Your Eye Health
Medications and Their Side Effects
Medications and Their Side Effects
If you're a physician, a nurse practitioner, a pharmacist, in Mesa and its environs who has prescribed or dispensed Cordarone, Plaquenil, Nolvadex, or Topamax to your patients, we're here to work in tandem with you at the baseline stage as well as at follow-up testing. If you're a patient in search of an eyecare practitioner whose primary concern is for your eye health, this may be of interest to you as well. The occasional fearsome foursome mentioned above and dozens of other drugs have the potential to cause eye-related maladies (optic neuropathies such as blurred vision and vision loss), macular/retinal edema or swelling, angle closure glaucoma, several of which can be irreversible if not diagnosed early.
Plaquenil, for instance, is a drug that health care professionals have often prescribed as therapy for rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and other systemic disorders. Generically known as hydroxychloroquine, this agent is mostly viable in the usual dosage of two 200-mg tablets daily. But if the patient weighs under 135 pounds, he or she could well be in the high-risk category for retinal toxicity as the cumulative effect of the drug wreaks havoc on the retinal pigment epithelium. To halt the damage early, Drs. Yanofsky and Newth work with you to titrate the dosage downward, probably by half, well before the drug's adverse events take their toll.
Retinal toxicity can also be caused by a broad variety of medications prescribed for AIDS, cancer, hypercholesterolemia, seizures, diabetes, hypertension, inflammation, erectile dysfunction, contraception, and more.
Pupillary dilation or mydriasis is an adverse effect potentially created by drugs designed for anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, diarrhea, tremors, vertigo, etc.
With the eye being a window to the brain and the body, Advanced Eyecare of Arizona has state-of-the-art instrumentation to determine the possibility of eye maladies well in advance of drugs' side effects doing harm. The Optomap takes a retinal scan of the rear of the eye, mapping a 200-degree photograph of the eye's interior in a split-second. OCT or Optical Coherence Tomography allows for noninvasive, noncontact, painless, high-resolution images of the retina and macular region. Add to that 10-2 threshold visual field testing and color screening testing and our practice will perform pre-treatment evaluations and post-treatment follow-up that provide you with a report of the patient's status that includes recommendations for appropriate follow-up care.
The end result is a pleased patient whose eye health has been preserved through the teaming of our expertise with, more importantly, your own expertise and your undeniable concern for that patient.
For extensive information on any of the brand names or generic names mentioned above, check with MPR/Monthly Prescribing Reference or PDR/Physicians' Desk Reference.
Children's Eye Health
Susan, 13, is a voracious reader, but recently she has been complaining of eye strain, double vision, and headaches after doing her homework using a number of books. She squints often, rubbing her eyes or simply closing them. What Susan may be experiencing is an often-noticed vision disorder labeled CONVERGENCE INSUFFICIENCY, where the eyes tend to drift outwardly on reading or doing other close work. At Advanced Eyecare of Arizona, Susan can undergo a unique treatment that utilizes contact lenses, which may well correct the problem.
Susan, 13, is a voracious reader, but recently she has been complaining of eye strain, double vision, and headaches after doing her homework using a number of books. She squints often, rubbing her eyes or simply closing them. What Susan may be experiencing is an often-noticed vision disorder labeled CONVERGENCE INSUFFICIENCY, where the eyes tend to drift outwardly on reading or doing other close work. At Advanced Eyecare of Arizona, Susan can undergo a unique treatment that utilizes contact lenses, which may well correct the problem.
Like many of his peers, Dylan, 11, spends hours in front of the computer. He was finding that his eyes were often tired and irritated, and he told his parents of this difficulty.
On visiting our practice, Dylan was diagnosed with COMPUTER VISION SYNDROME and prescribed a quality pair of computer eyeglasses that are allowing him to clearly see the computer screen as well as the work on his desk and the area beyond the computer monitor. At our practice, he and his mom and dad are also educated in ergonomically targeted techniques that modify his computer-area environment and make his school-time and his videogame-time at the computer far more enjoyable and, of course, far less taxing on his eyes.
At 4 years of age, Eric was exhibiting signs of lessened vision by holding his toys very close to his eyes. There was an ever-so-tiny deviation in the preschooler's eyes, but Eric's parents and his pediatrician had not noticed that particular malady. They were concerned, though, and a visit to the eye doctor seemed the best course of action. In Eric's case, the diagnosis was AMBLYOPIA or LAZY EYE, which was forcing the child to use his better or dominant eye at playtime. One of our ODs noted the misalignment and recommended covering the child's stronger eye with a patch so that he was forced to use his weaker eye, thereby helping to strengthen it. The timing was most certainly right for this strategy as waiting till ages 6 through 9 years to correct this problem is, unfortunately, often too late to result in vision improvement.
If your child has an eye-related emergency, we will make an appointment SAME DAY. (And that, of course, goes for you parents as well!)
Dry Eyes and Chronic Dry Eyes
Nearly one of every three Arizonan adults suffers from some form of dry eye, where your windows on the world are inflamed, in turn providing fewer tears. So it's no wonder that right here in arid Mesa and the East Valley, many of us are experiencing the highly annoying symptoms of dry eyes and chronic or long-term dry eyes. And the fact that we're surrounded by mountains--a natural roadblock to moisture--coupled with the pollution that they encircle worsens the problem. The symptoms are noticeable, and if you answer Yes to any of the questions below, you could well have dry eyes or chronic dry eyes:
Nearly one of every three Arizonan adults suffers from some form of dry eye, where your windows on the world are inflamed, in turn providing fewer tears. So it's no wonder that right here in arid Mesa and the East Valley, many of us are experiencing the highly annoying symptoms of dry eyes and chronic or long-term dry eyes. And the fact that we're surrounded by mountains--a natural roadblock to moisture--coupled with the pollution that they encircle worsens the problem. The symptoms are noticeable, and if you answer Yes to any of the questions below, you could well have dry eyes or chronic dry eyes:
- Is your vision blurry?
- Are your eyes painful or itchy?
- Do you find your vision "goes in and out of focus"?
- Are you uncomfortable wearing contact lenses? Do you suffer from Sjogren's (pronounced SHOW-grins) disease?
- Has your cornea (the outer surface of the eye) ever been injured or have you had such corneal surgery as LASIK?
- Are you outdoors a lot and finding elevated levels of smog, dust, heat, and/or wind are wreaking havoc with your eyes?
- Do you use any of a host of medications for allergies, blood pressure, or birth control?
- Are you approaching menopause and your body is undergoing hormonal changes?
- Do you spend long hours in front of a computer without regular periods to rest your eyes?
Ignoring any of these symptoms is exceedingly unwise, and the end result could permanently damage your eyes.
The tear itself is not as simple as it seems, actually teaming a trio of important components:
- the mucosal segment, which is the innermost part
- the middle, watery, lacrimal segment and
- the outer, oily lipid segment. If any or all three of the components are not working efficiently, the end result is dry or chronic dry eyes.
At this Mesa optometric practice, our proprietary test helps gauge the tear film and how well it is working to moisten and protect your eyes from dust, heat, or dry spots.
The treatments are many, and an eyecare professional can best determine which therapy is right for your condition.
Drs. Yanofsky and Newth employ several up-to-the-minute treatments, including membranes that create an invisible bandage over the inflamed eye, along with specialized contact lenses, oral medications, lubricants, oils, supplements the likes of omega-3 fish oil and anti-inflammatory drugs (Restasis is a fine example), timed-release plugs that fit in your tear ducts, and on and on, making Advanced Eyecare of Arizona most definitely eyecare you can trust!