Additional Eye Care Services

At Cape Regional Eye Center, we offer a wide range of important eye care services that help you maintain healthy vision.

• Comprehensive eye exams
• Corneal transplants
• Laser surgery of the eye
• Dry eye syndrome

Periodic eye exams are important for preventative eye care. There are many vision problems that have no signs or symptoms. Therefore, only an eye examination will reveal them.

Patient History

You need to give a good history to determine any symptoms you may be experiencing, as well as how long you've had them. A generalized full-body health history is also very pertinent for a good history evaluation, including all medications being taken by the patient.

Eye Exams Performed at Cape Regional Eye Center, PLLC

• Visual Acuity — Checking vision is the only accurate way of measuring visual acuity and each eye's ability to see. When you are asked to read the eye chart, your vision will be recorded like a fraction, such as 20/40. This means that the top number is how many feet from the eye chart you are being tested from and the bottom number is the smallest letter size you were able to read. A person with 20/40 vision would have to get within 20 feet of a letter that should be seen at 40 feet in order to see it clearly. A normal vision for distance is 20/20.
• Refraction — Refraction is defined as a series of tests performed in arriving at a decision to see what lens or lenses will benefit your visual needs. Dr. Cape or his technicians will check your visual acuity and determine the need for prescription glasses by having you look through a phoropter (a large pair of glasses with hundreds of different lenses to determine the best for you).
• Tonometry — This test is what measures the amount of fluid causing pressure in the eye. Dr. Cape or his technician will apply eye drops and then use a preferred technique involving a quick puff of air or gently applying a pressure-sensitive tip near or against the eye. Normally a reading in the teens or early 20s is an acceptable pressure. This could vary depending on other eye symptoms or abnormalities.
• Dilation — Dilating drops are placed in the eye to dilate or widen the pupil for examination. Usually, after a few minutes, the eyes are dilated enough for examination. Dr. Cape will use a special magnifying lens to examine your retina for any abnormalities such as damage, diabetic retinopathy, or age-related macular degeneration. It also allows Dr. Cape to see the optic nerve to check for any damage you might have, such as glaucoma or inflammation of the nerve. After getting dilating drops, you will usually experience blurred, close-up vision for several hours. you will also notice that the pupil size is enlarged when looking at yourself in the mirror.

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This is a surgical procedure to replace your cornea with corneal tissue from a donor. The cornea is the transparent surface of your eye that accounts for a very large part of your focusing power. A corneal transplant is also called a keratoplasty. This is done on an outpatient basis. Most corneal transplants are very successful. There is a small risk of tissue rejection of the donor cornea.

A corneal transplant is usually done for a patient that has a damaged cornea. A transplant can also relieve pain or other symptoms associated with a disease of the cornea.

Reasons for Corneal Transplants

• Corneal swelling (corneal edema)
• Keratoconus (cornea is shaped like a cone outward)
• Clouding of the cornea
• Corneal ulcers
• Complications from a previous eye surgery or injury
• Corneal thinning
• Corneal scarring

Cornea Rejection

The body’s immune system sometimes rejects the donor cornea. This would be called a corneal rejection and possibly could lead to a second transplant procedure. The signs of rejection would be loss of vision, redness, tearing, sensitivity to light, or pain. About 20% of cornea transplant patients experience a rejection.

Donor Corneas

Finding a donor cornea is much easier than finding a liver or kidney donor. Most people can donate their corneas after they die. Due to this fact, more corneas are available. The wait usually isn’t very long. Once a donor cornea becomes available, the patient would be contacted to proceed with surgery. It is done as an outpatient procedure with a sedative to make you relax and a local anesthetic to numb your eye. The damaged cornea is removed and the donor cornea is cut to fit and sutured in place. The stitches may be removed at a later date.

Following the surgery, you will be prescribed eye drops to use post-operatively for several weeks. There will be a protective shield placed on your eye for protection for the first couple of days. You will be asked to return for follow up visits frequently for the first six months to one year. Most people who have a cornea transplant will have their vision at least partially restored after the surgery. You may be prescribed glasses after your transplant.

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Laser equipment uses a concentrated beam of high-energy light waves through a special material to treat tissue. Laser stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. There are different types of lasers that are used for treatment of different types of conditions. All lasers at Cape Surgery Center, LLC are handpicked by Dr. Cape and meet his very precise specifications. He only uses the latest, most state-of-the-art eye equipment.

Thermal Lasers

Argon and krypton thermal lasers are lasers that heat up when the beam reaches the eye. They have several important uses:

• Open the filtration system for glaucoma
• Open the iris for treatment of narrow-angle glaucoma
• Destroy abnormal tissue like a tumor
• Repairs retinal tears
• Slows or stops abnormal growth of blood vessels such as treatment for diabetic retinopathy
• Treatment of macular degeneration
• Bond the retina to the back of the eye
• Seal off blood vessels that are bleeding or leaking fluids

Photodisruptive Lasers

YAG and Excimer are photodisruptive lasers that sculpt the tissue. They are used for specialized purposes:

• Change the shape of the patient’s eye surface
• Cut thin membranes inside the eye that blocks vision.

Advantages of Ophthalmic Lasers

The advantages of using ophthalmic lasers are that there are no risks of infection from a laser light. It can be performed in an office or outpatient setting. You may go home shortly afterward.

Laser surgery is still considered surgery. However, this surgery does not involve the use of a scalpel or knife. As with any surgical procedure, no matter how simple, all procedures could have complications. Dr. Cape will discuss the risks and benefits with you.

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Dry eye syndrome is when the eye is no longer able to produce a healthy layer of tears to keep the eye moist.

Tears are made up of three layers:

• Water
• Oil
• Mucus

Each part serves a function in protecting and nourishing the front surface of your eye. If the tears evaporate too quickly or don’t spread all the way over the eye evenly, dry eyes develop. Dry eye symptoms occur in perfectly healthy people. It is more common with older age patients because you produce fewer tears with age.

Each time you blink, a layer of tears is spread across the front surface of the eye. Tears provide lubrication, wash away foreign matter in the eye, and keep the surface of the eyes smooth and clear. Certain conditions such as arthritis or lupus cause severe dry eyes. In some cases, conditions such as stroke or Bell's palsy would make it difficult to close the eyes, therefore causing the eye to be dry from exposure and tear evaporation. When you watch television or really concentrate on something, you don’t blink often enough. This causes the eyes to dry and vision to blur.

Treatments for Dry Eyes

• Wetting drops called artificial tears
• Medications such as topical steroid drops
• Lubricating ointments used at bedtime
• Hot compresses with eyelash scrubs
• Punctal plugs placed in the tear ducts to help the tears remain on the surface of the eye longer.

Most people with dry eyes have only discomfort and occasional blurred vision, but no vision loss.