As we continue to grow as a profession, remember we are treating the whole patient, not just the eye alone. Incorporating lab work and imaging into your comprehensive eye care will improve patient outcomes and continue to grow your practice.

It is important for eyecare providers to be familiar with these new drugs and findings. We often see patients with diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and high CV risk, and we are in a position to help counsel our patients about new treatments-and even suggest that appropriate patients have conversations with their primary-care physicians, endocrinologists and cardiologists.

The over response of LASIK patients is not a common event, but it does happen. CLAPIKS provides a straightforward and practical approach to help patients through this healing period.

The notion of patients not coming in as advised for eye examinations can be troubling. For example, when a patient has an eye disease as potentially significant as glaucoma and chooses to ignore its presence, there is cause for concern on the part of the doctor.

Our patients have numerous choices regarding advanced technology and eye care. Advances range from how patients check in for an appointment to what tools a surgeon uses to dissect tissue. They all have their benefits, and all come at a cost.

By using OCTA technology, we are able to take better care of our patients with retinal disease, make smarter referrals, or be able to hold on to our patients, knowing a referral is not needed.

Angioid streaks are a rare but potentially visually debilitating condition that present a unique challenge to the average eyecare provider. Learning to recognize its clinical presentation is just a start in an often difficult diagnosis to differentiate it from other similar retinal presentations. Ultimately understanding its association with a variety of systemic diseases is essential in successfully identifying and mitigating its link to vision loss.

Creating a partnership between the optometrists and retinal practices will enhance the care of patients and serve as a continuing source of education and reference for the OD community. This constant communication will help diabetic patients who are suffering from this multifactorial disease that affects their bodies. DR must be addressed from the optometrist’s point of view, retinal specialist’s point of view, and the primary-care physician’s point of view.

Whether your Halloween makeup plans are glamorous or ghoulish, incorrect makeup practices are frightful for eye health.

We embrace the holidays in my office. I think that by echoing the buzz of the season, we create an inclusive environment in which our patients feel a part of the practice.

If the rate of change in optometry this year has your head spinning, hold on tight with this next one. On September 18, 2017, Johnson & Johnson Vision (JJV) announced the acquisition of Sightbox, an online contact lens subscription box service that sells direct to consumer Acuvue contact lenses, and yes, contact lenses from the three other major contact lens manufacturers.

The older I become, it seems the faster time flies. Five years ago, I was asked by someone I greatly respect and admire to become chief optometric editor of this publication. Now, five years later, the time has flown by in a blur, and I am moving on.

I grew up in a suburb of Washington, D.C. My dad was a federal government employee and so from the time I was born to the time I graduated high school, it was always in the D.C. area-in fact, I went to high school in Washington, D.C. After I went to optometry school, I went into the Air Force and was stationed in Washington, D.C., so we moved back there.

You may have heard success stories with patients fit in scleral lenses and seen discussion in literature regarding the finer points of fitting these contact lenses. If you are not currently fitting scleral contact lenses but are interested in working with them, we recommend three things to prepare yourself and your practice to fit scleral lenses.

I was born in Houston, moved to Dallas for two years at age 8, moved to Los Angeles for five years, then came back to Dallas. I went to Houston for college and moved back to Dallas 33 years ago when I graduated.

Times are changing, and the amount of information coming at us from all directions can easily be overwhelming. This information-whether true or false-is unrelenting and has increased in magnitude over the past five years. Part of it may be the natural progression of one’s career and the expansion of one’s network, but most of it is just the sheer volume that is at our fingertips.

Conjunctival chalasis, or conjunctivochalasis (Cch), is a commonly observed condition in our everyday patient care experiences. Because it is so common, and because a majority of patients are asymptomatic, optometrists seldom feel the need treat.

Keratoconus treatment has changed much over the past several years. Avedro’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of corneal cross-linking has given more patients hope for better vision.

Like weather forecasting, forecasting in our optometric practices has also come a long way. Today’s software programs have every imaginable piece of data about our practices. But unfortunately, most of us don’t know how to use the data. The problem is there is so much data and information, it is hard to know what to pay attention to.

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are devices designed to deliver nicotine in a solution rather than smoke without tobacco combustion. Perceived by consumers as a safer alternative to conventional cigarettes, e-cigarettes are aggressively marketed as lifestyle-choice consumables.