Talk of The Villages Florida - Opthamologist vs Optometrist

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Retinal tears and detachments are very serious conditions which require immediate attention. Some optometrists may be able to diagnose them but none are qualified to treat them. I suffered a detachment in my left eye and did not seek treatment soon enough. As a result, despite surgery on the eye, I have very poor vision in that eye which cannot be corrected by eye glasses. I failed the drivers test with that eye and while my other eye has 20/20 vision, I have very poor depth perception. I can no longer play softball (can't judge a fly ball or the location of a pitch) and it doesn't help my golf game much either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by toeser (Post 1295509)

I have had exactly one medical exam since moving to TV. The doctor completely and totally sucked. I would have gotten a better exam from a nurse. Attitude is a huge factor, possibly more than training that makes a good doctor.

Well, you do know what they call the person who graduated at the bottom of their class in medical school.... Doctor...

Quote:

Originally Posted by manaboutown (Post 1295570)

Well, you do know what they call the person who graduated at the bottom of their class in medical school.... Doctor...

A variation on that theme is the one we got in the military....Your weapon was provided by the lowest bidder.

Yeah, I know. 50 percent of doctors graduated in the bottom half of their class in med school.

Ocala eye is the best!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rapscallion St Croix (Post 1294043)

A few months back I began to have some serious floaters in my right eye. I went to my optometrist, whom I found via recommendations on TOTV, and with whom I had been previously satisfied. He examined me and said my eyes were healthy other than a small cataract that needed no attention, but that I needed a new prescription. So, I plunked down the few hundred bucks for new tri-focals plus new golfing glasses. The floaters got worse and I developed a black curtain in the left side of my field of vision. Unhappy with my previous Dr, I called Ocala Eye at Laurel Manor. The technician who interviewed me over the phone was very concerned, but they had no appointments available in the near future. She put me in a triage queue. Within an hour, she called back and told me to come in the next morning and cautioned me not to eat or drink prior to the appointment. The Dr I saw immediately diagnosed me with a giant retinal tear and sent me straight to their retina specialist in Orlando. When he examined me, he sent me straight to the Orlando Regional Medical Center to await emergency surgery which he performed at 4pm. The diagnosis was giant retinal tear due to lattice deterioration, a condition that should have been detected by my optometrist. The retina specialist also told me that I have lattice deterioration in my other eye and that I should have prophylactic procedure on it soon. You can draw your own conclusion, but as for me...I now class optometrists as "eye glass salespeople" and will never use them again unless they are associated with a full service eye car facility. I realize that I have made a sweeping generalization and I am fine with that. Draw you own conclusion, but after seeing how difficult it has been to only have the use of one eye for the last month, I am taking as few chances as possible with my vision. That includes eliminating some previous careless behavior such as leaving my safety goggles hanging on a hook when I am drilling, grinding, etc.
Thank you, Ocala Eye professionals.

OCALA EYE IS THE BEST!
Be very careful about going to any eye-care specialist here in The Villages! I had a bad experience with one of the most popular, and ended up having to go to Ocala Eye Surgery Center to correct the damage. It takes a long time to get in with Ocala Eye, but it's well-worth the wait. Don't take chances with the other one.

In August 2013 while playing a round of golf at Cane Garden, we were threesome and I didn't have anyone in my cart with me. To my right I kept seeing this dragon fly, and everytime I turned my head he went away. I finally realized it was in my vision. I had never heard of floaters. BTW, I shot a 79 that day from the blue tees, which I normally shot mid to high 80's. I think having the eye problem made me concentrate harder.

As soon as I got home I called the eye specialist at the VA Clinic in TV at Mulberry. They had me come right in and checked everything out. They said go home and if you see a black curtain, call right away, after two days and nothing you'll be OK.

The floaters come and go. The worse was in the second year in 2014 during bright sunlight, usually when playing shortstop in softball or playing golf. It would be right in front of me instead of to the right. It became very irritating when I had to watch for balls hit right at me, especially line drives.

The good part was they saw I had cataracts and I had both eyes operated on at the VA Hospital in Gainesville in August 2015. The floaters have just about disappeared and my eyesight has improved from 20/40 to 20/25 from the cataract surgery.

Symptoms of Retinal Detachment

Information is widely and wisely available so we can recognize the symptoms of a heart attack or stroke. I wish the same were true for the symptoms of retinal detachment. But that's not the case so I thought I would try here to do my part.

The following information is from the Mayo Clinic website. You can go to their site and read the entire entry to learn more about how the retina detaches and how important it is to get immediate care.

Retinal Detachment:

By Mayo Clinic Staff

Symptoms

Retinal detachment itself is painless. But warning signs almost always appear before it occurs or has advanced, such as:

�The sudden appearance of many floaters � tiny specks that seem to drift through your field of vision
�Flashes of light in one or both eyes
�Blurred vision
�Gradually reduced side (peripheral) vision
�A curtain-like shadow over your visual field

When to see a doctor

Seek immediate medical attention if you are experiencing the signs or symptoms of retinal detachment. You are at greater risk of developing a retinal detachment if:

�You're older than 50
�You or a family member has had a detached retina
�You're extremely nearsighted

Retinal detachment is a medical emergency in which you can permanently lose your vision.

Causes

Retinal detachment can occur as a result of:

�A sagging vitreous (VIT-ree-us) � the gel-like material that fills the inside of your eye
�Injury
�Advanced diabetes