What's New at Medical & Surgical Eye Specialists

Saturday Appointments

2012-02-10T18:26:24Z

Are you unable to take time off from work during the week for your eye exam? If so, please call our office for our Saturday schedule. Dr. Pennington and Dr. Garcia are scheduled to work certain weekends each month. Our optical shop will be open by appointment only on those Saturdays. Please call 547-9751 (Chesapeake) or 461-7974 (Norfolk) for more information.

Erectile dysfunction and glaucoma

2012-02-10T15:12:44Z

Men with erectile dysfunction (ED) have a nearly 3-fold greater risk for also having open-angle glaucoma (OAG) than men with normal erectile function, according to an article published in the January issue of Ophthalmology.
Pathologic mechanisms common to ED and OAG may include the components of the metabolic syndrome (hypertension, decreased insulin sensitivity, dyslipidemia, and obesity) and their effects on inflammatory, vascular, and endocrine abnormalities, the authors suggest.
These findings implicate OAG as a potential sentinel symptom for vascular disease in men with ED. The study suggests that OAG and ED appear to have a common mechanism of endothelial dysfunction related to nitric oxide.
For their study, the investigators drew on longitudinal data from a health insurance database to identify 4605 men older than 40 years who had newly diagnosed ED (International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, code 607.84), as well as 23,025 control patients (5 for each case patient).
If these findings are confirmed, ED will become a risk factor for glaucoma, with recommendations for ocular evaluation in patients with ED.

Ojos Sanos

2012-01-24T14:22:24Z

Spanish speaking patients and physicians now have a public education website in their own language, sponsored by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, with this week's launch of OjosSanos.org. The new site provides a MD reviewed information about more than 50 diseases and conditions, plus vision-correction information, tips on maintaining healthy vision and more than 80 short videos.

The new website is www.ojossanos.org

The same information and more, in English, is also available as always in EyeSmart at www.geteyesmart.org

January is Glaucoma Awareness Month

2012-01-10T19:56:23Z

Glaucoma damages your optic nerve. When enough nerve fibers have been lost, you may experience loss of your peripheral or side vision. However, initially glaucoma is a silent disease, there may be no symptoms to warn you. If untreated, glaucoma can lead to blindness.

Contact Lens Safety

2012-01-03T19:57:52Z

Do you have questions regarding your contact lenses? If so, the following website may be beneficial to you. It is divided into five sections.

Section one addresses questions about replacement schedules and what could happen if they are not followed. It also discusses what organisms are most dangerious to the eye and how to avoid complicaitons from them.

Laser Cataract Surgery

2011-11-03T19:24:18Z

"Laser Cataract Surgery" has been reported in the news recently, and there are many questions people have about this procedure. I will do my best to answer as many as possible.

First of all, you must understand that "Laser Cataract Surgery" does not replace regular cataract surgery at all. Instead, some steps that have been done manually (with excellent, reproducible outcomes) can now be done with a laser.

Do you have a backup pair of glasses?

2011-09-16T14:55:29Z

Sometimes we get calls from patients that broke their prescription glasses while out of town, and need their glasses to drive back home. Other times it is students that lost their frames and do not want to miss several days of school because they cannot see. The more you depend on your glasses, the more important it is to have a backup pair.

Think about it before it happens.

Update on Dry Eyes

2011-09-12T14:30:44Z

Dr. Garcia has posted an update on dry eyes, including information on symptoms and treatment.

Multifocal Toric Contact Lenses

2011-09-02T15:41:06Z

Multifocal toric contacts are great for patients who have previously worn toric contacts and now need reading glasses. They are also an option for patients who have been told that they can't wear contacts because of their astigmatism and/or presbyopia.

Custom Cataract Surgery

2011-06-20T16:44:33Z

Cataract surgery is one of the most common and most successful operations today. And with that success, patient expectations have grown as well. Meeting these increased expectations is where custom cataract surgery comes in.