Barnet Dulaney Perkins Eye Center Official Blog

March 20-24, 2011 Dr. Scott Perkins along with several Barnet Dulaney Perkins employees traveled to Toyos, Honduras for a Cataract Surgical Mission with the non-profit organization AZ Visionaries (www.azvisionaries.org) .The members of the team included Amber Gearhart, RN Assistant Director of Nursing; Kim Nichols, RN, Phoenix Surgery Center Manager; Sarah Walczak, Ophthalmic Scrub Technician and Michelle Minta, Nurse Anesthetist and founder of AZ Visionaries.

“We had the honor of serving a small group of Hondurans who were too poor to pay for needed cataract surgery, despite being legally blind. The team that went with me donated their time and worked tirelessly to make this cataract mission a success. All of us in the group participated for different reasons. To me the reason doesn’t matter, just actively pursuing the desire to help less fortunate fellow humans is a gift we can give to others. The patients we served expressed sincere gratitude for the cataract surgeries we performed and that was the greatest gift we got in return”. Scott Perkins, MD

The team traveled out of Phoenix at 12:00am on March 20th and arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras at noon on the 21st. All the surgical supplies including the microscope and phaco-emulsification machine (for cataract removal) traveled with the team as checked baggage on the airplane. The team then set up the operating room after unpacking the 20+ boxes of supplies and equipment. They began operating on Monday the 21st and performed 42 total cataract surgeries in the 2 ½ days of operating.

Most of the surgical supplies were donated by Alcon Surgical. The surgical representative from Alcon, Mathew Greer, assisted in getting the supplies donated and also proved to be an essential team member of the surgical mission. All 42 cataract surgeries were performed by Dr. Scott Perkins. A large percentage of the patients had “hand motion” or “count fingers” vision and were blind from their cataracts. The patients went from being blind one day to seeing their family member’s faces for the first time in years. It was a very successful and rewarding trip for all involved.

If you would like more information or would like to donate to the non-profit organization please visit www.azvisionaries.org to make your tax deductible donations. 100% of proceeds from donations go toward their efforts to vision preservation for the poor and underserved.

Do you or a loved one have keratoconus? If you do, you know firsthand the frustrations of facing difficulty with your vision, contact lenses, changing prescriptions, and in the most advanced cases, even cornea transplants! While many advances in eye care have helped many other ocular diseases, keratoconus patients have had to sit and wait patiently for something that can help them.

It is now my pleasure to announce that in what may be one of the greatest research projects our center has yet participated in, we have been named one of the sites for an FDA clinical trial for a procedure known as “Collagen Crosslinking,” which is aimed specifically at patients with keratoconus. In this procedure, ultraviolet light is used in conjunction with a naturally occurring vitamin, riboflavin, to strengthen the molecular bonds in collagen, the principal substance found in the human cornea. In this way, patients who have weak corneas from keratoconus and other conditions, may have their corneas permanently strengthened, their vision improved, and may potentially avoid the need for a cornea transplant. Already in use internationally, collagen crosslinking has been found to be an effective form of treatment in this challenging and visually debilitating disease, and we will now be able to treat patients enrolled in the study on US soil. Once the FDA reviews and approves the procedure, collagen crosslinking will become widely available, and is expected to significantly reduce the suffering caused by keratoconus and related corneal disorders.

Please contact us if you need more information about this FDA clinical trial, and please let your friends and family know of our continued commitment to bring the science of vision care to our patients through research and clinical innovation. When it comes to our patients’ vision, we are tireless in seeking solutions to improve sight.

Robert P. Rivera, MD

February 15-19th 2010 Dr. Scott Perkins along with several Barnet Dulaney Perkins employees traveled to Toyos, Honduras for a Cataract Surgical Mission with the non-profit organization AZ Visionaries (www.azvisionaries.org) .The members of the team included Amber Gearhart, RN Assistant Director of Nursing; Kim Nichols, RN, Phoenix Surgery Center Manager; Sarah Walczak, Ophthalmic Scrub Technician and Michelle Minta, Nurse Anesthetist and founder of AZ Visionaries. The team traveled out of Phoenix at 12:30am on February 14th and arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras at noon on the same day. All the surgical supplies including the microscope and phaco-emulsification machine (for cataract removal) traveled with the team as checked baggage on the airplane. The team then set up the operating room after unpacking the 20+ boxes of supplies and equipment. They began operating the next day on February 15th and performed 26 cataract surgeries the first day.

Most of the surgical supplies were donated by Alcon Surgical. The surgical representative from Alcon, Mathew Greer, assisted in getting the supplies donated and also proved to be an essential team member of the surgical mission.

54 Cataract surgeries were performed by Dr. Perkins. A large percentage of the patients had “hand motion” or “count fingers” vision and were blind from their cataracts. The patients went from being blind one day to seeing their family members faces for the first time in years. It was a very successful and rewarding trip for all involved.

Greetings to all from Aspen, Colorado, where I’m a participant in the annual Aspen Invitational Refractive Symposium (AIRS). One of the most important things we as eye surgeons can do is to keep abreast of all the latest advances in research, and share them with our colleagues from across the world. The AIRS meeting brings about 80 of the world’s top cataract and refractive surgery specialists together for what is in my experience the single best meeting to accomplish just that. Our very own Dr. David Dulaney is the meeting’s founder, and our practice has always played a key role in this effort to advance the amazing science behind the fields of cataract and refractive surgery. So thanks, Dr. Dulaney, for your key role as a pioneer in eye surgery not just in Phoenix, or Arizona, or even the US, but certainly across the world.

Robert Rivera, MD

Follow Jilian through her preoperative testing appointment for her upcoming ICL surgery. Also learn what went into the making of her winning video entry and the number crunching it required.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

What do Swiss precision, astigmatism and nearsightedness have in common? If you know the answer to this, you have undoubtedly come across the STAAR Visian Toric ICL, which is an amazing advance in our quest for the ultimate vision correction surgery. The Toric ICL, or TICL, represents the single greatest leap in our ability to surgically correct myopia, or nearsightedness, and astigmatism, all in one step. Different from LASIK or other corneal laser procedures, the TICL provides a level of visual clarity best described as “High Definition,” similar to its sister lens, the Myopic ICL.

What role does Swiss precision play in the TICL? Nestled in the beautiful Alps, right in the heart of the Swiss watchmaking industry in Nidau, Switzerland, is the STAAR production facility, where the lens implants are painstakingly crafted. Using techniques that have been refined by decades of fine watchmaking expertise, each lens is meticulously crafted from collamer, STAAR Surgical’s proprietary biomaterial, into the life-changing wafer-thin implant that brings stunning high definition vision to the life of patients throughout the world.

While the Myopic ICL has received FDA approval, the Toric ICL is still under formal review by the agency. Estimates are that the TICL will soon receive approval, so please stay tuned as we will be the first to know!

Other interesting facts: Worldwide, in 2009 a patient has ICL surgery every 12 minutes (in 2008 it was every 20 minutes). Our practice is the leading implanter of the ICL in the country, and our patients love it!

For more information on the Myopic and Toric ICL, please feel free to call or email our office. More information is also available at www.goodeyes.com, or visit www.visianinfo.com.