There is a procedure in ophthalmology called “anterior stromal puncture.” In this procedure, the front of the eye is literally poked over and over with a needle. While it may seem like a “low tech” procedure, it can really help in certain situations. An example of such a situation would be one in which someone…

There have been some patients recently coming into the office with large pupils. These patients have often been young patients who are teenagers. The pupils are larger than normal and don’t react to light very much (normally the pupils should react to light by shrinking). It seems that these patients have large pupils due to…

One of the costs of doing business is that sometimes patients with scheduled appointments will not appear. There is a name on the schedule, but no patient arrives. This can be due to different factors, but sometimes patients know they have appointments and just decide not to come. As I mentioned, we think of this…

I’m sure that during this trying time in our country and the world, everyone is used to things being off schedule due to modifications that have been required for public health reasons. One of the modifications that we have made at my office is rearranging my schedule to try to minimize the number of people…

At least a few times per year, I see a patient who has a “growth” on the side of the eyeball, near the outer corner where they eyelids meet. It is usually kind of yellowish/pinkish in color, and it might move a little bit. Often, when I see this growth, I find that it is…

One of the tests that I often obtain in my clinic is topography. This is not about how hilly the area surrounding the building is, as it seems on first blush; it is a map of the front surface of the eyeball. Topography of the front of the eyeball measures how steep the curvature is…

Some of the forums that we use to discuss ophthalmology issues have recently been inundated by information about coronavirus. Occasionally there are discussions about government recommendations and regulations, and sometimes people promote their pet ideas about how to combat the virus. Over the last week or two, things are finally starting to get back to…

I recently saw a report that conjunctivitis, inflammation over the white part of the eye, can be the main sign of Covid-19. Many types of conjunctivitis are colloquially called “pink eye.” I believe that this was a case report of a few patients in Italy, so it is not widely known, but it is an…

Recently I was informed of a patient who was seen in an emergency room setting. At 2:00 AM, a nurse called an eye doctor stating that there was a teenager in the emergency room whose vision was very poor. It was reported as “no light perception,” which is the term that we use for the…

As ophthalmology offices slowly start to open up to see more patients, we appreciate that our patients are understanding of all the precautionary measures that we have to take. Patients seem to understand that we need to limit the number of people in the building at any given time, which often requires having family members…