Monday, April 27, 2015

Do I Have Pink Eye Conjunctivitis?

Pretty much every day, patients call us at Doctor & Associates about their children or themselves and want to know if they have conjunctivitis or “pink eye”. Realistically, it is impossible to tell without coming in for an external eye exam, but there are typical signs and symptoms we do use to diagnose “pink eye” or conjunctivitis when you do come in.

Signs & Symptoms of “Pink Eye” or Conjunctivitis
Bacterial Conjunctivitis
First, if you have a bacterial infection causing pink eye conjunctivitis, you will usually have very red eyes. You may find crusting on your eyelids that can make them stick together as well as a heavy, pus-like discharge from your eyes that may be greenish at times. This infection may spread to both eyes.

Viral Conjunctivitis
If you have a viral conjunctivitis we often will find a very red, swollen eye, crusty eyelids and a more watery discharge. This discharge can also have strands of mucus or white, ropy strands. While many cases of viral pink eye infect only one eye, this infection can also spread to the other eye.

Allergic Conjunctivitis
If you have an allergic conjunctivitis and your allergies are causing your conjunctivitis, it will often look similar to viral conjunctivitis. Your eyes will be red and tearing. However, they will also be itchy. It is likely you may have a stuffy, runny or itchy nose as well.

Treatment of Conjunctivitis
In most instances, our treatment is typically supportive. Antibiotics do not treat viral infections but do work well in treating bacterial conjunctivitis. Regardless of the cause, it is important to minimize exposure of others by washing your hands frequently and throwing away used tissues. Do not share towels or pillow cases. Consider staying home from work or school until you are symptom-free for 24 hours. If you are a contact lens wearer, you should discontinue their use and stick with glasses until your infection clears. Then start with a fresh pair of lenses and a clean lens case.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about whether they have “pink eye” conjunctivitis, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment for an eye exam.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Help for Watery Itchy Eye Allergies! By Leslie Doctor M.D.

Are you really bothered by itchy, watery, red eyes more and more these days? 

As pollen season really gets underway, this time of year many patients come to see us complaining about red, itchy and watery eyes. These are the typical symptoms of eye allergies. Even with a thorough and careful exam of the ocular surface it can be a challenge to distinguish between ocular allergy and dry eye disease or other ocular surface problems. While we have made good progress in dry eye testing and diagnosis, up until now trying to find the cause of eye allergies and watery itchy eyes often required intradermal testing by an allergist. These intradermal tests use multiple injections to try and find the cause and it isn’t terribly comfortable or convenient for patients. Now, we are able to do in office testing with a  new liquid antigen eye allergy, This is a novel, FDA approved, pain-free way to test if a patient is allergic to up to 60 different ocular allergens with “no needle and no injections.”

About the New Liquid Antigen Eye Allergy Test
The new eye allergy test uses liquid antigens on a plastic applicator that is placed on the patient’s forearm with gentle pressure-and it provides results in less than 15 minutes. If the patient is allergic to a particular allergen there is a small hive that forms on their forearm. By more accurately determining if and to which antigens a patient is allergic to it gives us the ability to identify where the antigens might be present in the patient’s environment and deal with them accordingly, along with the eye symptoms and signs of the allergy. This in office testing is covered by almost all major health insurance companies.

Help for Red Itchy Eye Allergies
Knowing the cause of the allergies helps us to determine the best course of treatment. Sometimes oral antihistamines alone or with antihistamine or steroid eye drops are necessary whereas in other cases we simply need to counsel and advise the patient to remove and avoid the source of the allergen in their home or workplace. If you have allergies that cause you to experience symptoms such as itchy watery eyes you may be one of a great many allergy sufferers who could benefit from the advances in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies.

If you or someone you know suffers from itchy, red, watery eyes or eye allergies please feel free to call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Do Early Cataracts Predict Cancer Risk?

Early Cataracts & Increased Cancer Risk
In the absence of a strong family history of early cataracts, the development of cataracts at an unusually early age tends to raise questions about a patient’s overall health. There has been a suspicious association between the early onset of cataracts-in patients under 55 years old and the potential risk for developing cancer. This is thought to be due to the fact that early onset cataract is linked to insufficient antioxidative activity in one’s metabolism-which is also a known factor for increasing the risk of cancer.  

Researchers reporting the journal Cancer Science, the official journal of the Japanese Cancer Association investigated the risk of cancer after being diagnosed with early onset cataract. The researchers examined claims from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) of patients with early onset cataract, aged 20-55 and also compared it to a group of the same age range without cataracts. By using powerful statistical analysis they found that the overall incidence rate of all cancers was 2.19-fold higher in the early onset cataract group as compared to those without cataracts.  Further they were able to analyze where these patients were at greatest risk of developing cancer and found head and neck areas highest, followed by liver cancer and then breast cancer. This study suggests that patients with early onset cataract are at an increased risk of being diagnosed with cancer in subsequent years.

If you or someone you know is concerned about early cataract development or needs a regular eye exam where do a routine cataract screening and exam, please share this information with them and ask them to call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates in Fairfield County or facebook.com/doctorandassociates to schedule an appointment.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.

Monday, April 13, 2015

What Exactly is Antireflective Coating?

To improve both vision and appearance an antireflective coating (AR coat) is applied. AR coating consist of several layers of metal oxides applied to both sides of the lens. Each layer progressively blocks reflections from the lens. This benefits the patient in several ways. The patient will see a reduction in nighttime glare, a great safety benefit when driving at night. The coating will also help cut the glare created from a computer screen or an overhead reading lamp.


Additionally, an antireflective coating reduces reflections on the lenses themselves when viewed by another person, creating cosmetically more natural looking lens on the face. With anantireflective coating, lenses appear non-existent in photos and are unnoticeable to people looking at the wearer.  All of these benefits are even greater with higher prescriptions.

With sunglasses lenses, an AR coat applied to the back surface of the lens helps reduce the reflections of light that enter from behind the wearer and bounce off the tinted surface into the wearer's eyes. The darker the sun tint, the more noticeable theses back surface reflections will be. An AR-coated sun lens is much more visually comfortable than an uncoated sunglass. We highly recommend a back-surface AR coat on all sunglasses.

If you or someone you know would like to learn more about antireflective coating for eyeglasses, please call Doctor & Associates-203-227-4113, visit Doctor & Associates or facebook.com/doctorandassociates and we will be pleased to help.

Doctor & Associates offices are located at 129 Kings Highway North, Westport, Connecticut 06880, 195 Danbury Road, Wilton, Connecticut 06897 and 148 East Avenue, Norwalk, Connecticut 06851.