The LASIK Blog

No Proof in ABC's GMA Claim to Link Between Nearsightedness and Texting

2009-12-16T08:22:12-05:00

There was an interesting story this morning on ABC's Good Morning America: Study Finds More Nearsighted Americans. This story was based on a recent National Eye Institute Story. The lead in to this story claimed a link between our kids texting and myopia.

Also called myopia, nearsightedness is a refractive error that produces clear vision for near objects but blurs objects seen in the distance. Nearsightedness is caused by an abnormally steep curvature in the cornea or by an elongated eyeball. As a result, light rays passing through the cornea converge at a point before the retina.

Several interesting points were made in the piece:

Myopia in the US increased from 25% in the 1970's to 41% today.
Myopia effects 40 to 50 million Americans.
Costs of treatment is $2 to $3 billion annually.

The story further went on that there is a genetic predisposition to develop myopia and suggests that close work may be a contributing factor, however, there is no scientific proof if this linkage. Adding the fact that there are over 110 billion text messages sent annually just clouds the issue. Many more people eat sushi today than in the 1970's, maybe this is the cause of myopia development?!?

It might simply be that nearsighted patients like to do close tasks more because it is easier for them. The question becomes: What comes first the task or the condition?, just like the chicken and the egg story.

In my opinion there is no correlation between myopia development and close work, computer work, or texting. Further study is certainly warranted to determine environmental causes. I do agree with the takeaway message: Regular eye exams are required to maintain eye health! If there are no problems, get that eye exam every 2 years..

LASIK for the Gold's Katherine Reutter Loves Colbert Nation

2009-12-15T08:56:05-05:00

Since announcing his sponsorship of the US Olympic Speedskating Team, Stephan Colbert has had many Olympians as guests on his show. Katherine Reutter, Olympic hopeful and member of LASIK for the Gold, made it to the Colbert Show last night. She even had her thigh signed to help her towards her quest for Gold in Vancouver this February. Between this and her recent LASIK, she's a lock!

Stephan Colbert even asked Katherine for help in his challenge to defeat Olympic Speedskater Shani Davis in a race. May I suggest Katherine refer Colbert to LASIK for the Gold? This may be his only hope!

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen Challenges Shani Davis - Katherine Reutter

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

U.S. Speedskating

All Eyes on Samson Dubina in This Week's Nationals Following His LASIK

2009-12-14T17:38:07-05:00

Samson presents me with a signed paddle following his LASIK last week.

Table Tennis star Samson Dubina had his LASIK surgery last week at EyeCare 20/20 without a hitch. In fact he is already back in competition, and doing quite well. According to Samson:

To Doctor Silverman and all the staff at Eyecare 20/20,

Thank you so much for your kindness in correcting my vision. I just won my first tournament last week and look forward to excellent results next week in Las Vegas at the US Nationals. My eyes are no longer dry or tired at the end of a long competition. If you are interested in watching my matches, they should be online at www.usatt.org or at www.tabletennis.teamusa.org/live

We look forward to watching Samson's progress as a member of LASIK for the Gold in his quest for Olympic glory!

In the following video, Samson discusses his LASIK experience:

Olympic Hopeful, Samson Dubina Joins LASIK for the Gold

2009-12-07T16:11:46-05:00

Table Tennis sensation, Samson Dubina, made the trip to EyeCare 20/20 from Canton, Ohio last week in hopes of improving his chances to make the 2012 US Olympic team. Samson is an awesome Table Tennis Player, he came in 5th place in last year's Nationals and won the Mixed Doubles Competition.

In this video, Samson discusses his expectations of how LASIK will improve his performance.

Personally, I am a poor ping pong player at best. Watching Samson in action has given me a new appreciation of the sport. Hopefully, LASIK will take Samson to the next level, and olympic glory!

Vision Harvest 2009: Free Cataract Surgery Program Reveals a Health Care System in Crisis

2009-12-01T08:50:24-05:00

As I stated in my previous blog post, November 25 was the inaugural Vision Harvest free cataract surgery day at River Drive Surgery Center. Twenty patients without insurance, or the means to pay, were provided free cataract surgery. I promised to post interviews of many of these patients the day after their surgery. Well, here they are. The video is in 3 parts, due to YouTube's 10 minute time constraint.

While you are watching these videos I am sure that you will notice several recurring themes dealing with a breakdown in our health care system.

Many people who are gainfully employed cannot afford coverage.
Tying health care to employment leads to no health care when unemployed, creating a vicious cycle.
There are many large cracks in our current system which are not being addressed by the current health care debate.

After viewing these videos, I am sure that you will come to the same conclusion: our health care system is broken and in need of an overhaul. What do you think needs to be done?

Vision Harvest 2009 a Resounding Success: 20 Free Cataract Surgeries Performed

2009-11-30T10:14:44-05:00

Wednesday, November 25 was the inaugural Vision Harvest free cataract surgery day at River Drive Surgery Center. Twenty patients without insurance, or the means to pay, were provided free cataract surgery.

These patients had some of the largest cataracts I have ever seen, something one might expect in a third world country! Their stories were heartbreaking. I had a chance to video some of the patients that I treated the day after surgery at their post op visit at EyeCare 20/20. I will certainly post the video, once I get it edited. In the meantime, I have posted pictures of the event on Flickr.

At this time I would like to thank the following for making Vision Harvest 2009 so successful:

Dr. Sapna Parikh, Medical Corespondent for Fox5, who helped to get the word out by covering Vision Harvest on the news.
Keri McAuliffe, EyeCare 20/20's administrator, for coordinating the event.
Dr. Hadley Phillips (Director), Nancy Lord (Administrator), and all the Doctor Owners of River Drive Surgery Center for agreeing to provide services free of charge.
The entire staff of River Drive Surgery Center for working on their day off.
Drs. Jay Tendler and Jayati Basak, for providing free anesthesia.
Hawthorne Medical Associates for providing free medical clearances.
The Following ophthalmologists for providing their services free of charge
- Dr. Anthony D'Amato
- Dr. Phillip Eichler
- Dr. Michael Farbowitz
- Dr. Scott Pomerantz

Gene Maresca and Steve Kramaritsc of Alcon Labs for providing all surgical supplies and medications free of charge.
My daughters, Jamie and Arielle, and my nephew, Todd, for helping me to see the patients in my office on Thanksgiving Day for their 1 day post op visit.

My goal is to make Vision Harvest an annual event, the experience was "eye-opening". I never dreamed there were so many in need in our affluent community. Many patients came from our local area, but some traveled from South Jersey, New York, and as far away as Indiana! One thing became obvious to me, we have a huge health care dilemma in our country, and I don't see the current reforms before congress as an improvement to this problem. More on this in future blog posts...

Great Response to Vision Harvest "Free Cataract Surgery" Program

2009-11-22T16:35:53-05:00

SInce Fox New York's coverage last week of our Vision Harvest program we have heard from many in need of cataract surgery. These patients are without health insurance and have no means to pay for this vision restoring procedure. Many of their stories are heart breaking. I am so looking forward to November 25, when these patients will be undergoing their free cataract surgery.

Special thanks to Dr. Sapna Parikh, who covered this story on Fox. I received and e-mail from Dr. Parikh today. She forwarded me a message from one of the people we will be treating next week:

Topic: Dr. Sapna
Subject: vision harvest
Comments: I don't know how to thank you for providing me with the
information to restore my sight I was accepted today for free cataract
surgery. I have been at my wits end for 2 years trying to figure out
how to afford this procedure. Dr. Silverman is a gift from GOD and you
are an angel for delivering his message. Thank you so much Dr.Sapna.

This message has been typical of the response from those we have seen this past week at EyeCare 20/20. It certainly leaves one with a warm feeling inside. As they say, "It is better to give than to receive." I couldn't agree more!

For those interested in participating in this year's Vision Harvest program, there are still spots available for free cataract surgery for those who qualify. We will continue to be seeing patients Monday and Tuesday this week to determine eligibility for surgery on Wednesday. Those interested should call:

973-200-8250

Melinda Owen Thrilled With Her New Eyes!

2009-11-20T09:51:24-05:00

Melinda Owen presents me with a signed pair of track cleats she used in

last year's pole vault competition. Check out our new LASIK for the Gold hats!

Melinda Owen did wonderfully following her LASIK surgery this week at EyeCare 20/20. She was kind enough to drop us an e-mail:

So I want you to know that how happy I am with my eye sight!!! I pole vaulted today and wore my goggles so I had zero problems at all and saw as crisp as can be! I have been bragging about how exciting getting lasik has been to my family and told my mom and brother that I would want them to see Dr. Silverman if they were going to get it done.

So when i was going through my bag Dr. Silverman gave me I found some cards for a free lasik evaluation and so I have convinced my brother to try to get in and see him. He was an athlete as well, he wrestled for University of Michigan and now coaches wrestling at Harvard. I think after hearing how happy I am about my results it has really made him realize how much he wants to do it too. I hope you know how much I appreciated everything you did for me while I was there this past weekend. I had a great time getting to know you all. I wrote a little thing up on my blog about it even :)

She also posted on her blog:

While in the training room, here at the Olympic Center, I was complaining about my contacts when a friend Ariel Martin explained to me a program she was apart of. Lasik for the Gold, is a program Dr. Silverman started to help aspiring olympians get the care they need but may not be able to afford. Ariel is a BMX Biker who had just recently got Lasik done. She said she would email the program director about me, but I didn’t think to much of it until I got a call from them only days later.
. . .YAY!!! I couldn’t believe it. Only two short weeks after receiving the call I was flown to East Hanover, New Jersey where I met with Dr. Silverman and his team to get Lasik Eye Surgery done It was a huge success!!! Not only am I able to see 20/15 now, but I was also given the opportunity to meet some amazing people.

As most anyone would be, I was very nervous to get the surgery done not to mention the fact that I was to fly across the country and do it all by my self. That is right, every girl wants her mom near by to take care of her :-) But from the moment I landed, Dr. Silverman’s assistant Keri made sure I was completely taken care of and extremely comfortable. I hope that they realize how appreciative I am for everything. I suggest you take a Lasik for the Gold to see the amazing things Dr. Silverman has done.

http://www.lasikforthegold.com/

We are so looking forward to the upcoming pole vault season and rooting for Melinda in her bid to make it to the 2012 Olympics in London. In the following video, Melinda talks about her experience with the LASIK procedure at EyeCare 20/20.

Visian ICL Vision: Still Awesome After All These Years!

2009-11-19T17:43:11-05:00

Frank Gallina is one of EyeCare 20/20's go to guys. Whenever a patient is considering having an ICL implant to improve their vision, Frank is the person who we recommend they speak with. Frank was a -12 myope who came in for a LASIK screening, he was not a candidate. The ICL option was offered to him, he did it, and the results are awesome. We even posted a letter Frank wrote us last year about his vision.

Frank is now 3 years post op. His vision is still 20/20 without glasses. Frank was nice enough to talk about his ICL experience with me on this video.

Pole Vaulter Melinda Owen Joins LASIK for the Gold

2009-11-18T22:49:49-05:00

Olympic hopeful pole vaulter, Melinda Owen, traveled to New Jersey this week from the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California to get LASIK. Hailing from Montana, one wouldn't expect Melinda to be such a proficient pole vaulter. She was a 2007 NCAA All- American while attending Idaho. Melinda placed 10th at the Olympic Trials and took a Bronze Metal at the 2009 National Indoor Championships.

"From the mountains of Flathead Valley to the always sunny San Diego I am continuing my passion and dream of competing at the 2012 Olympic Games in London England!"

In this video, Melinda discusses the problems she has competing with contact lenses. Our goal, eliminate that problem and help Melinda achieve her dream of competing in London in 2012!