Hello, for those who have not been in the office so far this year, we have added a new instrument that will significantly improve the quality of your eye care.   The name of the instrument is called an OCT, which stands for Optical Coherence Tomography.    For the last 10 years, we have offered retinal photos to document what the back of your eye looks like.  Now, with the addition of this instrument, we have added and improved upon that.   The OCT still takes a photo of the back of your eye, but in addition to that, it also takes an image of your eye that is a cross-section of your retina, much like what an MRI does.   So we are now able to see a cross-section of your retina.  It also measures the thickness of the different layers of the retina.
     There are certain conditions in which this instrument is especially relevant for:
1.  Glaucoma  or glaucoma suspects.  We are now able to diagnose glaucoma at an earlier stage in the disease process, because it has been found that certain layers of the retina decrease in thickness in cases of glaucoma, and that this occurs earlier in the disease process than visual field loss, which is the older technology that was previously and is still currently used to diagnoses glaucoma.
2.  Macular Degeneration.  The OCT allows us to visualize a cross-section of the macula,  which is important in the diagnosis and treatment of this condition.
3.  Macular Holes.    This is another retinal condition that is very relevant to this instrument.  Many macular holes occur and they cannot be seen in a retinal photo.   However, they are always seen with the OCT.

EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY OF THESE CONDITIONS, I'M RECOMMENDING THAT ALL PATIENTS OVER THE AGE OF 18 HAVE AN OCT SCAN AT THEIR EXAM THIS YEAR, SO THAT WE HAVE BASELINE INFORMATION FOR THE FUTURE.  IN THE EVENT YOU HAVE A RETINAL CONDITION THAT OCCURS SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, WE WILL HAVE DATA TAKEN THIS YEAR THAT WE CAN COMPARE IT TO.  ONCE  THE BASELINE INFORMATION IS IN OUR FILES, THEN THE OCT CAN BE OPTIONAL IN FUTURE YEARS, PROVIDED YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY RETINAL CONDITIONS THAT WARRANT IT.

The OCT is the single greatest eyecare technology advancement in our lifetime.   I recommend that everybody have it done once now, so that we have baseline information for the future.

Hello, hope you are all having a good 2026!   I just wanted to discuss briefly about the trends in contact lens wear 2026.   More and more people are wearing daily disposable lenses.   These are lenses that you replace on a daily basis.  The biggest advantage of these lenses is that you don't have to clean them at the end of the day, you just throw them out. The convenience of this is significant.  The most important advantage of these lenses is these are the healthiest lenses for your eyes, as you have a clean lens on the eye every day.  As anyone who has worn monthly or 2 week disposables know, after 1-2 weeks, lenses tend to become less comfortable.   That is due to lens deposits that form on the lens.   With daily disposables, that is not a problem.    There are some disadvantages.    They do cost a little more, but once you start wearing them, it will be difficult for you to go back to 2 week or monthly disposables because of the convenience of not having to clean them.  Other people have brought up the environmental factor--more plastic in the environment.   That is a great point--Bausch and Lomb has created a website where it gives information where you can return used contact lenses and packaging that will be disposed of properly and be friendly to the environment.   Daily disposable lenses are the big trend in 2026--I wear them myself and have for many years.   If you're still in a 2 week disposable lens, you should give them a try!
           Another new development within the last two years--we now have a 1 week disposable lens as an option!   This is a great option for those who want a more comfortable or healthy option to a 2 week disposable, but don't want to wear a daily lens.   This lens is also easier to remember to change, since it's on a weekly basis.  
            A lot has changed since when I first started wearing contact lenses--back then, we wore one pair of contact lenses for the entire year!    Can you imagine that?!  Back then, contact lens wearers had a lot more comfort and health issues.    The more often you change your contact lenses, the healthier it is for your eyes.   There is no doubt in my mind that contact lens wearers are better off in 2026 because we change our contact lenses much more frequently.