by Paul Batson, O.D. Center Director VisionAmerica of Birmingham Adoption of Advanced Technology Intraocular Lenses (IOL) such as Toric IOL's continues to grow. They are a great option for the correction of corneal cylinder during cataract surgery with or without multifocal optics. As such, I thought it would be good to share three quick pearls for managing patients who are candidates and choose to receive these lenses: 1. It's all about corneal cylinder, so maximize the ocular surface! When determining if a patient is a candidate and then deciding which IOL to use, the primary focus is the amount, orientation and regularity of the corneal cylinder. To accurately measure this cylinder, patients need to be out of contact lenses and the ocular surface treated for any pre-existing surface disease (dry eye, basement membrane dystrophy, etc.). 2. Let your patients know their options. Failing to educate a patient on their options is essentially making the choice for them. This is something that needs to be avoided.
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9/24/2018 0 Comments An Applicable Approach to Leading Your Practice - A Follow Up on Primal LeadershipEarlier this summer (July 17) we sent out a piece titled, "How Do You Lead Your Practice," which was based on the popular book, Primal Leadership, written by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatz, and Annie McKee.
The purpose of that piece was to give a brief glimpse into the different types of leadership skills and stress the importance for us, as doctors and the leaders of our practices, to learn and utilize all of them. (If you missed that piece or need to freshen up on the topic, click here!) There are some topics that can be addressed and then you can move on. We do not believe that leadership is one of those. It takes time and intentionality to truly apply the things learned in the realm of leadership. For example, how do you become a visionary, coaching, affiliative or democratic leader? by Paul Batson, O.D.
Center Director VisionAmerica of Birmingham Diagnosing and treating a disease like age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is always a challenge. These situations carry quite a bit more weight when the patient is your friend. This case study is a brief summary of my friend's exam history here at VisionAmerica and outlines what our next steps will be. If you have any thoughts or questions on the piece, please send them my way! Case Study 54-year-old friend presents for a second opinion regarding her recent diagnosis of "possible early AMD". Past Medical History - Unremarkable and has never smoked. Base Exam Findings Uncorrected Visual Acuity OD 20/20-1 OS 20/20-2 VisionAmerica is excited to announce the addition of Dr. Karen Shelton to its Birmingham office. With over 20 years experience in ophthalmology, Dr. Shelton specializes in glaucoma and cataract surgery and will be a huge asset to our team! We sat down with Dr. Shelton to learn a little bit more about her (both personally and professionally) and hope you enjoy the read! She will officially be joining the staff on Monday, October 15th. Can you tell us a little bit about where you are from and your career path? I am originally from Washington, D.C. I attended Howard University where I finished with a degree in Chemical Engineering. It was at Howard University where I met my husband, who was studying mechanical engineering. After graduating from college we got married and his job with Ford Motor Company took us to Michigan. At that time, I decided I wanted to go to medical school and took the additional pre-med courses required to attend. A few years after I got accepted to medical school, Ford Motor Company sent my husband to the University of Michigan Business school where he got his M.B.A. 9/13/2018 0 Comments September Photo of the MonthSeptember's photo of the month is a reminder of the reality of congenital glaucoma.
A 13-year-old African American male presents for glaucoma evaluation. Presenting IOP's 44 OD and 38 OS with + APD in the right eye. This shouldn't be! Especially at 13! On Wednesday, July 6th, Forbes published an article titled, Is Telemedicine Dead Before it Arrives?
The article, written by contributor John Nosta, hypothesizes that the greatest threat to telemedicine is not the hesitancy of the general population to trust virtual doctors, but is instead the emergence of chatbots. What are chatbots, you ask? On Wednesday, August 29, we became aware of Alcon's decision to issue a voluntary universal withdrawal of the CyPass Micro-Stent. Click here to read the press release from Alcon. We immediately took action to discontinue use of this implant and adapted surgical plans for patients scheduled for this procedure to best address the patients' medical needs. We expect further information from Alcon to be delivered to practices which have used the micro-stents in the next week to 10 business days. In the meanwhile, patients are to continue their originally-prescribed regimen following their CyPass implant procedure and keep all follow-up appointments for post-operative care to ensure continued positive outcomes. Patients may potentially receive further communication from Alcon regarding this matter and what, if any, action the patient must take in response. As soon as we receive clinical guidance from Alcon, we will partner with our experienced surgeons to develop a protocol for evaluation and surveillance of potential risk factors associated with these devices in patients who have already undergone this procedure. As we sat down to interview Dr. Rod Nowakowski for his "Get to Know" piece, Dr. Paul Batson pointed out an interesting problem.
He said, "The challenge with getting to know Dr. Nowakowski is that he has basically taught everyone in the state." Yes, it's true that "Dr. No" taught the majority of Alabama's ODs during his 30+ year career at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, but we are willing to bet that we uncovered a few things that few, if any, of you knew! Check it out below! |
AuthorThe staff and doctors at VisionAmerica are committed to providing relevant information for you, your patients and your practice. We hope you find the information in our blog post helpful. Archives
August 2019
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