Eye Bear Tracks, Freckles & Colon Cancer

How could your eyes, having a colonoscopy and colon cancer possibly be related?  If during your eye exam your eye doctor told you that you had “Bear Tracks” or “Pigment Spots” or “Retina Freckles”-all common names for Congenital Retinal Pigment Epithelial Hypertrophy (CHRPE), being aware of the relationship between your eyes and the need for a colonoscopy might be more important than you think.

The retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) is a layer of the retina which can sometimes be thicker than normal at birth-or “hypertrophic”. “During regular eye exams when we find these areas of retinal pigmented epithelial hypertrophy typically they do not cause any vision problems or symptoms and are pretty unremarkable,” commented Dr. Leslie Doctor.

Congenital Retinal Pigment Epithelial Hypertrophy (CHRPE) is usually found before patients reach 30 years of age and although they may enlarge with time they usually do not lead to malignancies like colon cancer. However, there is an association between people with Gardner's Syndrome-Familial Colonic Polyposes-or polyps of the colon, and CHRPE. If your eye doctor has told you that you have Congenital Retinal Pigment Epithelial Hypertrophy-perhaps called “Bear Tracks” or “Pigment Spots” or “Retina Freckles”, it is important to carefully explore and review your family history reasonable with a Gastroenterologist who will likely schedule you for a colonoscopy. CHRPE has a “statistically significant” correlation with hereditary colon polyps known as Familial Adenomatous Polyposis, or FAP. It may be that the freckles are caused by the same genetic mutation that produces the polyps. A study published in 2010 in the American Journal of Gastroenterology concluded that patients with such freckles should be referred for colonoscopies.

Thus-when we are over 50 years of age, the reasons to have yearly eye exams includes not only detecting cataracts, glaucoma, age related macular degeneration (AMD) and other eye diseases, but regular eye examinations may very well be a reminder to be screened via colonoscopy to help detect early risks and potential indicators of colon cancer.

If you have any questions or concerns or need to schedule an eye exam please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates is a leading Fairfield County Connecticut eye care practice with offices at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Why Do Women Need Bifocals Sooner?

Fairfield County eye doctor Leslie Doctor, M.D. commented that over the years many women have seemed to need bifocals, reading glasses or some type of help with near vision before men of the same age. She offered some thoughts based on recent research on why women need bifocals for correcting near vision and presbyopia sooner than men. “Researchers reporting in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science (IOVS)  actually found that women tend to need bifocals sooner to correct their near vision and the onset of presbyopia-the age related near vision focusing problem,” stated Dr. Doctor. “The studies show that presbyopia, the inability to see at a close distance that occurs with age, is more common in women. While men and women need bifocals as they age, the need is more common among women and tends to hit them at younger ages than men. It is believed that while men and women appeared to actually have the same focusing ability when looking at nearby objects, because women are generally shorter than the men, with proportionally shorter arm lengths, they needed to hold objects closer to their faces when reading and thus required the near vision presbyopia correction of bifocals, reading glasses or even bifocal contact lenses sooner.”

If you have any questions or concerns about near vision problems, presbyopia, close focusing problems or the need for bifocals and reading glasses please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates is a leading Fairfield County Connecticut eye care practice with offices at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Glaucoma Eye Drop Smartphone App

Connecticut Ophthalmologist Leslie Doctor, M.D. shared information about a free smartphone app to remind glaucoma patients to take their eye drops and medications. “One of the biggest glaucoma management problems we have is when patients don’t remember to use their glaucoma eye drops or take their other medications,” explained Dr. Doctor. “The free smartphone EyeDROPS app should help us get better patient compliance and consistency with their glaucoma medications and thus hopefully better control of the eye disease.”

The EyeDROPS app prompts users to enter information about the eye drops they are taking, including dosages and schedules. The app then alerts patients via their phones when it’s time to put in their eye drops. The app keeps a record of medication usage and informs the patient of the next scheduled dosing time. The free EyeDROPS app even allows patients to take a photo of each bottle to avoid confusion when taking more than one kind of eye drop. The EyeDROPS app is available for Android phones through Google Play and for the Apple iPhone through the App Store. “Early detection, diagnosis and consistent treatment is the name of the game in preventing vision loss from glaucoma,” said Dr. Doctor. 

If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the EyeDROPS app  for glaucoma please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates is a leading Fairfield County Connecticut eye care practice with offices at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851

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