Category: Blog

Better Vision without glasses after cataract surgery possible with new lens options from Abbott.

Dr. Darrell White is one of the first cataract surgeons to recommend the Symfony and Symfony toric lenses to his cataract patients in the Cleveland area. SkyVision patients are experiencing excellent results and the doctors and staff are very excited at the patient outcomes.

The Tecnis Symfony IOL is the first in a new category of multifocal IOLs that provide a full range of continuous high-quality vision after cataract surgery, improving intermediate and near vision while maintaining comparable distance visual acuity.

The Symfony lens is approved in more than 50 countries around the world, and has been widely studied, with data from numerous clinical studies involving over 2,000 eyes.

In clinical studies, the Symfony lens:

• Provided seamless, day-to-night vision. Patients could see objects sharply and clearly at near, intermediate and far away distances, and points in between.
• Provided high-quality vision. Some IOLs may leave patients with an inability to focus clearly due to competing wavelengths of light passing through the lens at different angles (known as chromatic aberration), or with vision that is not completely focused because of the shape of the lens (known as spherical aberration). The Symfony lens has been engineered to correct these issues.
• Demonstrated a low incidence of halo and glare, which may be perceived as rings or blurring around bright lights. Glare and halo can sometimes affect an individual’s ability to drive at night or to perform other visual tasks.

Cataracts are a common condition, with almost 4 million cataract surgeries performed each year, and that number is expected to increase. By age 80, more than half of all Americans either have a cataract or have had cataract surgery. However, cataracts do not just impact seniors. In 2016 it is estimated that nearly one in four cataract surgeries will be performed on people younger than 65. Many people who have cataracts experience other problems with their vision, such as presbyopia and astigmatism, which the Symfony lenses also address. Presbyopia, which affects most people over age 40, means people have lost the ability to focus on objects up close and often require glasses to perform near visual tasks. Astigmatism is when the cornea is misshapen, which causes blurry or distorted vision. More information regarding cataracts and cataract surgery can be found on our services page.

For more information on the Symfony lens and if it may be right for you or someone you know, visit SkyVision Centers Website or contact SkyVision Centers at 440-892-3931.

1 2016 Comprehensive Report on the Global IOL Market, Market Scope®, LLC.

2 National Eye Institute. Facts About Cataracts. Available at: https://nei.nih.gov/health/cataract/cataract_facts. Accessed July 1, 2016.

Already a VSP member? Great!

Looking for a vision care benefits? Take a look at what VSP has to offer.

At SkyVision..choose the Premier experience and be ready for whatever life throws your way. Getting the most out of your benefits has never been easier. VSP members get an extra $20 to spend on featured frame brands, and you’ll always find a wide selection of these designer frames when you visit a provider who participates in the Premier Program.

Brands featured at SkyVision Centers are:

• Calvin Klein Collection
• Calvin Klein
• Chloé
• Diane von Furstenberg
• Flexon
• Liu Jo
• Nike
• Nine West
• Salvatore Ferragamo
• Sean John
• Skaga
• Valentino

Plus, you’ll get access to these exclusive offers and services:

• Extra savings on contact lenses
• Free no-hassle one-year warranty on eyewear
• Exclusive bonus offers
• Performance lenses for sharp vision
• Advanced eye exam technology
• Preventative Eye Health and Wellness program

VSP members have the largest choice of network providers anywhere for vision care, and they’re choosing Premier. Let our dedicated SkyVision doctors and opticians give your eyes the personalized attention they deserve.

@VSPVisionCare

School has Started…Watch for these signs…

Written by: Kierstan Boyd
Reviewed by: Jane C Edmond MD, Stephen N Lipsky MD
From the AAO.org
Aug. 08, 2016
As summer winds down, families of school-aged children scramble to get backpacks, clothes and other supplies ready for the new school year. But one of the most important yet often overlooked necessities is healthy vision.

As children grow and change from year to year, so do their eyes and vision. School demands intense visual involvement, including reading, writing, computer and chalkboard/smartboard work. Even physical education and sports require strong vision. If their eyes aren’t up to the task, a child may feel tired, have trouble concentrating, and have problems in school.

Sometimes parents can tell if their child has a vision problem. For instance, their child may squint, hold reading material very close to their face, or complain about things appearing blurry. However, there are some less obvious signs of vision problems.

Click on this link for the four signs 4 Hidden Signs Article that could point to possible vision problems in kids.

There’s big doings in the Dry Eye world! For the first time in almost 15 years there is a new medicine to treat Dry Eye Disease. Xiidra was approved by the FDA on Monday July 11th. We now have two incredible medicines to treat Dry Eye!

SkyVision Centers has been the premier Dry Eye center in Northeast Ohio for more than 10 years. In fact, SkyVision was one of the very first Dry Eye centers in all of the United States. Dr. Darrell White did some of the earliest work on how to use the first Dry Eye medicine, Restasis. We have been known as THE place to have your Dry eye treatment for a very long time.

Xiidra is a brand new, first in class medicine. It is approved to treat both the clinical signs (what your doctor sees on your exam) and the symptoms (what you experience) of Dry Eye. Xiidra is felt to work by reducing the activity of certain white blood cells that are activated on the surface of a dry eye. The studies that led to its approval show that it starts to work relatively quickly, and that it has only mild to moderate side effects. Dr. Darrell White expects that Xiidra will complement Restasis very well as both a first-line treatment, and for those people who continue to have Dry Eye symptoms despite active treatments of all kinds.

Dry Eye Disease is a chronic, progressive inflammatory disease of all of the glands that produce the component parts of our tears. It can cause many symptoms including dryness, scratchiness, burning, and tearing. After needing to wear glasses, Dry Eye Disease is the second leading cause of blurred vision in all patients. Once upon a time Dry Eye was a disease seen mostly in older people. Due to a number of factors like dietary changes and increased computer use, we are now seeing Dry Eye in people of all ages.

Last year SkyVision Centers introduced Lipiflow® to Greater Cleveland. In a few short weeks we will do the same for the new, breakthrough medicine Xiidra! Count on Dr. Darrell White and our entire SkyVision Centers team to lead the way in diagnosing and treating Dry Eye Disease!

August 19, 2016 nytimes.com

Richard O. Moore (1920-2015) was a pioneering documentary filmmaker and a public-radio and television executive. He wrote poetry for more than 50 years, choosing to publish his only two books in the last five years of his life.

This poem is from a sequence of sonnets about the consequences of losing his sight in old age.

Poem selected by Matthew Zapruder.

Credit Illustration by R. O. Blechman
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/21/magazine/richard-o-moore-the-familiar-has-taken-leave.html

The Familiar Has Taken Leave

Responding to a world turned outside in
Requires a fresh agility of will
And a surreal mode of thought, both distant
When the world was visible and real.
The only carry-over is the sound:
The hollow clatter of the commonplace,
Ancestral voices, sepulchral complaints
From many sources now invisible.

This is the most dispassionate I can be.
The familiar has taken leave with all I know
And what is left is mostly echo fading,
Never to return. What takes shape then
Is virtual and is a world apart
Assembled half by memory, half by art.

Matthew Zapruder is the author of four poetry collections, including, most recently, “Sun Bear.” He teaches poetry at Saint Mary’s College of California and is editor at large at Wave Books. Richard O. Moore died in 2015, shortly before his second collection of poems, “Particulars of Place,” was published by Omnidawn.

A day doesn’t go by at SkyVision when we don’t have a patient who has worn contact lenses for years and years, and now all of a sudden their lenses are too uncomfortable to wear for more than a couple of hours. “I can’t understand why I have a problem now. I never had trouble wearing any kind of contact lens before!” One of the major culprits causing this to happen isDry Eye Disease.

Dr. Darrell White has been seeing this for years. “Pretty much all contact lenses are drying agents. Take a dry surface, like the front of the eye in someone with Dry Eye Disease, put a dryer on it, and it will decompensate.” People really like to wear their contact lenses! The doctors and staff at SkyVision are always looking for new ways to keep you in your contacts.

Our contact lens specialist Dr. Kaye has been working on this problem, too. “In general, one-day contacts, or ‘Dailies’, are much better for all types of Dry Eye.” Some years ago Dr. Kaye started changing over Dry Eye patients to daily, disposable contact lenses for just that reason. Not only are they safer in general, but they are also more comfortable.

But are some dailies better than others when it comes to Dry Eye? We asked Dr. Kaye that question, and he does have a particular favorite. “I have had the best luck recently with a new soft daily wear lens from the company Alcon called the ‘Dailies Total 1’.

Almost everyone I prescribe this lens for is happy, but it is especially good for those people who are all of a sudden having trouble because of dryness.”

Eye doctors and scientists have known for a long time that it is very important for contact lenses to let lots of oxygen get through to the surface of the eye. Dailies Total 1 contacts were found to be up to 6X more breathable than some of the popular disposable contacts. The science of this contact lens is even more cool than how much oxygen gets through. Both the front and back of the lens itself is almost 80% water! This is very similar to the water content of our tears. This “lubricity” is maintained throughout the day, and patients are finding that it leads to high degrees of comfort. Even if they have Dry Eye Disease!

If you have Dry Eye Disease and would like to continue to be comfortable in your contact lenses, make an appointment with our contact lens specialist Dr. Greg Kaye. Be ready to talk about the very cool science behind his favorite lens, the Dailies Total1!
#contactlenscare #dryeye #AlconDailies

Cataract Surgery Does NOT Make Macular Degeneration Worse

Macular Degeneration, or AMD, is one of the most feared diagnoses you can get at the eye doctor’s office. It is a disease of aging, and is most often seen in people who are older than 60. Cataracts are also something seen in people as they get older. Because of this, there are quite a few people who are under the care of an eye doctor for both of these problems.

While there are many treatments now available to prevent blindness from AMD, there is nothing that we know of yet that can cure it. We can, however, cure cataracts by removing them and replacing them with an implant called an IOL. Many people are afraid that cataract surgery will make their AMD worse, and because of this they delay the very treatment that will restore their vision. Cataract surgeons like our Dr. Darrell White have known for a very long time that this is not true, and now there is another study that confirms the safety of cataract surgery if you have AMD.

In the June issue of JAMA Ophthalmology, the eye care journal of the AMA, the authors Park et al looked at almost 18,000 study participants who had cataract surgery. Their findings were clear: modern cataract surgery is NOT associated with worsening AMD. A commentary that was published along with the study said that cataract surgeons should not be deterred from considering cataract surgery in those patients with AMD who are felt to be suffering vision loss due to their cataracts.

Even though this is not really new news, it is good news nonetheless! If you have AMD and cataracts, and your vision can be improved with cataract surgery, concern for your AMD should not stand in your way.

Dr. Darrell White is one of the leading cataract surgeons in the United States. He has brought many new technologies to Northeast Ohio. At SkyVision Centers we have one of the highest percentages of patients who choose advanced IOL technologies for their cataract surgery, and many enjoy excellent vision without wearing glasses after surgery.

The entire team would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have about cataracts and AMD. We are very pleased that this latest study confirms our belief that cataract surgery does not lead to worsening of AMD.

#eyehealth #cataracts #macular degeneration #IOLs #bowtiedoc

Right after surgery tends to me the time that most people have a lot to say about their surgery experience and results. We were so pleasantly surprised the other day when our patient Eileen M. said she was so thrilled with her cataract surgery. I had a chance to speak with her to find out that her surgery was 7.5 years ago and she still remembers her experience and she is 100% satisfied with the ReStor Multifocal advanced technology IOL (intraocular lens) implants she chose to receive.

She loves her post-cataract vision! Quilting is Eileen’s hobby and it was important for her to have excellent close up vision without glasses for this very detailed work she devotes hours and hours to. She was delighted to find out that not only was quilting easy to do without her glasses but she can read very fine print as well. When driving, Eileen shared that she can see all the street signs and drive with no problems at all without her glasses! So, far away and close up vision on a daily basis without glasses are great for her!

Eileen’s surgery was at The Surgery Center on Bagley Road in Middleburg Heights. Dr. Darrell White, our SkyVision Center surgeon, still performs all the advanced technology IOL surgeries there. The Surgery Center is now part of the Southwest General/University Hospital health system. Eileen, a former nurse, remembers the professionalism of The Surgery Center staff and how smoothly everything went there. She said that everything went as expected and explained by the Skyvision and surgery center staff all along the way. When she hears others talking about their upcoming cataract surgeries and are nervous, she offers up her opinion readily. She tells them, “No worries, it’s a breeze!” She recommends Dr. White and SkyVision to all of her friends and family.

Thanks for sharing your story Eileen and we hope this helps others!

#cataractsatskyvision #IlovemyIOLs #seeingisbelieving #eyehealth #quilting

Jun. 30, 2016  Written by: Dan Gudgel  AAO – American Academy of Ophthalmology

A pet angel fish from Missouri now has a custom-painted eye, after a surgery usually done only by major aquariums. Kiwi was fitted with the prosthetic eye by exotic animal veterinarian Megan Baebler.

The other fish in Kiwi’s tank had realized that he’d lost his vision in one eye, according to KTLA News. They were sneaking up on his blind side to harass him. He was stressed and missing pieces of his tail from the attacks. Julie Morgan, Kiwi’s owner, had no hesitation about going to such lengths. “He’s something else…If I can give him quality of life, why not?” she told KTLA News.

“If I can give him quality of life, why not?” – Julie Morgan, owner

Kiwi had cataract surgery first, but eventually the entire eye had to be removed. Morgan was certain that if he’d been bullied before, it would be worse if he came back missing an eye, according to KTLA News. Dr. Baebler hand-painted a tiny artificial eye to match Kiwi’s remaining eye, and implanted it in the piscine patient. She donated most of her time to make the procedure affordable.

Kiwi is recuperating in a private tank, but Morgan hopes to return him to his home tank soon, with a new look and new lease on life. “It’s going to be the best chance for him to lead a normal life in his tank,” Baebler told KTLA News.

Our patients are great here at SkyVision!

Dean took the time to write us about his cataract surgery experience. We were touched that he took the time to share about his advanced technology lenses he elected to have. These advanced lenses are excellent technology (Tecnis Multifocal, ReStor and Crystalens) and those who elect these lenses are typically very satisfied.

Take a couple of minutes to read what he shared with the Skyvision staff and doctors.

We love to hear from our patients and this letter was so touching.

Thank you Dean!

For more information on cataract surgery, click on the link: Cataracts