I recently read an article from a group at UC Irvine regarding Google Trends data about dry eye. Basically, the method they use is to analyze Google search data as a measure of how much dry eye is actually in the community. One of their conclusions was that the Fall is the time of year…

After LASIK surgery to try to reduce the need for glasses, typically done in young near-sighted people, patients can experience something called “transient light sensitivity syndrome” (TLSS). This syndrome is not deeply/well understood, but it boils down to this situation: a patient who has had LASIK has good vision and a normal looking eyeball but…

When we as ophthalmologists take cataracts out, we like to replace the cataract with an intraocular lens implant. Some of the newer intraocular lens implants (IOLs) are designed to try to help the patient see at different distances, e.g. at far away distances and up close (reading) as well. Many of the lens implants that…

Some ophthalmologists are recommending that patients with full thickness corneal transplants take special precautions around the time of getting vaccines in their arms. I may have covered this before, but there is a lot of attention on vaccines these days. The recommendation is taking additional steroid eye drops in the days before and after the…

The colored part of the eye is called the iris, and it is covered in front by a clear “windshield,” which is the cornea. Sometimes, if the iris is damaged or irregular, extra light passes into the eye that can be bothersome for patients. It is indeed one of the functions of the iris to…

A lot of patients worry about how having cataract surgery will affect their golfing. Unfortunately, this question cannot be answered with a one-size-fits-all response. Everyone is a little different, and the different lens options have a lot of nuances to them. However, if a golfer has cataracts that are blurring vision, cataract surgery is almost…

Sometimes patients come to me and state that they have too high a prescription for LASIK. What they usually mean is that they are near-sighted, with “minus” glasses prescription. They have been told that the “minus number” is too high for LASIK. Basically, this is TRUE. I think that there have been successful cases of…

Traditionally, we in the ophthalmology community have started our newly diagnosed glaucoma patients on eye drops. Eye drops are usually acceptable to patients as a first line treatment during discussions, at least moreso than surgery. However, the breadth of options for treating glacuoma using procedures is expanding more and more. At this point, I still…

There is a condition in which calcium and fat get together in center of the eyeball to cause visible “globules” in the eye. When I look into eyes like that, sometimes it almost seems like a snow globe filled with these “globules.” Some have said that they resemble stars in the sky, and that is…

The cornea, which is the very front surface of the eye, can develop swelling. Many times this swelling has to do with a problem with the inside most part, which is responsible for pumping water out of the cornea. If that pump malfunctions, water builds up in the cornea, swelling it. Over the last couple…