Eye Treatments

Routine eye exams can detect vision problems, eye disease and general health problems before you are aware a problem exists. Our team of doctors at Optima Optometry will help diagnose and give appropriate treatments to relieve your symptoms and improve your vision and quality of life. If necessary, Optima Optometry will recommend eye surgery, while providing pre-operative screening and post-operative management.

At Optima Optometry, we can help treat the following eye conditions:

Astigmatism can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses, or surgery. Eyeglasses work well to correct astigmatism when the patient looks straight ahead. But, depending on the specific correction, the glasses can make the floor or walls appear to tilt.

Specially designed contact lenses can also correct astigmatism. The lenses used for astigmatism are called "toric" lenses and are designed to compensate for any abnormal curvature in your cornea.

Laser eye surgery to correct astigmatism was approved by the FDA in 1997. In this technique, the surgeon uses a laser to reshape the cornea so it can focus light rays better. Various amounts of astigmatism can be permanently corrected with another type of surgery called Limbal Relaxing Incisions.

Blepharitis is an inflammation of the eyelids. You may need to take antibiotics for some types of blepharitis. Contact Optima Optometry if your eye is painful or there is swelling or redness extending beyond the lid margins.

Treatment for strabismus (crossed eyes) may include glasses, patches, drug treatments, or surgery. If the eyes are only slightly misaligned, wearing glasses can sometimes correct strabismus. Some children may need to wear bifocals or special lenses called prisms.

Eye patches is primarily a treatment for amblyopia (lazy eye), which may be either the result of strabismus or its cause. The stronger eye is covered with a patch to force the child to use the weaker eye.

A doctor may prescribe certain drugs, usually in the form of eyedrops, as part of the treatment. Miotics may be used when strabismus is caused by problems in focusing the eyes. Atropine is sometimes used instead of patching to help treat poor vision in one eye by blurring the vision in the good eye beyond that of the weaker eye and forcing the child to use the weaker eye.

Surgery is often the only way to align the eyes and improve vision in children who have strabismus. During surgery, the doctor loosens or tightens the muscles attached to the eye by changing their length or position. Changing the pull of the muscles can bring the eyes back into line with each other.

Although no cure exists for dry eye syndrome, many treatments are available. Treatment is dependent on the severity of dry eye syndrome. Some people may only require a humidifier or occasional eye drops while others may require surgery to help decrease dry eyes.

Certain prescription medications may help with dry eye syndrome. Eye lubricants may be prescribed, such as Lacrisert, an artificial tear insert. Antibiotics are used if a person has blepharitis or meibomian gland dysfunction.

Different minor surgical procedures may help decrease dry eye syndrome. Near the inner corner of each eyelid are small openings, called punctae, that are the beginning of the normal tear drainage system. Punctal occlusion helps by decreasing the normal drainage of the tears from the ocular surface and down the tear drainage system, into the back of the nose, and down the throat.

Eyeglasses and contact lenses are the treatment of choice for most people with farsightedness (hyperopia). Both are safe and effective. And both are less risky and less expensive than surgery. Prescriptions for eyeglasses and contact lenses specify both the shape and power of the lens.

Surgery for farsightedness aims to change the shape of the cornea so that light is focused directly on the retina. Procedures to correct farsightedness include H-LASIK, photorefractive keratectomy for hyperopia (H-PRK), thermal keratoplasty, and conductive keratoplasty (CK). Farsightedness can also be corrected by intraocular implants.

Most spots and eye floaters are annoying but harmless. However, if you suddenly see new floaters or floaters accompanied by flashes of light or peripheral vision loss, it could indicate serious conditions such as diabetic retinopathy; vascular abnormalities such as retinal hemorrhages or carotid artery disease, in addition to the beginning of a retinal detachment. Whenever you experience an increase in the number of floaters, with or without light flashes, you should call your eye doctor immediately.

Glaucoma can't be totally cured, and damage caused by the disease can't be reversed, but treatment and regular checkups can prevent visual loss in people with very early glaucoma.

Glaucoma treatment often starts with medicated eyedrops. The types of most commonly prescribed eyedrops include prostaglandin-like compounds, beta blockers, alpha-agonists, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, miotic or cholinergic agents, and epinephrine compounds.

If eyedrops alone don't bring your eye pressure down to the desired level, your doctor may also prescribe an oral medication, usually in the form of a carbonic anhydrase inhibitor.

You may need surgery to treat glaucoma if you can't tolerate medications or if they're ineffective. Surgeries used to treat glaucoma include laser surgery, filtering surgery, and drainage implants.

In the mildest form of keratoconus, eyeglasses or soft contact lenses may help. But as the disease progresses and the cornea thins and becomes increasingly more irregular in shape, glasses and regular soft contact lens designs no longer provide adequate vision correction.

Treatments for moderate and advanced keratoconus include custom soft contact lenses, gas permeable contact lenses, "piggybacking" contact lenses, ClearKone hybrid contact lenses, scleral and semi-scleral lenses, Intacs, corneal crosslinking, topography-guided conductive keratoplasty, and corneal transplant.

In some cases of refractive amblyopia, normal vision can be achieved simply by fully correcting the refractive errors in both eyes with glasses or contact lenses. Usually, however, at least some patching of the "good" eye is needed to force the brain to pay attention to the visual input from the amblyopic eye and enable normal vision development to occur in that eye.

Treatment of strabismic amblyopia often involves strabismus surgery to straighten the eyes, followed by eye patching and often some form of vision therapy to help both eyes work together equally as a team.

A variety of treatments are available for wet AMD. Successful treatment may not restore normal vision, but rather improve sight somewhat and prevent central vision loss from becoming worse.

Medications can also help prevent the growth of leaky blood vessels in your eye and have become the preferred treatment for acute wet macular degeneration. Lucentis, Eylea, and Macugen are both approved by the FDA for treating wet macular degeneration.

Laser photocoagulation destroys leaking blood vessels that have grown under the macula and halts the leakage. Laser therapy is helpful to about 10%-20% of people with wet macular degeneration.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) uses a different, non-heat generating laser to treat abnormal blood vessels. Visudyne is injected into the patient's arm and flows through the vessels in the eye. Laser photocoagulation must be done before the abnormal blood vessels cause irreversible damage to the retina.

Myopia (nearsightedness) can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or refractive surgery. Depending on the degree of your myopia, you may need to wear your glasses or contact lenses all the time or only when you need very clear distance vision, like when driving, seeing a chalkboard or watching a movie.

Refractive surgery can reduce or even eliminate your need for glasses or contacts. The most common procedures are performed with an excimer laser. In PRK the laser removes a layer of corneal tissue, which flattens the cornea and allows light rays to focus more accurately on the retina. In LASIK — the most common refractive procedure — a thin flap is created on the surface of the cornea, a laser removes some corneal tissue, and then the flap is returned to its original position.

Several medical and surgical treatments that sometimes help people with nystagmus are available. Surgery usually reduces the null positions, lessening head tilt and improving cosmetic appearance. Drugs such as Botox or Baclofen can reduce some nystagmic movements, although results are usually temporary. Some people with nystagmus benefit from biofeedback training.

The goal of ocular hypertension medical treatment is to reduce the pressure before it causes glaucomatous loss of vision. Medical treatment is always initiated for those people who are believed to be at the greatest risk for developing glaucoma and for those with signs of optic nerve damage.

How your ophthalmologist chooses to treat you is highly individualized. Depending on your particular situation, you may be treated with medications or just observed. Your doctor will discuss the pros and cons of medical treatment versus observation with you.

The ideal drug for treatment of ocular hypertension should effectively lower intraocular pressure, have no side effects, and be inexpensive with once-a-day dosing; however, no medicine possesses all of the above. When choosing a medicine for you, your ophthalmologist prioritizes these qualities based on your specific needs.

The goal of presbyopia treatment is to compensate for the inability of your eyes to focus on nearby objects. Treatment options include wearing corrective lenses, undergoing refractive surgery or getting lens implants.

Your choice of perscription lenses for presbyopia includes prescription reading glasses, bifocals, trifocals bifocal contact lenses nonovision contact lenses, and modified monovision. For presbyopia, refractive surgery may be used to improve close-up vision in your nondominant eye. Refractive surgical procedures include Conductive keratoplasty (CK), Laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis (LASIK), Laser epithelial keratomileusis (LASEK), and Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK).

Another procedure used by some ophthalmologists involves removal of your clear natural lens and replacement with a synthetic lens inside your eye (intraocular lens implant).

The goal of uveitis treatment is to reduce the inflammation in your eye. Treatment of uveitis may include anti-inflammatory medication, antibiotic or antiviral medication, immunosuppressive or cytotoxic medication, or surgery to remove some of the jelly-like material in your eye (vitreous)