If you provided Medical & Surgical Eye Specialists with your email address, we will send your exam summary electronically.  It has come to our attention that some patients have been having problems viewing their exam summary.  If you did not receive an expected email, please check your spam folder or spam filter. 

Patients using Mac computers, iPhones, or iPads to view the documents will have trouble opening the documents using the Safari browser. Try opening the document using Firefox on a Mac computer.  Otherwise, open it using Internet Explorer on a PC.  

For those with a Yahoo email address, please give our office an alternate email address.  If you prefer, we can print out the summary and mail it to you.  

Please check out our online guide for Exam Summaries or you can contact the office with any questions or concerns.

An article published online in JAMA Internal Medicine on January 21, 2012, was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald as follows:

 Macular degeneration linked to aspirin use

It's used widely to prevent heart attack and stroke but new Australian research has raised concerns that aspirin could be contributing to eye disease.

Regular aspirin use was linked to a more than two-fold increase in the risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness in the elderly, by researchers from the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research in Sydney.

Some of you already know that at MSES we have  incorporated electronic medical records into our practice. This allows us to provide some additional services to our patients:

- online registration. You can provide your information ahead of time, and save time at your appointment
- electronic prescription. We send your drug prescriptions directly to your pharmacy of choice at the time of your visit
- when leaving you get a printed summary of your exam. Or if you prefer, we can send it to your email.
- you can order your contacts online though our website

Thank you for your support!

We often get this question at the office. What does it mean to have 20/20 vision?

It means that you can see at 20 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 20 feet. We measure vision using a Snellen chart at 20 feet. Depending on which line you can see in the chart, your vision can be 20/20, 20/40, 20/200 etc. If your vision is 20/40 it means that you can see at 20 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 40 feet.

Your vision needs to be 20/40 or better in order to obtain a driver's license, and less than 20/200 is considered legally blind.

When we write you a prescription for glasses, the numbers just indicate the power of the lenses that you need to achieve your best corrected vision. They do not state the level of vision that you achieve with your glasses. Most people can see 20/20 with their glasses, but some ocular conditions like cataract can prevent you from seeing 20/20, even with glasses.

Even if your contacts are "extended wear", and you have been told that it is ok to sleep in them, you should know that sleeping in your contacts increases your chances of developing a serious eye infection 10 fold. Bacterial keratitis can cause scarring in the front part of the eye or lead to blindness.

When used properly, contact lenses are great instruments for vision. Just remember to take good care of them and your eyes:

- always clean contacts every night
- replace contacts as scheduled
- do not get in a swimming pool or sauna while wearing your contacts
- if your eye gets red, uncomfortable or painful, see your eye doctor as soon as possible.

In a recent study published by JAMA, patients who had cataract surgery had a decreased risk of hip fracture as compared to those who did not have surgery,  among a large group of  patients aged 65 and older with cataracts.

Cataracts, especially severe cataracts, can affect visual acuity, depth perception, contrast sensitivity and visual field, all of which have been associated with increased risk of falls and fractures.

Not surprisingly, the benefit was more marked when cataracts were more severe: 23% risk reduction versus 16% in the whole group.

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.

Section two clarifies the importance of rubbing lenses after removal, when to discard solutions, what lubricants are okay to use with contact lenses, and how to properly store lenses that are used on occasion. 

Section three emphasizes the proper care of cases.  Cases should be replaced every three months.

Section four describes different environments that may or may not be optimal for contact lens wear.  The effects of showering, swimming, and sleeping while wearing contacts are discussed. 

Section five addresses the issue of purchasing lenses on the internet or in drug stores. 

www.contactlenssafety.com