It's All About Trust, Isn't It?
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Dr. David Momnie and Dr. Katarzyna Babinski, owner of Ludlow Eye Associates, recently coauthored an article with the above title in the Turley Publication June, 2019 edition “Health & Wellnes Network.” Independently owned medical, dental and optometry practices are being gobbled up by large corporations and private equity firms like Goldman Sachs who recently purchased the 550 location MyEyeDr. All 550 offices were at one time independent offices. There was a time when Chicopee had about a dozen locally owned and independent pharmacies and now there are half that many, all corporately owned. About fifty years ago, there were over two dozen independent optometry offices in Western MA and now there are again, about half that many. We believe in maintaining total control of our offices without being accountable to a private equity company whose main concern is not the patient but the bottom line. Being able to “make the rules” allows us the opportunity to schedule patients as we see fit giving us enough time to build a relationship with them based on trust.
A link to the article can be found
here
.
As we mentioned last month, we welcome Dr. Brett Burns to our office. Dr. Burns will be seeing patients on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays and will work with Dr. Babinski at Ludlow Eye Associates on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Brett Burns, O.D.
Camille Guzek-Latka, O.D.
David C. Momnie, O.D.
Julianne M. Rapalus, O.D.
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Robot Completes Eye Operation
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Life Science magazine reported recently on a medical first, a delicate surgery to remove a membrane on the retina, called an epiretinal membrane, most likely restoring some vision in that eye. The surgery is normally performed by skilled retinal eye surgeons (ophthalmologists) but there is always the possibility of unintended complications like bleeding and scarring. In this case, the surgery was routinely performed at a hospital in the United Kingdom and those undergoing the robotic technique had less damage to the retina. The head of the study team, Dr. Robert MacLaren, said the robotic procedure is “a vision of eye surgery in the future”. “These are the early stages of a new, powerful technology,” said Dr. Marc deSmet who helped design the robot.
Chicopee Eyecare has an instrument called an OCT or Optical Coherent Tomographer which is capable of detecting this condition and we are fortunate to have several excellent retinal surgeons here in Western MA who perform this operation, called a retinal peel.
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3D Glasses at the Movies and in Our Office
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A 1922 silent movie titled “The Power of Love” premiered in Los Angeles and was the first worldwide to use red-green 3-D glasses where each eye sees half of the movie, one through the red lens and one through the green lens. The brain interprets the two images as a single three-dimensional or stereo image. However, the distorted colors and blurred images weren’t pleasant on the eyes and the movie was screened only one more time in New York. Normally our two eyes, spaced about three inches apart, project images from two different perspectives on the retina and the brain analyzes the differences, resulting in a 3-D image. The movie problem was solved with the use of polarization, invented by Edwin Land in 1934 and first used in movies at the New York Museum of Science in 1936. (I’m not old enough to remember the 3-D craze of the 1950s seen in the picture above.) Dr. Land discovered that when breaking down light rays into two opposite directions, vertical polarized lenses block out all light waves coming in horizontally and horizontal filters do the same. So, the next time you’re watching a 3D movie, remember that the reason you paid more is because you actually watched two separate movies!
We use polarized technology as part of an eye exam to determine if a patient is using both eyes. A child wearing polarized glasses who doesn’t have stereopsis won’t see the stereo fly wings come off the page and might have an eye turn or amblyopia, otherwise know as a lazy eye.
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Springfield College PA Lecture
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Dr. Momnie, as he has for the past ten years, recently lectured to Springfield College Physician Assistant students as part of a summer lecture series given by local optometrists. Here, Dr. Momnie is discussing possible causes of decreased vision and visual disturbances. In the past, he’s lectured on glaucoma, eye neurology, eye medications, and the eye and systemic diseases. The students are all in their fourth year of the six-year PA program.
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Is Swimming with Contact lenses Dangerous?
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A few weeks ago (July, 2019), NBC News reported on a New England Journal of Medicine article about a 41-year-old woman in England who wore her contact lenses continuously for one month, at which point she would replace them with a new pair. She presented to an eye doctor after two months of tolerating an irritated eye and was diagnosed with a corneal ulcer from a microbe called Acanthamoeba. She eventually underwent a corneal transplant one year later and her resulting best corrected vision in that eye was 20/80. Acanthamoeba infections of the eye are very rare as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates there are one or two cases per million and 85% are found in soft contact lens wearers. (We have seen just two cases in the last 45 years of practice and in both cases, the patient had been treated ten years prior to seeing us and was left with corneal scarring.) The aggressive microscopic amoeba, which are difficult to treat, are found in water and soil and can penetrate a person’s cornea so any kind of water exposure puts a soft contact lens wearer at risk. (The lenses act like a sponge.) While the overwhelming majority of our patients remove their contact lenses at the end of the day, those that wear them continuously are warned not to get water in their eyes when showering and more importantly, not to wear their lenses swimming or in a hot tub.
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Case of the Month
Optometrist Removes Tick From a Patient's Eye
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The Washington Post (July 17, 2019 edition) reported on a story about a Kentucky man who went to his optometrist with an irritated eye and the doctor numbed the eye and removed a tick with a pair of tweezers. The electric company worker was removing a tree from power lines and shortly after he felt the eye irritation. He tried flushing the eye, as did his safety manager, both without success. A visit to his optometrist followed and the offending irritant was quickly identified and removed. Dr. Momnie recalls removing a tick from a golfer’s upper eyelid several years ago using his thumb and index finger.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ticks are most active from April to September and live in areas with grass and trees. Deer tick bites can sometimes lead to Lyme disease if they remain on the skin longer than 36 hours. Most ticks usually can be plucked off with a pair of forceps. Tick repellant to ward off the insects is always a good measure but obviously can't be used in the eyes.
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Thank You for Google Reviews
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Thank you if you’ve given us a nice Google Review.
If you were happy with your experience at Chicopee Eyecare, your positive review helps us spread the word and market our practice to potentially new patients.
Click Here
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Catch up on our newsletters
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I
N CASE OF EMERGENCY
Chicopee Eyecare provides "24/7" coverage for emergency eye care for our patients.
We recommend that you do not go to the emergency room for an eye injury or acute eye problem unless it is very serious. Drs. Momnie, Guzek-Latka, Rapalus and Burns keep slots open for urgent care visits for new and established patients during normal office hours, and provide around-the clock emergency coverage for our established patients for after-hours and weekends.
Call 592-7777 before calling your PCP or visiting a hospital ER!
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Office Hours
We are available when you need us
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Our office and optical department are open during the following hours:
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Monday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Tuesday 9:00 am - 5:30pm
Wednesday 9:00 am - 5:30pm
Thursday 9:00 am - 6:30pm
Friday 9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Saturday 9:00 am -12:30 pm
One of our doctors is always available for emergencies on nights, weekends and holidays. Call (413) 592-7777 and our answering service will put you in touch with an on-call optometrist.
"The people in this office are committed to providing you with the highest quality of eye care and to treating you with kindness and respect.
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We want our staff to have a fun summer.
No Saturday Hours.
Our regular Saturday hours resume after Labor Day.
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©2019 Chicopee Eyecare - All Rights Reserved
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Privacy is important to us at Chicopee Eyecare and we will not share your email address with anyone. At any point, you can select the link at the bottom of every email to unsubscribe.
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