In a busy clinical practice, it’s easy to take for granted the tremendous advances that have been made in the treatment of eye disease over the past decade. If I pause to consider the way in which we treated retinal disease when I finished training compared to now, the advances that we have made are quite impressive. The variety and types of eye disorders that we can treat have expanded and effectiveness of our treatments has improved markedly. Keeping pace with these advances requires commitment to continued learning, involvement with clinical research, and acquisition of the latest technology. This is an essential part of our practice philosophy at John Kenyon American Eye Institute, where you can be assured that you will receive the best and most advanced treatments available.

 

 

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in persons aged 65 and older. In about 10 percent of persons with AMD blood vessels grow abnormally beneath the macula, the part of the retina responsible for fine vision. This is termed wet AMD. Untreated, this condition often leads to severe vision loss. 10 years ago less than one in five patients with wet AMD was eligible for treatment. The only available treatment was to cauterize the abnormal blood vessels with a laser. This type of treatment is still used in select cases. Its usefulness is limited because treatment of diseased areas with laser destroys the overlying retina in these locations as well. In a sense, it’s like amputation where diseased areas are removed to preserve the remaining healthy tissue. Another problem with treatment in this manner is that there is a high recurrence rate of wet disease. The benefits of this type of treatment were often marginal and disappointing.

 

Two major breakthroughs have occurred in the past decade that have changed the treatment paradigm for age-related macular degeneration: photodynamic therapy with Visudyne and the development of drugs such as Avastin and Lucentis that are injected into the eye to inhibit the growth of abnormal blood vessels that occurs in wet AMD. Consequently, most cases of recently diagnosed wet disease are now treatable. Additionally, improved vision is often obtained in the majority of affected individuals further vision can be prevented. At John Kenyon American Eye Institute we have been involved with the development of these types of treatment and have available the best and most advanced technologies for treatment of AMD.

 

 

Diabetes damages small blood vessels in the retina. This is called diabetic retinopathy and is the leading cause of vision loss among young adults. Two sight-threatening complications occur as a result of damaged blood vessels. First, fluid leaks into the retina causing swelling. When this affects the macula, the part of the retina responsible for fine vision, it is called macular edema. As the disease progresses, abnormal fragile vessels grow on the surface of the retina. These new blood vessels can hemorrhage and even cause the retina to detach. This stage of disease is called proliferative diabetic retinopathy.  As in the treatment of age-related macular degeneration, the treatment of diabetic retinopathy is rapidly evolving with the advent of new types of drug therapy. Laser treatment of diabetic retinopathy, however, still remains the standard of care. 

 

The latest technological advance in such treatment is the PASCAL (Pattern Scan Laser Photocoagulator) laser.   This makes treatment of diabetic retinopathy, faster, more comfortable and potentially safer. Laser treatment of proliferative diabetic retinopathy involves

placement of approximately 1200 laser burns in a grid pattern along areas of the retina outside of the macula.   With conventional treatment individual burns are applied one-by-one and the procedure takes 15-20 minutes. Since this sometimes causes considerable pain, anesthetic is often injected around the eye to deaden sensation. In contrast, the PASCAL laser delivers up to 25 individual laser burns in a computer-defined pattern in a fraction of a second. In this manner, treatment can often be done 10 times faster (1-2 minutes) with significantly less pain and without the necessity of anesthetic injection. Since the pattern is computer-defined, the spots are evenly spaced with less chance of overlap. This may be a potential safety benefit. We are proud to be the only practice in the Kentuckiana region to offer this new and exciting technology.

 

Whether you seek treatment of serious vision disorders or you just wish to get rid of your eyeglasses with refractive surgery, our commitment at John Kenyon American Eye Institute is to provide you with the most advanced state-of-the-art treatments available.