Before You Arrive |
Checking in & Locations |
History and Physical |
Diagnostic Testing |
Office Procedures |
|
|
Before You Arrive
We participate in most Medicare and most private healthcare plans. Click here to see a full list of insurance plans in which we participate. Click here to see a list of plans in which we do not participate. If you have any questions please call our St. Petersburg Office (727) 323-0077 and ask for an insurance specialist (usually Dorothy).
Federal law requires all healthcare providers to comply with privacy regulations. We will give you a copy of these regulations when you present to the office. For a PDF file click here. For a link to the government site click here.
New Patient Medical History Form
Please print out and fill out the
New Patient Medical History Form
Pharmacy E-Prescribe Information
also read through and sign:
GENERAL PATIENT / PHYSICIAN AGREEMENT
IDENTITY THEFT PREVENTION AND DETECTION AND RED FLAG RULE COMPLIANCE
Checking-in and Locations
- Tampa 2705 W. St. Isabel St., Tampa, FL 33607, (813) 879-5795
- Temple Terrace 12903 N 56th Street,
Tampa, FL 33617
(813) 987-2000. - Clearwater 579 S. Duncan Ave, Clearwater, FL 33756, (727) 445-9110
- Saint Petersburg 4344 Central Ave, St. Petersburg, FL 33711, (727) 323-0077
You need to be checked-in, have your history taken and, visual acuity, pupil reaction, visual field, amsler grid, ocular motility and intraocular pressure tested by a trained technician. The technician will dilate your pupil and then you will be evaluated by the doctor. This usually takes about one to two hours for new patients.
Dilation drops and the eye examination can blur your vision for several hours. You should bring someone with you to safely drive you home from the visit.
Our offices are open from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Doctors' schedules vary and we advise you to call the office if you are unsure about your appointment time.
History & Physical
Vision loss:
- Duration: How long has the vision been abnormal? If vision loss is intermittent, how long do episodes last and how frequently do they occur?
- Location: Which eye(s) is abnormal? Where is the vision abnormal, the center, side vision, all over?
- Situation: When is the vision abnormal? All the time? In the light or in the dark? Morning? Evening?
- Type of Loss: Is the vision dark, wavy, blurry, hazy, out of focus?
Systemic problems:
- Recent: Fevers, rashes, joint pain, diarrhea, headache, focal neurological problems.
- Ongoing: Diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, rheumatic problem.
- Smoking?
Your eyes will be anesthetized to be checked for pressure and then dilated. The dilation usually lasts four hours and can make your eyes light sensitive and blurred. Bring sunglasses. If you don't have them, we have plastic sunglasses for you.
We carefully examine BOTH eyes. Even if only one eye is bothering you, we need to look at both eyes, since often the second eye can hold important clues about your eye disease. We look at the retina through a microscope, a headset and sometimes with a contact lens. We usually make a careful drawing of the retina during the initial visit.
Diagnostic Testing
Retina or fundus photographs help document the problems with the retina and are invaluable for future comparison and documentation. These pictures are taken through a specialized camera and require a dilated pupil. We usually obtain four to ten photographs of each eye, which takes five to ten minutes.
Fluorescein angiography is a diagnostic procedure that uses a special camera to take a series of photographs of the retina, or light sensitive tissue in the back of the eye. A special water-soluble fluorescein dye is injected into a vein in the arm. The dye travels through the veins and into the arteries as it circulates throughout the body. As the dye passes through the blood vessels of the retina, a special camera flashes a blue light into the eye and takes multiple photographs of the retina. If the blood vessels are abnormal, the dye may leak into the retina or stain the blood vessels. If there is damage to the lining underneath the retina, or the appearance of abnormal new blood vessels growing beneath the retina, their precise location will be revealed.
Fluorescein angiography is often done to follow the course of diseases such as age-related macular degeneration and diabetes. These diseases can cause the blood vessels of the retina to leak blood or fluid. Both of these abnormalities can be treated with drugs and lasers to help prevent loss of vision, and treatment results can be monitored using fluorescein angiography. Without the help of fluorescein angiography, your retina doctor would not know exactly where a leak is to guide the pinpoint accuracy of laser treatment.
What are the Risks?
After the fluorescein dye is injected, your skin may turn yellowish for several hours. This color disappears as the kidneys filter the dye from your body. Because the dye is removed by the kidneys, your urine will turn dark orange for up to 24 hours following fluorescein angiography. Some individuals may experience slight nausea during the procedure, but this usually passes within a few seconds. If the dye leaks out of a fragile vein during the injection, some localized burning and yellow staining of the skin may occur. This burning usually lasts only a few minutes and the staining goes away in a few days. Allergic reactions to fluorescein dye are rare. If they occur, they may cause a skin rash or itching. This is usually treated with oral or injectable antihistamines, depending on the severity of the symptoms. Even more rarely, severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis) can occur and be life threatening.
Back to Top
Optical coherence tomography is an imaging technique that produces high resolution cross sectional images of the retina. Images can be presented as either cross sectional images or as topographic maps. Optical coherence tomography is pain free and risk free. Images are helpful in evaluating and managing diseases like age-related macular degeneration, diabetes, and macular edema when the retina is thickened and fluid is leaking into the retina. It is also helpful in diseases like macular hole and macular pucker where there are structural problems with the macula.
Back to Top
Ultrasound is a non-invasive, painless test used to image the eye when there is something like a cataract or hemorrhage making visualization of the inside of the eye impossible. It is also used to measure the size of intraocular tumors.
Office Procedures
The laser produces a focused, high-intensity beam of light energy. The laser can selectively treat diseased retina or retina blood vessels while leaving surrounding tissue untouched. Laser can also be used to stick down an area of retina in patients with retinal tears or retinal detachments. The laser is applied through a special microscope using a special lens. All of our doctors have performed thousands of laser treatments. Our offices are all equipped with state-of-the-art laser units.
Laser surgery is usually painless and is performed in the office on an outpatient basis. Because the laser light is so bright, all patients notice a brief period of poor vision after laser like you might expect after looking at a very bright light. Laser treatment performed in a timely fashion can improve vision, stabilize vision, or reduce vision loss in eyes with diabetic retinopathy, retinal vein occlusion, macular degeneration, and other retinal vascular diseases.
Intra-ocular Injections (Lucentis, Avastin, Macugen, Kenalog, antibiotics)
Intraocular injections are used to deliver a high dose of medicine into the eye to treat retinal diseases like macular degeneration and macular edema. Since the eye is a covered with a mucous membrane, it is relatively easy to anesthetize using topical anesthetics. Some of our physicians also inject a small amount of anesthetic around the prior to the intravitreal injection. All drugs injected into the vitreous last a few days to a few months. Most of the time intravitreal injections need to be repeated regularly. Our retina specialists base their treatments on the latest research. We have access to all FDA approved medications used to treat retinal diseases.
There is a small risk of intraocular infection and retinal detachment with each intravitreal injection. We place antiseptic in the eye at the time of injection. Sometimes a topical antibiotic is also administered. Click here for a guide for patients following intravitreal injection.
Retinal Detachment Repair (Pneumatic Retinopexy)
Since a bubble rises, like a bubble in a glass of water, your doctor will ask you to position your head a certain way and to look in a certain direction to keep the bubble injected into your eye positioned in a place where it will reattach your retina. Head position is very important and without correct positioning, pneumatic retinopexy will not work. Since cryotherapy and laser therapy each take about 7 days to reattach the retina, it is important to maintain head positioning for five to seven days. You will be instructed by your doctor exactly how to position.
