![]() According to the AOA’s Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for open-angle glaucoma, “Every patient diagnosed with glaucoma should be seen at least every six months. Indeed, more than two-thirds of O.D.s say that patients with eye disease (such as glaucoma or diabetes) require dilated fundus exams at least every year, according to Review of Optometry’s most recent Diagnostic Technology Survey (‘Making Strides’ With New Technology, August 2010).Ĭlinical guidelines classify who should be dilated, and how often. This is certainly more true in patients with eye disease or those at risk for eye disease. “We don’t have to do it every year, but we plan to do it every year.” “In our office, our recommendation is an annual comprehensive examination for everyone, and that includes a dilated fundus exam,” says optometrist Robert Cole, of Bridgeton, N.J. “Testimonials from other patients hold a lot of weight.”īut how often should you dilate your patients? Is it often enough? “She’s the walking billboard for dilated eye exams right now,” Dr. Carter makes a strong case for comprehensive eye exams. (“It’s always the patients who give you a hassle, they’re the ones you find problems with,” Dr. Carter to a retinal surgeon for laser treatment. Bearden discovered a large horseshoe retinal tear, and referred Ms. Is a convincing patient testimonial from a woman named Starlene Carter. “Usually when people refuse, I put on a video for them to watch,” Dr. They say they don’t like the blur, they don’t like the photophobia, and they don’t want to be dilated, period. But not everybody does, unfortunately.”Įven though she forthrightly states her dilation policy, some patients still try to beg off. That’s the state law in Florida, so I follow that law. “If I’ve never seen you before, I dilate you. “I’m a big believer in dilation,” she says. Bearden earlier, he would have received not only an eyeful but an earful. ![]() “I’m pretty sure a dilated eye exam could have saved his eye.” “He went from his first eye exam to enucleation in three weeks,” Dr. This 43-year-old patient presented with anĪmelanotic melanoma at his first eye exam. From the retinal specialist, the patient w ent to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, in Miami. Bearden, whose practice adjoins a LensCrafters in Pembroke Pines, Fla., immediately sent the patient to a retinal specialist. When she dilated him, she found an amelanotic melanoma taking up about 30% of the inside of his eye.ĭr. “I found on confrontation fields that he was missing the whole temporal side of his visual field,” Dr. The patient reported that his acuity was clear, but “something’s off.” He said that he had never had an eye exam. A few weeks ago, a 43-year-old white male presented to the office of optometrist Dawn Bearden.
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