The LASIK Blog

Wear Red for LASIK a Huge Success!! (Not over yet)

This past Friday was National Wear Red Day.  Each year on the first Friday in February, thousands of hospitals, small businesses,multinational corporations, news broadcasters, schools, individuals and even landmarks “Go Red” to help raise crucial awareness and significant funds in the fight against heart disease in women.  We at EyeCare 20/20 did our part as well.

Heart disease is still the No. 1 killer of women, taking the life of 1 in 3 women each year.  This means women just like you — mothers, sisters, friends — are dying at the rate of one per minute. In fact, in the time it takes to read this, another woman will die from heart disease!

National Wear Red Day's mission to ensure we never have to deny research that could save a woman’s life. Funds are raised for lifesaving educational programs and the development of new treatments to fight heart disease.

To help raise these needed funds, thru the end of February, EyeCare 20/20 has teamed up with the American Heart Association and Go Red For Women on a mission to fight heart disease in women. Donate $50.00 to the EyeCare 20/20's Go Red fundraising page, we'll match it and you'll receive $500.00 off a bi-lateral LASIK surgery.  Its a win, win, win situation!

Go Pirates! Seton Hall Basketball Winner Loves Her LASIK...

Last year, Seton Hall's Mens Basketball Team offered a free LASIK surgery to their fans the final game of the season at the Rock.  Emilia Keen was the luck winner.  Emilia attends all Seton Hall games as her daughter is a cheer leader for the team.

Emilia was in the office yesterday for her 6 month post op visit.  She is quite happy with her results.  Since she opted for a monovision treatment, she is able to see both distance and close without the need for glasses or contact lenses.

 

Make a Difference and Save: Go Red and Get LASIK!

 

Thru the end of February, EyeCare 20/20 has teamed up with the American Heart Association and Go Red For Women on a mission to fight heart disease in women. Donate $50.00 to the EyeCare 20/20's Go Red fundraising page, we'll match it and you'll receive $500.00 off a bi-lateral LASIK surgery.
 
Go Red For Women has raised more than $200 million to benefit women's cardiovascular health. The American Heart Association uses revenue collected to support awareness, research, education and community programs to benefit women and to motivate them to reduce their risks.

Isn't it time you joined the thousands of people who have fallen in love with LASIK?  People from all facets of life who now share a common thread: Good Vision.

 

 

Warm Coats Warm Hearts Drive a Huge Success!

EyeCare 20/20's annual Warm Coats Warm Hearts Drive was a huge success.  This year, in exchange for bringing a coat into our office, patients received $500 off their LASIK procedure.  Over 50 coats were collected!

Today we dropped the coats off at our local Burlington Coat Factory.  Hopefully, these coats will find their way to those in need to help keep them warm this winter.

Thank you to everyone who made this year's coat drive possible.  Stay tuned to our next charitable endeavor...

My wife, Melissa, and I dropping the coats off at the Burlington Coat Factory.

ICLs Surpass 200,000 World Wide Implants

STAAR Surgical has announced that more than 200,000 of its implantable contact lenses (Visian Implantable Collamer Lens) have been implanted in patients worldwide.

Since 1994, these lenses have been used in refractive surgery as an alternative to LASIK.  I have been using the ICL for the past 4 years, since their introduction to the US, to effectively treat my myopic patients who either have a degree of myopia too high to be treated with LASIK, or who would not do well with corneal refractive surgery. 

Since it was introduced in 2006, the Visian ICL has been improving the vision of the bravest people in our nation under the harshest of conditions imaginable. In fact, to date surgeons in the US military have implanted over 3,000 ICLs with results that are nothing less of heroic. In a retrospective analysis of outcomes in 139 consecutive eyes of US military personnel implanted with the Visian ICL:

• 100% of patients believe the Visian ICL enables them to function and perform better
• More than 80% patients achieve UVCA on 20/15 or better
• 86% achieve UCVA the same or better than per-op BCVA

The bottom line? If the Visian ICL can meet the needs of US soldiers on the battlefield, one can be confident it will deliver excellent vision for demanding younger patients with active, fast-paced lifestyles – every day.

 

Something to Cry About: Scent of Women's Tears Decreases Male Labido

Tears are necessary for maintaining the health of the front surface of the eye and for providing clear vision.  Dry eye is a condition in which there are not enough tears to lubricate and nourish the eye. Patients with dry eyes either do not produce enough tears or have a poor quality of tears. Dry eye is a common and often chronic problem, particularly in older adults.  Very little has been said about crying and tears, until now...

There is an interesting article in this month's Science titled: Human Tears Contain a Chemosignal.  According to the researchers out of Israel:

Emotional tearing is a poorly understood behavior that is considered uniquely human. In mice, tears serve as a chemosignal. We therefore hypothesized that human tears may similarly serve a chemosignaling function. We found that merely sniffing negative-emotion–related odorless tears obtained from women donors, induced reductions in sexual appeal attributed by men to pictures of women’s faces. Moreover, after sniffing such tears, men experienced reduced self-rated sexual arousal, reduced physiological measures of arousal, and reduced levels of testosterone. Finally, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed that sniffing women's tears selectively reduced activity in brain-substrates of sexual arousal in men.

NPR also ran an interesting segment today on the article, titled Smell the Sadness.  You can listen to the segment below: 

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As a side note, researchers found that between birth and the age of 78 a woman will cry for more than 12,000 hours.  That's 1.36 years!!  Better buy some shares of Viagara maker's Pfiezer at that rate...

Will Nintendo 3DS Stunt Your Kids Eyes?

First the answer... No!!  Here is another sign of the times to cover ourselves in a litigenous society...

According to CNN:

Nintendo is warning young children against playing 3-D video games on its upcoming handheld gaming system, the Nintendo 3DS. Kids age 6 and younger who play the 3-D games may have the growth of their eyes stunted..

The warning notes that parents can turn off the 3-D functionality of the handheld 3DS. They can also set passwords that keep kids from using that feature.

The statement also asks everyone who plays the 3-D gaming system to take periodic breaks from the games as often as every hour or 30 minutes.

The warning follows many others on the potential health effects of three-dimensional entertainment. TV makers have issued warnings about young people, pregnant women and even drunk people viewing 3-D TV, noting that the medium may cause nausea, dizziness, and seizures.

I spoke today with EyeCare 20/20's pediatric ophthalmologist, Dr Lauren Rispoli, today about this.  Dr. Rispoli said there is absolutely no scientific basis to make these claims, there is no way a 3-D device can stunt a child's eyes! 

 

My Top 10 LASIK Blog Posts of 2010

Hard to believe its the end of 2010.  Boy, has this year flown by...  It's time again to list my top 10 blog posts of the year.  Here they are:

1. One-Sided Reporting:  Diane Sawyer of ABC News Covers LASIK With Bias Reporting.  This was by far my most read blog post of the year.  It was very popular within the ophthalmology community and was discussed in a number of blogs and publications.
2. Vision Harvest 2010.  This is a series of posts promoting our second annual free cataract surgery initiative.  It was a great success with over 25 people receiving free cataract surgery this year.
3. Get LASIK and Help Build a Well. The Charity Water Project.  This was our first offer combining charitable giving with a discount for LASIK surgery.  These efforts have been quite successful with over $6,000 going to various charities since July!  We will continue to tie charitable giving with LASIK discount offers in 2011.  Stay tuned!
4. Avastin vs. Lucentis in Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration  By: Wendy Bedale.  The Avastin:Lucentis controversy has also been a popular topic on my blog.  Wendy Bedale was kind enough to allow me to reprint her excellent paper describing the history of this treatment for macular degeneration.
5. Traumatic Dislocation of LASIK Flaps 4 and 9 Years After Surgery.  An article that I wrote about a rare late complication of LASIK that was published in the Journal of Refractive Surgery.
6. LASIK for the Gold.  Our LASIK for the Gold program allowed a number of winter athletes to receive LASIK surgery.  Our athletes won 7 medals in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.  Several more will competing in the 2012 Summer Games in London!
7. An Ode to LASIK.  Another borrowed post from Sonja Johnson, who sings the praises for LASIK.
8. My Dad Turns 80 and I Find Out His ReSTOR Eyes Are Better Than Mine! An "aha" moment, when I discover my dad sees better without glasses than me..
9. Video Testimonials.  ANother ongoing category where I interview patients who discuss the results of their various surgical procedures.
10. 5 Reasons Not to Get LASIK at a Corporate LASIK Center.  This says it all, a case for personalized care..

 

I hope you all have enjoyed reading this blog.  I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you in 2011.  We at EyeCare 20/20 can only hope that the next year brings everyone much health and happiness.  If there is anything you would like me to discuss, please feel free to drop me a note at [email protected]

 

What We Do With Your Glasses After LASIK

I have posted in the past about what we at EyeCare 20/20 do with old glasses following LASIK and Refractive Cataract Surgery.  Basically, we set up collection boxes in our reception area for our patient to donate their old glasses.  We must collect over 10 large boxes of glasses annually.  We then donate these glassses to those in need. 

Our last supply was given to Mike Kambourakis and the Rotary Club of the Caldwells, who arranged to help the people of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.  His story was told in a local paper, and reprinted below, along with a letter from Mike.

If you have glasses that you no longer use and would like to donate them, drop them in the mail to:

EyeCare 20/20
Glasses Donation
46 Eagle Rock Ave.
East Hanover, NJ  07936

We will be happy to make sure that they get to someone in need!

 

 

 

   

Toys for Tot's for LASIK a Success

Today was the last day of EyeCare 20/20's U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots drive.  We were able to collect many boxs of toys in exchange for LASIK discounts.  We decided to help the Madison Police Department in their efforts to collect toys for this worthy cause.  Today, officer Ed Mitchko came by to pick up the toys for the department.  I am sure that our patients have helped in making many children happy this Christmas Season, thank you all for your generosity.

In keeping with the holiday spirit, we will continue our $500 LASIK discount in exchange for a donated coat as part of Burlington Coat Factory and Good Morning America's Warm Coats, Warm Hearts Coat Drive.  This drive will continue through February.