Lasik Eye Surgeons Blog

Longer, Thicker, Darker Eyelashes With Latisse®

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:11:09 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Latisse® is the new prescription medicine for growing longer, thicker eyelashes. Patients are already coming to my office and asking for it. The aesthetician in my office has been using it for a number of weeks and already reports a noticeable difference in her eyelashes. Latisse® was developed [...]

Macular Degeneration and Cataract Surgery

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:09:31 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? For many years it has been controversial whether having cataract surgery could accelerate the development of advanced macular degeneration. Some patients have cataract surgery, and not long after, develop worsening of their macular degeneration. Patients, of course, will often blame the cataract surgery. (I have at least [...]

Botox® Competition Soon

admin — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 21:27:55 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Botox® has been a mainstay in non-surgical facial enhancement for over a decade, and has proven safe and effective. Every year we find more ways to use it (for example, to raise the corners of a downturned mouth, or soften the lines around the mouth). In the [...]

Self-adjusting eyeglasses?

admin — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:45:39 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Joshua Silver, a British physicist, aims to make eyeglasses more readily available for poor people around the world. He has developed eyeglasses which can be adjusted by inflating or deflating a fluid filled lens. When the lens is properly adjusted, the adjusting syringe is removed and the glasses are ready [...]

Testing Your Color Vision

admin — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:30:34 +0000

Did you know? There is an online resource which enables you to test your color vision. The X-Rite company, which manufactures devices which insure color standardization between computer monitors, provides a color test on their website. The test is called the 100-hue test, and involves arranging tiles in order of their hue. It’s rather challenging, [...]

Critical Thinking

admin — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:16:10 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Brian Dunning is the host of one of my favorite podcasts, called Skeptoid. Since not everyone listens to podcasts, Brian produced a video which encapsulates what you need to know to think critically. This ability is crucial to evaluating medical and nutritional claims, as well as claims you hear everyday in the media [...]

Happy Birthday, Joaquin Rodrigo! (1901-1999)

admin — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:28:46 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Famed Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo was born on this day in 1901. He is best known for his guitar concertos, which helped introduce the guitar into the classical repertory. Rodrigo was blinded at age 3 from diphtheria, according to his biography. Diphtheria, while exceeding rare today, was [...]

Izon® Eyeglasses, by Ophthonix

admin — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:08:02 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? For a number of years, San Diego–based Ophthonix has produced customized eyeglasses as well as an aberrometer/autorefractor to measure the eye’s wavefront characteristics and refraction. It is only recently, however, that a large-scale, well-designed, rigorous, double-masked study has been presented to show the effectiveness of these eyeglasses as well [...]

Plugging away at glaucoma!

admin — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:22:30 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Researchers are investigating a novel method to deliver medications to the eye. A study sponsored by the QLT Corporation placed medication for glaucoma in a small plug, inserted into the lower punctum of the eye. You have probably noticed these tiny openings in your eyelids which drain tears [...]

Glaucoma: a family affair?

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:35:18 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Ophthalmologists routinely inquire about a family history of glaucoma, as it has long been known that glaucoma can run in families (the exact genetics are not known for most glaucomas, though). A recent study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology compared the eye pressures of identical [...]

More fishy news

admin — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:34:15 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? A study published in the August 2008 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that eating oily fish (like salmon) more than once a week may lower the odds of developing severe macular degeneration by 50%, compared to those who eat oily fish less than [...]

Happy Birthday, Ray Charles

admin — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:41:19 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Today is the anniversary of the birth of Ray Charles! (Sept. 23, 1930-June 10, 2004) This musical legend lost his vision at around age 5. Unfortunately, sources disagree on the cause of his blindness, and according to a 60-Minutes interview, Charles himself was not sure of the [...]

Happy Birthday, Jose Feliciano

admin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 14:39:17 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Puerto Rican-born singer Jose Feliciano was born blind from congenital glaucoma. Congenital glaucoma is a rare condition where the drainage system of the eye does not function properly, leading to high pressure in the eye and damage to the optic nerve. When this occurs around birth, the [...]

Botox: No Sweat!

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 15:14:57 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? There a many people who are incapacitated by excess sweating. Antiperspirants are of little help, and they avoid social or public situations due to embarrassment. Botox can help! Sweat glands are triggered by nervous impulses carried by the chemical acetylcholine. Botox blocks the release of this chemical, [...]

Dermal Fillers for Facial Sculpting

admin — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:06:59 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Many patients are familiar with the use of dermal fillers, such as Juvederm, Restylane, and Prevelle, to fill nasolabial folds to give a more youthful appearance. That is just the beginning! Before deciding what treatment is best, it is necessary to use a mirror and evaluate the [...]

Prevelle

admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:15:33 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? There is a new dermal filler available called Prevelle, made by the Mentor corporation. Prevelle has a number of advantages. Compared to other dermal fillers, Prevelle is more comfortable, and it is less expensive. It is made of hyaluronic acid, a natural substance found in skin, similar to [...]

Happy Birthday Stevie Wonder

admin — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:15:39 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? Singer Stevie Wonder was born prematurely, and developed an eye condition called retinopathy of prematurity, which left him blind. Eyes of pre-term babies do not have fully developed vascular systems. Sometimes the blood vessels will develop abnormally, leading to scarring and possible blindness. This condition was much [...]

Glaucoma Linked to Low Pressure in Brain?

admin — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:08:01 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? A study published in the May 2008 journal Ophthalmology found a fascinating link, which, if verified, could alter how we think of glaucoma. The Mayo Clinic studied the records of all patients who had lumbar punctures (spinal taps) between 1996 and 2007. They identified 28 of these [...]

Are we due for a new class of glaucoma medications?

admin — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:35:48 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know? It has been twelve years since there have been any significant additions to our supply of medications for glaucoma. In 1996 Xalatan was introduced, the first of the prostaglandin agents which quickly took over first-line therapy for most glaucoma patients. The prostaglandins simply worked better with fewer [...]

Eye Didn’t Know!

admin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:43:05 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Measuring Eye Pressure Did you know? Until 1905 there was no objective way to measure pressure within the eye. In that year, Norwegian ophthalmologist Hjalmar Schiotz invented the first tonometer, which now bears his name, the Schiotz tonometer. Until this time, doctors estimated pressure within the eye by pushing on the eye [...]

“You use lasers to remove cataracts, right?

admin — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:58:56 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Blog Did you know that cataracts are NOT removed with a laser? Ophthalmologists use many types of lasers for dozens of indications, but removing cataracts is not one of them! The state of the art in cataract removal today is called phacoemulsification, which uses a tiny probe to dissolve the cloudy [...]

Omega-3 Oils for Dry Eye?

admin — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:37:58 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Did you know? A new study published in the February 2008 issue of Archives of Ophthalmology showed that applying omega-3 fatty acids to the surface of the eyes of laboratory mice protected them from the effects of dry conditions. Eyedrops containing two compounds, alpha-linoleic acid, and linoleic acid, a mixture of [...]

Happy Birthday Abe!

admin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:27:34 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Did you know? There is a story about Abraham Lincoln seeing his ghost while looking into a mirror from his bed, shortly after being elected in 1860. By studying numerous photographs and portraits of Lincoln, ophthalmologists have determined that Lincoln had a weakness of a muscle in his left eye (the [...]

New approach to macular degeneration treatment

admin — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:50:56 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Did you know? Researchers at the University of Florida are testing a new compound, Compstatin, for its effectiveness in preventing complications of macular degeneration. This small protein blocks complement, which promotes inflammation in the body. It is believed that complement is involved upstream in the process which eventually leads to [...]

Happy Birthday Louis Braille

admin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 15:09:11 +0000

Submitted by Eye Didn’t Know Did you know? Louis Braille (1809–1852), invented the braille system of writing for the blind and visually impaired. Braille became blind at age four when he accidentally stabbed himself in the eye with his father’s awl. This caused inflammation and eventual blindness in the other eye as well, a condition called [...]