Lifestyle Changes after LASIK

Imagine you are standing on the edge of a beautiful lake, that the sun has just come up and is making the pebbles on the beach each a different color. Imagine the trees across the lake sway gently in the breeze and the morning fog is just starting to lift off the surface. Now imagine taking off your glasses and still seeing all this beauty with perfect clarity.

When people talk about life without contacts or eyeglasses, it is common to bring up sports, hobbies, or hassle. But more than just a question of carrying separate glasses for indoors or outdoors, or remembering to bring your contact paraphernalia with you on vacation, LASIK vision correction allows an entire change of lifestyle, and not only simplifies current hobbies and makes new ones possible, but genuinely affects your day-to-day life.

After you have had LASIK, you will never experience the pain and frustration of getting a hair or speck caught between your contact lens and your eye. You will never have to remove your glasses during a movie or at your child’s play to clean a fingerprint off the lens. You will never again feel the confusion of waking up in the middle of the night and having to look for your contacts or glasses before you can go get a drink of water.

At the Carter Eye Center in Dallas, Texas, Dr. Carter has helped thousands of patients see clearly without the aid of contacts or eye glasses. Our LASIK patients enjoy freedom from the daily habits and inconveniences created by vision aids. To share that freedom, please contact Dr. Carter today and finding out how we can help you see the beauty life without needing rose-colored glasses.

Diabetic Retinopathy Questions

What is Diabetic Retinopathy?
The term "retinopathy" refers to damage to the retina which is not caused by inflammation. Diabetic retinopathy is damage to the eyes brought on by diabetes. Diabetic retinopathy develops in up to 80% of individuals who have had diabetes for 10 to 15 years, although it can develop sooner.

How does Diabetic Retinopathy develop?
Diabetic retinopathy is a product of prolonged diabetes, particularly where the diabetes may not have been correctly treated. The retinal tissue will become damaged over time, but produces few symptoms in the early onset. The most common symptoms may include:

• Double vision
• Blurred vision
• Retinal bleeding
• Lost or diminished peripheral vision
• Change in vision
• Sudden or slow vision degeneration

Can Dr. Carter treat Diabetic Retinopathy?
Fortunately, diabetic retinopathy can be diagnosed and treated. As with many other eye disorders, however, the earlier the disorder is diagnosed, the better opportunity for correction and the more options will be available to you. Symptoms which may not be listed above may still be indicators of diabetic retinopathy, and if you have any of the above symptoms you should make an appointment for an examination at the Carter Eye Center in Dallas, Texas immediately.

Questions about Glaucoma

What is Glaucoma?
Glaucoma is a progressive disorder that causes damage to the optic nerve and loss of sight. It is often painful, can progress quickly, and can occur suddenly. It is caused by an increase of pressure within the eye. There are several classifications of glaucoma, but the end result is always vision impairment or loss. It is often described as the silent thief of sight because by the time you see symptoms it may already be too late to prevent vision loss.

Why should I be tested for Glaucoma?
While glaucoma cannot be prevented, it can be detected. Early detection of glaucoma can save your vision if the right steps are taken. However, if glaucoma is allowed to go untreated, the end result can be blindness. Just as your doctor recommends testing periodically for warning signs of other illnesses or diseases, regular testing for glaucoma can help save your vision.

Is there a treatment for Glaucoma?
There are several treatment options available for glaucoma. The sooner glaucoma is detected the more viable options are available to you. Options for treating glaucoma include:

• Laser surgery
• Optical drainage or filtering implants
• Eye drops
• Medication therapy

Eye drops are the most common first treatment for glaucoma, and often multiple treatments are used together to prevent loss of vision.

To learn more about preventing this dangerous condition, please contact the Carter Eye Center in Dallas, Texas today.

Intraocular Lenses (IOL)

If you have been told you are not a good candidate for LASIK because you suffer from myopia (nearsightedness) or presbyopia (aging eyes), you may still be able to see clearly without contacts or eyeglasses. Intraocular lenses, or IOLs, are frequently used to replace the natural lens and provide clear vision for individuals suffering from nearsightedness or combined near- and farsightedness.

Three types of IOLs are currently offered at Carter Eye Center:

• Crystalens®
• ReZoom®
• ReSTOR®

Crystalens is most frequently used to treat presbyopia, or aging of the eyes, which leads to farsightedness, or the need to hold objects at arm's length to be able to see them clearly. Crystalens has been FDA-approved since 2003, and Dr. Harvey Carter was one of the first eye surgeons to offer the procedure in Texas.

ReZoom and ReSTOR are both multifocal lenses used to treat individuals who are both near and farsighted, a common problem for older individuals, usually over the age of 40. ReSTOR can also treat patients with cataracts, or the hardening of the eye's natural lens which produces a milky color and, if untreated, can progress to blindness.

If you suffer from nearsightedness, a combination of near and farsightedness, or have early onset cataracts and would like to know more about IOLs, please contact Dr. Carter at Carter Eye Center today, serving Dallas and the surrounding communities in Texas.

LASIK and the FDA

If you are searching for information on LASIK, like so many of Carter Eye Center's patients, you may be interested in what the Food and Drug Administration has to say about this FDA-approved procedure.

While the FDA website does not encourage or discourage individuals to undergo LASIK, the FDA's approval of the procedure for US consumers means that the LASIK procedure has undergone a series of clinical tests and has been found to perform how it is supposed to perform when done correctly. According to the FDA, LASIK may be used to treat nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) or astigmatism, which is the irregular shaping of the cornea.

However, many eye surgeons find that LASIK is more effective for nearsightedness than farsightedness, and offer alternatives to LASIK to patients suffering from hyperopia.

The FDA also recommends that you discontinue wearing different types of contacts for different lengths of time before your initial evaluation to allow the curvature of your eye to return to its natural shape and promote the best possible outcome of LASIK.

If you wear:
Soft lenses - discontinue use 2 weeks prior to your initial evaluation.
Rigid Gas Permeable (RGP) lenses - discontinue use 3 weeks prior to your initial evaluation.
Hard (PMMA) lenses - discontinue use 4 weeks prior to your initial evaluation.
To learn more about FDA-approved LASIK, please contact Dr. Harvey Carter at Carter Eye Clinic, serving Dallas and the surrounding areas of Texas.

LASIK Tourism

At Carter Eye Center, we are proud to be serving patients in Dallas, Texas, but did you know that we also offer LASIK and other types of vision correction surgery to patients from all over the world?

You may have heard of the trend of going overseas to have a plastic surgery procedure performed where the rates are a little lower or where a specialist offers patients the combination of a vacation and a new self-image. It may surprise you, then, to learn that the US is the number-one destination for LASIK tourism.

Dr. Harvey Carter is one of a small number of leading edge eye surgeons who are renowned throughout the world for their skill and technological advancement in laser vision correction. Because of this, we offer out-of-town patients information on where to stay and what to see while in Dallas for their vision correction procedure, and best of all, we offer the clear, 20/20 or better vision to see it all without the need for contacts or eyeglasses.

If you are interested in LASIK tourism and would like help deciding where to stay or what attractions to visit in the Dallas, Texas area, please contact Dr. Harvey Carter and our team at Carter Eye Center today.

Contact Lens Risks

Many people who visit Carter Eye Center for LASIK surgery or other types of vision correction are under the mistaken impression that contact lenses are safer than vision correction surgery. In reality, contact lenses pose potential hazards serious enough that the federal government warns you to be careful when using them.

According to www.fda.gov, contact lenses may be the cause of:

• Discomfort or pain
• Discharge or excess tearing (watering eyes)
• Light sensitivity
• Burning, itching, or a feeling of grit in your eye
• Redness or swelling
• Blurred vision

The FDA warns that these may be the symptoms of injury or infection and you should discontinue using your contacts if they occur, but keep your contacts so your ophthalmologist can use them to determine the cause of your discomfort, if necessary. The FDA further recommends that you:

• Clean your contacts daily as recommended
• Never expose your contacts to water (the organisms and chemicals in water, even bottled water, may harm your eye if caught under the contact lens)
• Discard your contact solution after each use
• Replace your contact case every 3 to 6 months
• Remove your contact lenses before swimming

To learn more about the benefits and risks of contacts or of LASIK treatment please contact Dr. Harvey Carter at Carter Eye Clinic today, serving Dallas, Texas.