Our special testing clinic has a suite of the latest equipment to diagnose and manage ocular diseases such as: Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration, Plaquenil toxicity, Diabetic Retinopathy, retinal diseases, concussions and other diseases of the human eye and visual system.
Some data from the World Health Organization:
Did you know that 81% of visual impairments could be avoided if diagnosed and treated early?
253 million people are visually impaired
84% of visual impairment results from chronic eye diseases.
Some consequences of visual impairment:
3x more likely to be unemployed
3x more likely to be involved in a motor vehicle collision
3x more likely to suffer from depression or anxiety disorders
2x more likely to have a fall
Glaucoma - Glaucoma is a disease that damages your eye's optic nerve over time. It usually happens when fluid builds in the front part of your eye - this pressure transfers to the back of your eye and over time damages your nerves. Often times you do not feel the pressure or notice the change in your vision. Glaucoma can come in both chronic and acute forms.
Regular comprehensive eye exams are critical to detecting many diseases including glaucoma - which have not obvious sign or symptom. Early diagnosis and treatment of eye and vision problems are important to preventing vision loss. Once we recognize that you are a suspect for glaucoma - we will send you out for more specialized testing to monitor or manage your condition.
Macular Degeneration (AMD) - This disease is the leading cause of severe, irreversible vision loss in Americans over the age of 50. This is a disease of the center part of the retina - the part that is needed for sharp, central vision - which allows us to see objects that are straight ahead of us. This is a devastating condition - if caught early and even if risk factors are modified early on - can improve our visual outcome dramatically! As a part of your comprehensive exam - we are looking at your retina as well as your risk factors to educate and inform you on how to protect your vision.
As in all chronic diseases that impact our eyes - there generally are not any signs or symptoms of the disease in the early phases of the disease. Annual comprehensive exams are KEY in preventing vision loss! Once we recognize that you have early disease - we aggressively monitor and manage your treatment in our Special Testing Clinic.
If you have a strong family history of AMD, we believe in empower you with knowledge, current understanding and information on how you can best impact your risk factors to give you the best chances to protect your vision for life. There are achievable things you can do to decrease your risks for macular degeneration. Among these are:
Don't smoke - or stop smoking!
Keep your blood pressure and cholesterol in check!
Get out an exercise! (Being overweight can double the risk of developing macular generation)
Wear quality sunglasses that block out UV and Blue Light (high energy wavelengths that can damage our retina)
Wear lenses that block blue light when you are on electronic devices.
Eat a diet or take vitamins that have Lutein and Zeaxanthin (green leafy veggies, orange bell peppers)
Eat LESS processed foods (Processed foods have factors that may promote inflammation)
Diabetic Retinopathy - 4 million of us in California have diabetes (13.1% of the population)... an additional 10.7 million people in California have prediabetes. This total adds up to about half of the people in California have diabetes or have pre-diabetes! Diabetic retinopathy is damage to the retina - the light sensing tissue inside our eyes - that happens when we have diabetes. This is the number 1 cause of vision loss across all ages in the United States. If left untreated, diabetic retinopathy can cause blindness.
If you have diabetes are if you have pre-diabetes, you should be seen for comprehensive eye examinations at least once a year! Diabetic retinopathy generally have no symptoms - you will not feel or see changes in your vision in the early phases of the disease.
Once we have detected changes in your eyes associated with diabetes, our Special Testing clinic will see you regularly to monitor your retina for changes and to determine whether or not further surgical or medical intervention is needed.
Our goal is to create an environment that is comfortable and educational - to empower you with knowledge and understanding - so that as a team, we can all work together to care for your eye health.