Bellevue LASIK & Cornea Blog | Dr. Leavitt and Dr. Farag

Macular degeneration is caused by aging eyes and affects nearly ten million people age 55 and older. It is a painless and gradual disease that leads to permanent blindness, and there is no known cure. It is also known as age related macular degeneration (AMD).

AMD first develops in the retinal pigment eptithelium (RPE), which is a layer of cells behind the retina called the macula. The cells, called rods and cones, are made up of an inner and an outer segment. The inner segment produces proteins. These proteins respond to light. The outer segment stores and uses the proteins that are produced. The cells wear out and are removed by the RPE cells. These are then replaced. When the RPE cells begin to degenerate, the result is yellow, fatty deposits that form beneath the rods and cones. Vision then begins to deteriorate.

Symptoms of AMD include:

• Fuzzy or distorted vision
• Difficulty recognizing faces
• Difficulty recognizing faces
• Difficulty adapting to seeing in levels of low light
• Areas of shadow in central vision
• Blurred printed words
• Need for very bright light for near distance vision activities
  

There is no treatment known to reverse AMD, but regimens of high doses of vitamins may slow down AMD in its early stages. Later stages may benefit from the drugs Lucentis, Macugen, and Visudyne.

If you are over the age of 45, you should be screened for macular degeneration. If you are in the Bellevue, Olympia, or Seattle area, please contact Dr. Leavitt at Bellevue LASIK & Cornea.

As we age, our eyesight begins to weaken. Many people need reading glasses, contact lenses, or bifocals by the time they are in their 40s. Some of them have their vision corrected through laser correction surgeries like LASIK. Still, there are people whose eyesight might last longer if they would take care of it as they do their body when they exercise. Neglecting your eyes can lead to serious diseases later in life that cost you your sight.

Some of the most basic things you can do to protect the health of your eyes include:

• Wear sunglasses
• Don’t smoke
• Eat a healthy diet high in vitamins A, C, E, zinc, and selenium
• Visit your eye doctor yearly

Computer vision syndrome affects those who work in front of a computer for two hours or more a day. These symptoms include:

• Blurry vision
• Double vision
• Tired eyes
• Neck and shoulder pain
• Headaches
  

Because staring at a computer for work puts so much strain on the eyes, there are several things that can be done to lessen the tired feeling you may have at the end of the day. This includes:

• Use the 20/20/20 rule: Every 20 minutes, stare at an object 20 feet away for 20 seconds
• Blink often
• Take breaks during the day away from your computer
• Keep glares off your computer by working in dim light, as well as adjusting the brightness setting on your monitor
  

By taking care of your eyes, you can avoid diseases such as glaucoma and macular degeneration, and reduce the chance of developing cataracts.

If you would like more information on how to keep your eyes healthy, and are in the Seattle, Everett, or Olympia, Washington area, please contact the experienced ophthalmologists at Bellevue LASIK & Cornea.

Once they reach age 40 or 45, many people will begin to need reading glasses or bifocals due to presbyopia. Presbyopia is the result of aging eyes causing near vision blurriness. While reading glasses and bifocals are effective at allowing people to see clearly, another option available at Bellevue LASIK and Cornea is the monovision procedure.

The monovision procedure corrects one eye for seeing clearly at a distance and the other eye for seeing clearly up close. The brain then regulates your vision so that you do not have to constantly adjust your vision at different levels.

There are three options for those who are interested in monovision:

• Monovision contact lenses – You may wear these specialized contact lenses alone or with reading glasses
• LASIK monovision surgery – Correcting one eye for distance and the other for near vision allows you freedom from glasses or contact lenses most of the time
• Intraocular lenses (IOL) – Implantable contact lenses placed in front of the natural lens during a surgical procedure

You may be a candidate for monovision if you are suffering from presbyopia or have been told you are not a good candidate for traditional LASIK. This is a completely safe procedure with a low risk of side effects, such as haloes or night glare.

If you are interested in finding out more about monovision in the Seattle, Washington area, please contact the monovision specialists at Bellevue LASIK & Cornea today.

Conductive keratoplasty, or CK, stands alone as the only eye surgery done using low energy radio frequency light waves. Washington state ophthalmologist, Dr. Kent Leavitt, uses CK at Bellevue LASIK & Cornea to treat farsightedness and presbyopia.

This unique method of treating refractive error raises questions about choosing this method rather than other proven methods to treat these two conditions.

Not all patients are good LASIK candidates. For those who are not, research is continually being done to find alternate methods of treating refractive errors to restore good vision to them. CK is one of these alternatives.

CK is not a permanent solution and may last only 2-5 years. Some patients may prefer a temporary solution because they anticipate the need for other treatments in the future. Others would gladly accept a temporary solution to none, or to the permanent changes of laser surgery or lens exchange.

CK also has an excellent safety record along with fewer complications than other procedures, while offering immediate improvement in vision.

If you have been considering a lens exchange or laser surgery and would like to learn more about the CK alternative, please contact Dr. Kent Leavitt at one of our Bellevue LASIK & Cornea offices in Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Olympia, and Tacoma, Washington.

If there aren't enough inconveniences that come with aging, we all have to deal with the potential for age-related eye disease, or ARED, to one degree or another. The two most common are cataracts and presbyopia.

Cataracts that develop as an age-related disorder generally begin developing after age 60. Aging lens tissue clumps together as it deteriorates causing cataracts, cloudy areas that develop in the crystalline lens of the eyes. While this is a slow progress that occurs over years, it is progressive and irreversible. Cataracts are treated with an IOL or intraocular lens replacement. Patients receiving IOLs often see clearly without corrective lenses, or may only occasionally need reading glasses.

Presbyopia begins much earlier, affecting most people beginning in their mid-40s. The crystalline lens begins to stiffen losing its ability to change shape, which is necessary to refocus quickly and completely. As we age we may also lose some tone of the muscles that control the lens. Because of presbyopia most people find they need corrective lenses by their mid-40s. Presbyopia can be treated with CK, laser surgery or by a lens implant to improve vision without the need for corrective lenses.

If you have noticed your vision deteriorating and would like to learn more about how to have clear vision without glasses or contact lenses, please contact Bellevue LASIK & Cornea serving patients in Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Olympia, and Tacoma, Washington.

PRK is short for photorefractive keratectomy. PRK is a laser surgery similar to LASIK, but offers an alternative procedure for treating patients who don't qualify for LASIK.

The major difference between LASIK and PRK is that the LASIK technique involves creating an epithelial flap that is laid back to give access to the corneal tissue for reshaping.

In PRK, the epithelial tissue is gently brushed away and removed completely, giving direct access to the corneal tissue.

The ophthalmologists at Bellevue LASIK & Cornea use PRK to treat several types of corneas, but three are common examples:

• Patients who engage in rough sports run the risk of impact blows to the face. They can benefit from PRK because there is no epithelial flap that can dislodge as in LASIK.
• Patients who have thin corneas have less corneal tissue to reshape. The LASIK flap includes some corneal tissue that makes the corneas even thinner. PRK preserves the corneal tissue for reshaping.
• PRK has fewer dry-eye outcomes than LASIK, and may be an alternative for patients who present with dry eye prior to surgery.

PRK essentially makes laser surgery available to people who were, otherwise, poor candidates.

If you have been told that you are not a good candidate for LASIK, especially for one of these reasons, please contact Bellevue LASIK & Cornea with offices in Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Olympia, and Tacoma, Washington, for an up-to-date consultation at no cost to learn about the newest laser surgery procedures.