Who Treats Glaucoma, Macular Degeneration, Cataracts, and Diabetic Eye Disease in Titusville?

For most people, glaucoma treatment is one eye drop a day that lowers the pressure inside the eye. Some patients need two drops, and a few need a pill as well. When drops are not enough, a laser procedure or surgery can help the eye drain. We do not do those ourselves. We send you to a surgeon with your scans, and your follow-up care comes back to us.

No treatment brings back nerve tissue that is already lost, and that includes laser. The aim is to hold the pressure where your nerve can live with it. All four of us treat glaucoma at either office.

Yes, as a rule. Glaucoma, macular degeneration, cataracts, and diabetic eye disease are medical problems. So the visits, scans, and tests go to Medicare or your medical insurance, not your vision plan, and your usual copay and deductible apply. Glaucoma drops go through your pharmacy benefit or Part D.

What Medicare usually leaves out is the routine glasses check, a split we explain in eye exams after 65. Call us with your plan name and we will check your benefits before you come in.

It depends on the kind. Dry macular degeneration is far more common, and no drop or pill reverses it. Care means close watching with OCT scans, sunglasses outdoors, and not smoking. For some stages, a specific eye vitamin formula can help slow it, and we will tell you if your stage is one of them.

Wet macular degeneration is treated with injections into the eye, given by a retina specialist. We do not give them here. When a scan shows fluid, we refer you quickly and keep seeing you in between. All four of us follow macular degeneration at both offices.

Medicare and most medical plans usually cover cataract surgery with a standard lens implant, plus the evaluation and the follow-up visits. Implants that correct astigmatism or cut the need for readers usually cost extra. The surgeon's office quotes the surgery itself, so we cannot give you that number. For your cataract evaluation and check-ups with us, call (321) 269-2021 with your plan name and we will check your benefits first.

Sometimes, yes. Diabetes can change the small blood vessels in the retina, and those changes can show before anyone has checked your blood sugar. When we see something that looks like it, we tell you and send you to your primary doctor for a blood test. We do not diagnose diabetes ourselves, but a diabetic eye exam is where many people first hear the word.

Because diabetic retinopathy has no symptoms early on. The first changes often sit at the edges of the retina, and we see those best once drops open your pupils. A year is about how fast things can move, so a yearly look finds changes while there is time to act.

We dilate patients with diabetes once a year. Bring sunglasses, since your near vision stays blurry for a few hours. We can send a report to your primary care doctor. Book a diabetic eye exam at either office.

The Optomap is a camera made by Optos. It takes a wide picture of your retina in one flash per eye, with no drops. We put the photo on the screen at your visit, so you see what we see. Then we keep it, so next year's photo has something to be compared with.

It does not always replace dilation. Dilation still lets us see all the way to the edge of the retina. The Optomap is one of several instruments in our exam rooms, along with the OCT scanner.