Ophthalmology

Losing any function can be devastating, but when your vision becomes impaired, more than your eyes are affected. Along with your eyesight, you may lose your occupation and your way of life.

Ophthalmology is the study and medical treatment of eye diseases. There are three types of eye care professionals:

1. Opticians, who fit you for contact lenses and eyeglasses
2. Optometrists, who examine your eyes and treat common conditions
3. Ophthalmologists, the only vision specialists

Many underlying medical conditions affect your vision. If they’re not related to your eye physiology, your physician refers you to another in-house specialist. You may need treatment from expert physicians in fields such as:

• Primary care
• Cardiology
• Endocrinology
• Cardiovascular medicine
• Ears, nose and throat
• Pain management

When Do You Need these Expertise?

When you’re experiencing ongoing pain or chronic problems with your eyes. You also can make an appointment directly to visit a specialist who’s specifically trained in eye disorders. Symptoms that require this kind of expert diagnosis include:

• Seeing floaters, which are black strings or specks that seem to float in your field of vision
• Bulging eyes
• Abnormalities with your eyelids
• Double vision
• Distorted or blocked vision
• Excessive eye watering
• Seeing haloes, colored circles or flashes of light
• A misalignment of your eyes
• Losing your peripheral vision
• Red eyes that can’t be explained
• Severe eye pain, especially if it comes on suddenly
• An injury to one or both eyes

Pay close attention to changes in your eyesight if you have one or more of the underlying medical conditions. The ailments that can dramatically affect your vision include:

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• Graves’ disease
• HIV/AIDS
• A family history of visual impairments

Conditions Treated

Your physician focuses first on prevention. Healthy routines, from eating a balanced diet to working out, improve your overall well-being, but it also helps your eyesight. So you may need to make some recommended lifestyle changes to reduce the discomfort and symptoms affecting your vision. Maintain a positive attitude and follow your physician instructions to avoid further vision loss.

Some of the conditions we treat include:

• Astigmatism
• Macular degeneration
• Retinal detachment
• Vitreous detachment
• Glaucoma
• Blepharitis
• Keratoconus
• Eye styes
• Ingrown or infected eyelash
• Eyelid ptosis
• Inverted eyelashes
• Dry eyes
• Tear glands inflammation
• Corneal arcus
• Diabetic eye disease
• Corneal disease
• Pink eye
• Eye inflammation
• Crossed eyes
• Surfer’s eye
• Lazy eye
• Itchy eyelids
• Eye floaters
• Cataracts
• Refractive errors

Diagnosing Eye Diseases

When you visit your physician, be honest and open about your lifestyle and underlying conditions. It helps your physician arrive at the correct diagnosis. After giving a medical history of your overall health, you may undergo additional tests to rule out other conditions including:

• Eye exam
• Glaucoma test
• Eye pressure test
• Diabetic eye exam

Treatments

Your physician always chooses the least invasive treatments first. Lifestyle changes include quitting smoking, losing weight, eating a healthy diet and treating your underlying conditions. Once your MD reaches a definitive diagnosis, you begin the right treatment toward reversing the vision loss or completely restoring your eyesight. Treatments that may be required include:

• Yag procedure
• Punctal occlusion
• Stye surgery
• Lasik eye surgery
• Glaucoma surgery
• Astigmatism correction
• Eyelid retraction
• Corneal cross-linking
• Cataract surgery
• Strabismus surgery
• Pterygium surgery