3 separate types of cones; we'll chat about this sometime when we talk about color blindness.
There are cones scattered throughout the retina but the vast majority of them are in the very center of the retina, the area called the macula. In the middle of the macula is the fovea and here there are nothing but cones. As you move outward from the fovea and leave the macula you enter a part of the retina that is covered almost totally with rod photoreceptors.
Cone photoreceptors are sensitive to subtle differences in light intensity and wavelength. It is this sensitivity to wavelength that allows us to see color. Different cones are activated by different wavelengths giving us our sense of color. Subtle differences in light intensity drive our sharp central vision. Cone photoreceptors are most active in bright light and do not work well in the dark. That's why you have to look just to the side of a star to see it at night!
Rods are the photoreceptors for side vision and vision at night. They are very sensitive to low levels of light, and they also "fire" when there is some evidence of movement. Some night vision problems are caused by diseases of the rods. Complex chemical reactions occur when either a rod or a cone is "excited" by the energy in light, and these reactions create the electrical impulses that eventually become sight!
Rods are the photoreceptors for side vision and vision at night. They are very sensitive to low levels of light, and they also "fire" when there is some evidence of movement. Some night vision problems are caused by diseases of the rods. Complex chemical reactions occur when either a rod or a cone is "excited" by the energy in light, and these reactions create the electrical impulses that eventually become sight!
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
RevitalVision: How Did Dr. White Do?
He finished! Dr. White has completed a 25 session "Low Myopia" RevitalVision program after being switched over from the Sport program. How did it go? Well, Dr. White can now see a full line better on the eye chart without wearing his glasses in each of his eyes! His right eye went from 20/40 to 20/30 in the right eye, and from 20/30 to almost 20/20 in the left eye.
"I'm not wearing my glasses to drive during the day anymore," said Dr. White. "I'm watching TV without my glasses, too!"
RevitalVision is a computer training program that actually increases the ability of your brain to see better. Our eyes gather and focus images which are then transported to the back of our brains. It's there, in the brain, that we actually see. The RevitalVision program increases the processing speed of the visual information, recruits additional visual pathways, and increases contrast sensitivity to allow you to see better.
There are specific programs for Low Myopia, Sports Vision, Post-Cataract and Post-LASIK, as well as an FDA approved program for Amblyopia or "lazy eye". Ask us about this amazing, exciting non-surgical way to improve your vision!
"I'm not wearing my glasses to drive during the day anymore," said Dr. White. "I'm watching TV without my glasses, too!"
RevitalVision is a computer training program that actually increases the ability of your brain to see better. Our eyes gather and focus images which are then transported to the back of our brains. It's there, in the brain, that we actually see. The RevitalVision program increases the processing speed of the visual information, recruits additional visual pathways, and increases contrast sensitivity to allow you to see better.
There are specific programs for Low Myopia, Sports Vision, Post-Cataract and Post-LASIK, as well as an FDA approved program for Amblyopia or "lazy eye". Ask us about this amazing, exciting non-surgical way to improve your vision!
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