Pupillary Pathways

On a daily basis I see a wide variety of patients with many different ocular and systemic health conditions. One of the main eye-related issues I see and talk to my patients about it cataracts.

I get a wide range of emotions from patients when I tell them that their vision is hazy from cataracts, or that the difficulties they are having with glare at night are due to cataracts, or that they have the very early stages of cataracts developing; but they aren’t quite affecting their vision yet.

Most patients associate cataracts with a negative feeling; they feel like its just another thing that is reminding them that they are getting old.

The data breach involving optometrists and optometry students has still not been cracked. Although many have their own speculations as to which profession database was compromised, no one has stepped forward to take responsibility yet.  Were you a part of it?

However, the AOA has pressured the NBEO to change their requirements for registration to protect registrant's social security numbers. In the past the full 9-digit social security number was required and was kept in the NBEO database.  AOA's Privacy Appeal to NBEO Prompts Change at the Testing Organization.

Recently, the NBEO changed it's requirements and is now using the new OE tracker number system and only the last 4 digits of the SSN. Additionally, the full SSNs of existing registrants have been truncated to only the last 4 digits. Although the effects of the breach are still causing many issues, at least this will help protect new students who have not signed up with NBEO yet. 

We also have 10 steps you should take to prevent identify theft.

I am often amazed by the advances in medical technology. Robotic surgeon devices used to assist in surgical procedures have been around for many years. Now, this technology seems to be making it's way into the ocular surgery world.

A new surgical robot is claimed to be able to make the micro-scale movements required for the particularly delicate procedure of cataract surgery.  It is even designed to operate with greater accuracy than a human! Check out the article below which describes the new, incredible robotic device and how these robots remove cataracts.

About a year ago, I sent a patient to a local cataract surgeon for a cataract evaluation due to his complaints of decreased visual acuity, glare and haloes at night, and difficulty completing some of his normal daily tasks.