Diabetic Macular Edema Injection Frequency

“Diabetic Macular Edema is a fairly common cause of vision loss in diabetics who have diabetic retinopathy. Fortunately, we have specialized drugs for injection-such as Lucentis® & Eyelea®-that are helpful to treat and reverse the effects of Diabetic Macular Edema,” explained Ophthalmologist Claudia Castiblanco, M.D. “But, we counsel diabetics that they need to be patient as we plan and schedule their examinations, testing and treatment visits as sometimes the best results can only be achieved with multiple injections over some period of time,” she further explained.

Researchers reporting in the British Journal of Ophthalmology shared helpful information about the importance of the VEGF inhibitor injection frequency in the treatment of diabetic macular edema. The study confirmed that In general good long term results are achieved by about 4 months of injection treatment, but 20% of patients with persistent Diabetic Macular Edema at 12 months achieved a dry macula with considerable restoration of vision with sustained treatment through 24 months suggesting that persistent Diabetic Macular Edema at 4-12 months should not be used as a stopping criterion for treatment.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about vision loss in diabetics, 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 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.

Role of Vitamins & Antioxidants in Cataract Risk

Antioxidants and vitamins may play a role in your risk of developing cataracts according to researchers reporting their results in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Until now, studies have been inconsistent regarding the association between blood antioxidants or vitamins and risk of age-related cataract. By evaluating13 different studies researchers found the lower the level of vitamin E, α-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, the greater the risk of age-related cataract in Asian populations but not in Western populations, whereas β-Carotene, lycopene, and β-cryptoxanthin had no significant association with risk of cataract.

While these results look somewhat interesting, the question remains whether increasing intake through dietary supplements actually have any role in decreasing the risk of cataract formation.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about antioxidants, vitamins, cataracts, cataract surgery or lens implants 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.

What are Scleral Contact Lenses?

Scleral contact lenses are large-diameter gas permeable lenses designed to vault over the entire corneal surface and rest on the "white" part of the eye, called sclera. Scleral lenses are noticeably larger than standard contacts and have a diameter greater than that of soft contact lenses, which is usually from 15 mm to 24 mm. In comparison, the average human cornea is about 11.8 mm in diameter and most conventional gas permeable contact lenses are 9.0 to 9.5 mm in diameter.

Scleral lenses are designed to treat a variety of eye conditions, some of which are keratoconus and dry eye syndrome. They might improve vision and reduce light sensitivity for people suffering from Steven-Johnson syndrome, Sjogren's syndrome, corneal ectasia, for eyes that have undergone a cornea transplant and some post injury eyes. Advances in lens technology are allowing manufacturers to design scleral lenses that can correct more conditions than ever before, including bifocal scleral lenses for correction of presbyopia.

Sometimes these lenses are also used as special effect contact lenses, also called theatrical, to dramatically alter the appearance of the eye. They are often used in movies and during Halloween for cosmetic purposes only and not for vision correction.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about cataracts, cataract surgery, lens implants and how to reduce your risk of cataracts or other eye diseases 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.

Is Laser Cataract Surgery a Gentler Procedure?

Both laser cataract surgery and traditional cataract surgery procedures can provide patients with excellent vision in a safe and effective manner. We constantly strive to provide cataract patients with even greater degrees of safety, precision and reproducibility during their cataract operation. Any time we can make an eye surgery procedure gentler, there are benefits to patients. Lasercataract surgery allows us to replace a number of manual steps with surgeon controlled laser precision as well as helping us reduce the energy levels required to fragment and break down the cloudy lens material that has formed the cataract.

One of the observations and indicators of “gentleness” of cataract surgery procedures is the effect the operation has on the inside layer of the cornea-called the endothelium. Quantifying corneal endothelial cell loss is a good yardstick. Researchers reporting in the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery compared the amount of corneal endothelial cell loss between traditional cataract surgery and laser cataract surgery. One eye of each patient had “traditional” cataract surgery and the other eye had femtosecond laser cataract surgery-and both eye had lens implants.

The results showed that the eyes having laser cataract surgery had considerably less endothelial cell loss-and thus demonstrated having a gentler cataract surgery procedure. This is important for not only routine cataract surgery in healthy eyes, but would be especially beneficial for eyes that were at greater risk of endothelial cell loss because they had low endothelial cell counts to begin with or even some preexisting condition such as “cornea guttata”-tiny droplets on the back surface of the cornea-which can indicate a weakening of the corneal transparency mechanism and are a precursor of Fuchs Corneal Endothelial Dystrophy.

If you or someone you know has questions or concerns about cataracts, cataract surgery, lens implants and how to reduce your risk of cataracts or other eye diseases 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.