eye news

Making a Real Difference

The excitement for Christmas is over. The presents have been opened and life continues to go on.

While it’s nice to receive a new game, toy, book, kitchen accessory or pair of socks, what if your present was the ability to see again?

Or to have pain-free vision?

This isn’t like a gift for Christmas or a birthday that a person will enjoy here or there but a truly incredible gift that will change a person’s life forever.

Evert second of their day!

Read recent reports about the Conrad Hilton Foundation donating money to the absolutely amazing Himalayan Cataract Project. They were created to establish sustainable eye care infrastructure in Nepal, but have since branched out to other areas of Asia and now Africa.

This is a gift that you can’t put a price on. A gift that is priceless.

It’s great when foundations grant their money on worthwhile causes such as this, especially since if they don’t give to these causes, who will?

As we move on from Christmas and head into a new year, what difference will you make in 2018?

eye news

All Fun and Games until Somebody Loses an Eye

This time of year is a wonderful one. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah or something else, it’s lovely to be surrounded by family and friends giving presents to each other.

When people are relaxed and having fun, they may be off their guard and accidents could happen. The last place you want to be during the holidays is the emergency room so do everything you can to make sure you and your family are safe.

christmas presents can be harmful to your eyes

There is nothing more than children are excited for than their presents. They look forward to them the whole year, impatiently get through though last few moments and then rip open the paper to see their gift.

A child who sees a sword, gun or something that can shoot is going to be jumping out of their skin to play with it. This is wonderful – they should be excited to do so but it should be outside, away from people’s eyes.

*Anything that can fly around and knock someone in the eye is dangerous.
*Anything with an exposed sharp edge is dangerous.
*Anything with suction cups is dangerous.
*Anything with any form of projectile be it arrow, bullet, missile, darts, etc is dangerous.

Even if it’s not the present per say, it’s important to be careful. Imagine the scene – the whole family gathered round to open presents. There are mounds of ripped and shredded wrapping paper on the floor. There are boxes and other presents on the floor and some of them are obscured by the paper. Someone is running – they’re holding something and trip over a box.

From there, anything could happen. They could knock into someone and hurt their eye.
They could fall awkwardly and damage their own eye.

At the end of the day, it’s important to be safe as prevention is far better than cure.

While we’re talking about the holidays and looking after the eyes, it’s not just small kids and toys that are a concern.

People who watch TV deep into the night or play video games in a darkened room are doing their eyes no favors either.

cataracts, eye news

Harnessing the Power of Technology

I’ve been working as an ophthalmologist for 30 years and the profession is unrecognizable today from what it was in the late 1980s.

And this stands to reason – what would the people then think of cell phones, Facebook, Uber, email and the internet??

There were no websites.

If you wanted to take a picture, you had to use a camera. If you wanted to watch a TV show, you had to do it on your television.

So much technological change to our lives and for the betterment of both doctors and patients, it’s penetrated the medical profession.

We have tools and instruments that are so much more sophisticated than what we used back then. Now comes news that an engineer is developingĀ  a retina scanner that will diagnose eye diseases before any vision loss occurs.

At the end of the day, we can never lose sight that there has to be a skilled practitioner using that piece of technology. It can never replace a doctor, just assist him or her as they go about their business as a professional.

Similarly, it’s incumbent upon every doctor to make sure they are up to date with the latest medical developments, tools and procedures. There can never be a point where we can stay we know it all and stop learning. We always have to be striving to improve so our patients can receive the best possible ophthalmological care and treatment.

 

eye news, Macular Degeneration

Strength of the Doctor/Patient Bond

When a doctor is looking after a patient, they may only be there to examine and advise on their eyes, feet, teeth, skin, heart or whatever it may be but in reality you care about all of them.

You develop a bond with the patient and you truly care for their well-being.

This was evidence in Michigan when a doctor carried his patient through the snow so she could make her appointment. She is suffering from macular degeneration and wasn’t up to walking through the snow.

That is special and shows the lengths doctors will go to to make sure their patients are ok.

Normally people try to make sure that everything is ok and don’t want to convey any weaknesses or vulnerabilities. Often they won’t even go to the doctor and put it off until they can do so no longer, so a doctor is in a unique position.

It is important that a doctor doesn’t overstep his or her bounds. Exceptional circumstances won’t be a problem but often the lines are blurred and it’s not clear-cut.

Here it was and Dr Gindzin did an amazing and wonderful thing!

 

 

eye news

My City Fort Lauderdale

dr alan mendelsohn broward county ophthalmologist

I’m extremely proud to have my story featured in Our City Fort Lauderdale.

It covers my 30 year journey to date.

It’s been a privilege and honor to serve the people of Broward County, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Miami, and basically all the residents of South Florida.

The town has changed, the technology has changed but what hasn’t is the commitment to help people with their vision, take away their pain and help improve their eyesight.

I’m looking forward to the journey continuing.

 

eye news

Air Force Wonderful

 

This is a wonderful idea.

Instead of you needing to go to the local eye clinic for a checkup, the eye clinic comes to you!

The great thing about the Flying Eye is that it provides so many more options than having a clinic located somewhere.

In addition to treating patients, they have the ability to train and teach doctors.

It is combining technology and resources so that patients are receiving the type of care they could only otherwise dream about.

eye news

Prevention Better Than Cure

We’re usedĀ  to feeling aches and pains in our body – headaches, upset stomach, a rash somewhere and the like.

Not our eyes though.

Often, if their eyes do hurt or are bothering them, they think it’s a symptom for something that is happening somewhere else in their body.

This thinking has to stop. We have to give our eyes more respect and consideration – especially as if they are the cause of the suffering, there are significant implications to delaying treatment.

We have the best facilities in the world, but many can be too busy to see a doctor. We put it off until it really hurts because well, it’s far less inconvenient.

Those in countries such as Nepal don’t have this inconvenience to worry about which is why they are having a Glaucoma Awareness Campaign to encourage early diagnosis of it. Detecting it at an earlier stage makes for a significantly better treatment.

Once people hit middle age and especially their 50s there is no need to wait until it hurts or aches. Proactively go for a test. Worse case, they tell you nothing is wrong and to go home, but if they do find something that isn’t good new, but detecting it early is!

eye news

Eyes and the Eclipse

In August, the Great American Eclipse occurred. It was the first solar eclipse to cover the entire contiguous United States in close to 100 years.

As such it was an exciting event and people naturally wanted to look up at the sky and see what a solar eclipse looked like.

Ophthalmologists everywhere warned of the dangers of doing so – I myself did so here, here, here, and here.

Now comes the story that a women has suffered significant eye damage due to looking at the eclipse for only 6 seconds!

Hope that she will be ok.

This unfortunate story reinforces how critical it is to do everything we can to look after our eyesight. Not every event is an eclipse with ophthalmologists warning people in advance. Rather the person can rely only on their common sense to make a good decision and not do something to damage their vision.

eye news

The Dangers of Diabetic Retinopathy

For something as serious as it is, Diabetic retinopathy doesn’t receive anywhere near the coverage it deserves.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=672NEd7U6NM&w=420&h=315]

This is an illness that can cause significant damage to the blood vessels in the retina and this in turn can significantly impair one’s vision.

Watch the video to find out how you can prevent it.