Lasik at CarlinVision—Approaching 10,000 Procedures!

Dr. Richard Carlin has been performing Lasik since its FDA approval in 1997. As he approaches 10,000 procedures, he is certainly well qualified to offer perspective on the benefits, accuracy, longevity, and safety of Lasik.

Benefits are unquestionable. Freedom from glasses with their continuing hassle such as fogging up, blurring, and needing to be cleaned. Contact lenses with their intermittent blurring, discomfort, and maintenance. The continuing expense of both, makes this obvious! Being able to wake up and see the time, swim, play sports and just the freedom of not having to be reminded of one’s inability to see clearly is truly an advantage.

Lasik has been well documented to be extremely accurate. Using our advanced  wavefront treatments, well over 90% result in 20/20 and about 70% are even better than 20/20! Patients constantly tell us they see better than they did with glasses or contact lenses.

After almost 25 years of personal experience, it is clear that Lasik results do not degrade over time. At CarlinVision, we provide free enhancements for life which means that if vision were to change, patients would return for an enhancement.  Our late enhancement rate runs between 1-2%.

Lasik is one of the safest of all surgical procedures. While complications do occasionally occur, they are quite rare and generally easily treated. Indeed, in over 20 million procedures performed in the United States, there are no reports of blindness. Also, with our rigorous screening procedures we can further lower complications by performing the procedure only on the best candidates.

CarlinVision Ambulatory Surgery Center: The Advantage of Ownership

At a hospital or multispecialty ASC, equipment must be shared amongst different specialties. Budgets are apportioned, so an individual physician may not be able to get the latest, most advanced technology or even just the instruments he is most comfortable with. Requests must be submitted and approval may or may not be granted. The process, especially in the case of a hospital, can take years!

In our own center, if we need it, we just get it! This translates to the latest technology, smoother procedures, better outcomes, etc. Also, in a hospital or multispecialty ASC, nurses and staff take care of many different types of patients.  Different diseases and procedures obviously require different types of care. Eye procedures are rather unique and though we are not doing surgery that involves excessive bleeding or blood flow changes to the body, it may in some ways be more anxiety producing as we are dealing with your vision.

Our nurses and staff are specially trained to just take care of our patients and their particular needs. Our patients experience is crucial to their ultimate result and satisfaction. Finally, by owning our ASC we can control costs thus pass the savings on to our patients. So, why do we own our dedicated eye center? Simple. We appreciate and value the trust that patients place in us so, by owning our own eye surgery center, we are in control and can offer the best quality of service with the best experience at the lowest cost!

Computer Vision Syndrome

As many of us spend 8 or more hours a day looking at a computer or mobile device, significant stress is placed on the visual system, neck and back.

  1. The blink rate decreases from the normal 20 times per minute to about 10, exacerbating dry eye disease.
  2. Prolonged convergence of the eyes leads to eye strain and fatigue, as well as blurred and double vision.
  3. Postural changes lead to headache, neckache, backache and even sleep disturbances.
  4. In children, this may possibly lead to increased nearsightedness.

Remedies include rest breaks every 20 minutes with distant viewing, blink exercises, artificial tears and ergonomics including postural changes.

Bloodshot Eyes? When to See Us

Bloodshot eyes with itching, burning and tearing are usually caused by an external irritant, called an allergen. Over the counter artificial tears, antihistamines and cold compresses often solves the problem.
Symptoms that indicate it could be more serious and you should see us are:

  • Seeping or crusting with yellow, brown or green mucous. This can be a sign of infection.
  • Pain in or around eyes or unusual tenderness.
  • Unusual sensitivity to light.
  • Fever or overall sickness.
  • Redness or discomfort lasting more than a week.
  • Child has been exposed to pink eye (conjunctivitis) at school or at camp.
  • Eyes do not get better after one week.

Dry Eyes: A Chronic Irritating Condition

If you suffer from irritated. burning, gritty, eyes, you may have keratoconjunctivitis sicca or “Dry Eyes”.  Symptoms range from a mild gritty sensation to severe burning, light sensitivity and decreased vision. Exacerbated by mask wearing with air blowing up into the eyes, dusty environments, low humidity, contact lens wear, age, female, eye makeup, etc., the condition is unfortunately chronic and while symptoms may wax and wane, they do not often disappear.

Unfortunately, at this time, there is no known cure. However, the good news is that there is help. Measures that bring relief include:

  • Artificial tears, ointments, omega3 fatty acids.
  • Removing debris from lid margins.
  • Stimulating oil glad production.
  • Medications to increase tear output.
  • Blocking the drains where tears flow out of the eye.

To determine which treatment regimen is best, Dr. Bennett-Sims, our Dry Eye Specialist, is available to perform a complete evaluation of your particular problem and determine the best course of action to get you feeling better soon!

The Optical Boutique: Always Fresh

Have you ever wondered why the Optical Boutique’s displays always look different? That is because they are! Most optical shops keep the same frames on their displays for a year or more. When one is sold, they merely put the same frame back in its place.

At The Optical Boutique however, our frames are always changing. When a frame is sold, a new style goes back in its place so the displays are always fresh. If you don’t see what you want, just come back in a few weeks as there will certainly be new options!