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This week, a relative of mine had a stye. So, that led me to contemplate: what do I tell my family and friends about styes? In ophthalmology, we agree that styes are blocked oil glands at the edge of the eyelid. Due to the blockage, the contents build up and inflammation results. Here are my…

Lately, I have been hearing more and more patients ask about Demodex mite infestation. Demodex mites can live in the eyelashes, and when they do, they can cause inflammation of the eyelids. Inflammation of the eyelids can cause many different symptoms, including tearing, itching, pain, scratchy feelings, burning, and blurred vision. I think that the…

Sometimes, people wonder how we give glasses to really small children. I mean, they can’t even talk, how do you figure out what glasses to give them?? There is a technique called retinoscopy, in which we use a light and lenses to figure out the prescription of a patient without the need for the patient…

Patients sometimes come in startled with a bright red eye! When the white part of the eye has a large blood-red patch on it, we are likely to call it a subconjunctival hemorrhage. A subconjunctival hemorrhage can look scary, but it’s usually harmless. I often see patients alarmed by the bright red area. A subconjunctival…

The use of robots in surgery has been known for decades. However, all of these robots seemed to me to be appropriate for macroscopic surgery–primarily abdominal surgery. In ophthalmology, we literally do our surgeries while looking through a microscope, so I didn’t think that there would be a robot to use for these surgeries. But…

This weekend, I was at a kids birthday party that my daughter was attending. I ended up in a conversation with other parents about someone who has “perfect eyesight” at age 39. I said, “prepare for whining coming soon. =)” People who have never had to wear glasses and have basically taken great eyesight for…

Usually, this is not a forum for me to pine for certain things or communicate my personal feelings about ideas that are not medical issues, but I am making an exception. There is a movie called “Caterpillar,” which I believe is being released (or perhaps re-released) in theaters this month. It relates to a cosmetic…

When performing cataract surgery, one of the steps that we commonly execute is called hydrodissection. The cataract is inside a capsule, and the cataract does not freely move within the capsule when we first encounter it during surgery. However, we can inject a water-based solution into the potential space between the cataract and capsule. By…

One of the most common complaints in my office is that people don’t like betadine in the eye. It burns like crazy! This is a well known fact; betadine does not feel good. But we need it! Betadine is one of the most well-known antiseptics, and, out of all available measures to decrease the likelihood…

I was recently speaking to a family member who was recounting her experience of seeing eye doctors. She had a visit in California, where she lives, and was told that she had a normal eye exam. She specifically asked about cataracts and was told she did not have any. At that time, everything seemed quite…