Eye Care & Surgery Center NJ Bladeless LASIK Laser Cataract Surgeon Blog

Monday, January 26, 2015

Glaucoma Testing & Eye Exams

Importance of Glaucoma Eye Exams & Testing
Glaucoma eye exams, testing and screenings are the best way to avoid vision loss from glaucoma through early detection, diagnosis and treatment. This is why proper glaucoma eye exams and screenings are so important-especially for anyone with glaucoma risk factors such as family history, diabetes, smoking or race related factors.


Information About Glaucoma Eye Exams & Testing
Eye exams for glaucoma should begin by checking your visual acuity with and without your eyeglasses or contact lenses. Then, the tonometry test should be performed. This is a method of measuring your Intraocular Pressure (IOP) and gives the eye doctors the first piece of important information in determining whether you might have glaucoma. Ophthalmoscopy is another examination procedure used to detect and diagnose glaucoma. Ophthalmoscopy is a method of carefully examining the inside of the eye-especially the optic nerve-in order to detect glaucoma. It is necessary to have some eye drops placed in your eyes in order to dilate your pupils so that the doctors can make a clear and direct observation of the optic nerve.

If either the Intraocular Pressure (IOP) is elevated or the optic nerve appears unusual, additional tests will be necessary in order to complete the glaucoma examination. These may include Visual Field Perimetry, Gonioscopy, Optic Nerve Computer Imaging and Pachymetry. Should you need any of these tests we explain them fully to you and answer your questions so that you understand how they allow us to diagnose glaucoma.

If you are under 40 years of age and do not have any family history of glaucoma or ocular hypertension-and have no other glaucoma risk factors such as high blood pressure or diabetes or being of African-American or Hispanic descent, then having a glaucoma eye examination every two years should be sufficient. If you have any glaucoma risk factors, a family history or are over 40-especially if you are of African-American or Hispanic descent, then a glaucoma eye exam each year is recommended.

If you or someone you know has a question about glaucoma risk factors or needs and eye exam and glaucoma testing, please call The Eye Care & SurgeryCenter at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment. The Eye Care & Surgery Center is located at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, and is conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Postmenopausal Hormone May Reduce Glaucoma Risk

Among the known glaucoma riskfactors such as family history, smoking, diabetes, age and race, it is also known that women who have an early onset of menopause also seem to be at greater risk of glaucoma-which suggests a role of female hormones in glaucoma risk.



Research on Postmenopausal Hormones & Glaucoma Risk
According to researchers publishing in JAMA Ophthalmology taking estrogen only postmenopausal hormone (PMH) treatment may help reduce the risk for primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). By reviewing data from 152,163 women 50 years or older the researchers found that 1.9% of enrollees developed POAG. Each additional month of use of PMH containing estrogen only was associated with a 0.4 percent reduced risk for POAG whereas each additional month of use of estrogen + progesterone or estrogen + androgen hormones did not affect risk for POAG. This is interesting information and will require further prospective clinical studies to understand fully but may offer some novel treatments for primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), an insidious sight threatening eye diseases and the most common type of glaucoma.

If you or someone you know has a question about postmenopausal hormones and glaucoma risk or any glaucoma risk factors or needs and eye exam and glaucoma testing, please call The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

The Eye Care & Surgery Center is located at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, and is conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.

Monday, January 12, 2015

LASIK Life Changer

On June 22, 2014, I suffered an injury to my eye which caused me to have to wear my eye glasses for weeks because I couldn't put my contact lenses in my eyes. Talk about the worst couple of weeks ever.  I have no memory of NOT wearing glasses and I started wearing contact lenses 21 years ago.  My vision is pretty bad so I am 100% dependent on eye glasses / contacts in order to see ANYTHING,  While at the Eye Care & Surgery Center in Iselin for my follow up, I mentioned how frustrated I was at having to wear my glasses and how I was over the entire situation.  The employees there mentioned that a LASIK consultation could be done in their Springfield office and I made the appointment for 2 weeks later, RIGHT THEN AND THERE!  That was the beginning of one of the biggest changes for me.  On my birthday, August 12th, I decided to allow Dr. Confino give me one of the best birthday gifts I'd ever received - the gift of new vision!  That evening I woke up, looked at my clock across the room and saw that the clock CLEARLY said 10:14pm!  BEST DAY OF 2014!!

Today, November 12, 2014 is exactly 3 months after my corrective surgery and I still wake up in the morning thinking I left my contacts in :) - I cannot believe this is real and my vision is now better than 20/20.  Dr. Confino is truly a magician and oddly enough, I'm grateful to have injured my eye that day which caused me to end up at his practice.  

I highly recommend that ANYONE considering vision correction surgery go visit Dr. Confino and his AMAZING staff.  They will literally hold your hand through the procedure, if that's what you want and the patience they have is truly beyond measure.  From meeting with Jerette and shedding a few tears of fear and then later tears of joy, to the blurry walk to laser suite, to sitting up and seeing Dr. Confino, to the painless recovery, this journey has been amazing.  

With infinite thanks and gratitude, 
J. Young

If you or someone you know has a question about Bladeless LASIK or would like to schedule a free LASIK Consultation, please call The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 800-504-1083, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment.

The Eye Care & Surgery Center is located at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, and is conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Glaucoma Eye Exams in the New Year

Each January as part of the recognition of Glaucoma Awareness Month, the ophthalmologists and staff at The Eye Care & Surgery Center remind patients to schedule eye exams with glaucoma testing as necessary. We have worked with patients to help reduce their risk of glaucoma and vision loss from glaucoma through regular eye exams. Now, we can report that there is good news for those with glaucoma or at risk of getting glaucoma. New advances in diagnosis and treatment are thought to lower the chance of vision loss, and in fact the risk of blindness from glaucoma has dropped by nearly half according to researchers from Mayo Clinic.

Glaucoma is a condition where the eye does not drain fluid properly, resulting in high pressure in the eye that can damage the optic nerve. In the United States, 2.7 million people age 40 and older have the condition. If left untreated, glaucoma reduces peripheral vision and eventually may cause blindness. According to the Mayo Clinic study, the likelihood of losing sight in one eye was 28 percent for patients diagnosed with glaucoma between 1965 and1980. That number fell to 13.5 percent for patients diagnosed between 1981 and 2000.

Regular eye exams are the best way to detect glaucoma early and initiate treatment as quickly as possible. At The Eye Care & Surgery Center, as necessary, we routinely use our in office high technology diagnostic imaging called Optical Coherence Technology (OCT) as well as high resolution digital photography for diagnostic purposes along with glaucoma laser treatments to enhance our ability to prevent vision loss and blindness from glaucoma. Patients still have a key role to play here, as even with these advances, some 13-15 percent of those diagnosed with glaucoma still do go blind. We can’t over emphasize the importance of getting regular eye exams to detect glaucoma in the early stages so that we can prescribe vision preserving treatment as soon as possible.

If you or someone you know is concerned about glaucoma, has any risk factors for glaucoma or needs to schedule a glaucoma eye exam, please feel free to call The Eye Care & Surgery Center at 908-789-8999, visit The Eye Care & Surgery Center or facebook.com/eyecareandsurgerycenter to schedule an appointment. The EyeCare & Surgery Center is located at 592 Springfield Avenue, Westfield, New Jersey 07090, 10 Mountain Boulevard, Warren, New Jersey 07059 and 517 Route One South, Suite 1100, Iselin, New Jersey 08830, and is conveniently located for patients from throughout central and northern New Jersey.