Glaucoma Specialists In Wilmington, NC

/in , , /by

Protecting the optic nerve from damage requires the expertise of glaucoma specialists who utilize high-resolution imaging. Paul Vision Institute employs Optical Coherence Tomography to monitor structural changes in the eye. Early detection is the only way to prevent permanent vision loss from elevated intraocular pressure.

Glaucoma is a complex disease that often presents no symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage. We use Optical Coherence Tomography, a non-invasive imaging test that uses light waves to produce cross-sectional images of your retina. These images allow Dr. Edward Paul to see each of the retina’s distinctive layers. Monitoring these layers helps us identify refractive error quenching, the process of stabilizing the eye’s focus while managing intraocular pressure. Prevention is the cornerstone of our glaucoma management philosophy.

Losing peripheral vision can happen so slowly that you might not notice the change until it impacts your ability to drive safely.

Diagnostic Thresholds for Retinal Mapping

Precision diagnostics are the only way to stay ahead of nerve fiber layer thinning. Our clinic uses digital mapping to track the health of the optic nerve over several years. This data allows for a proactive approach to treatment rather than a reactive one. Laser therapies or medicated drops can be adjusted based on the patient’s specific biological response. Clear communication between the doctor and the patient ensures that the treatment plan is followed accurately.

Common Questions About Glaucoma

Can I get my vision back if it has already been lost to glaucoma? Unfortunately, vision loss from glaucoma is permanent. This is why we emphasize regular exams to catch the disease in its earliest phases before the damage occurs.

Will I need to have surgery if my eye pressure is too high? Not everyone needs surgery, as many cases are managed effectively with daily eye drops. We will recommend surgical options only if traditional treatments are not keeping your pressure within a safe range.

Schedule Your Glaucoma Specialist’s Consultation in Wilmington

Protect your long-term vision from the silent threat of glaucoma by requesting a comprehensive diagnostic exam. Advanced retinal mapping allows our practitioners to monitor your ocular health with extreme precision over time. Book your consultation at our Wilmington facility to ensure your optic nerve remains healthy for years to come.

Dry Eye Treatment In Wilmington, NC

/in , /by

Chronic eye irritation in North Carolina is often caused by Meibomian Gland Dysfunction, a condition where the oil-producing glands in the eyelids become blocked. Paul Vision Institute offers LipiFlow Thermal Pulsation to clear these blockages. This medical intervention restores the natural tear film and provides long-lasting relief.

Living near the coast means dealing with wind, salt, and seasonal allergens that aggravate the ocular surface. Many people suffer from meibomian gland dysfunction, a primary cause of evaporative dry eye, in which the protective oil layer of the tear film is missing. Dr. Kelly Paul utilizes the Ocular Surface Disease Index to measure the severity of your symptoms through a standardized survey of your daily comfort. Eye drops often fail to address the root cause of the dryness. Clinical heat and pressure are required to liquefy hardened oils within the glands.

It is frustrating to feel like there is sand in your eyes every time you try to read a book or enjoy the beach.

Restoring Lipid Layer Equilibrium

The tear film consists of three distinct layers that must work in harmony to protect the eye. LipiFlow technology focuses on the lipid layer by applying localized heat to the inner eyelids. This process is safe and highly effective at evacuating stagnant secretions. Patients often notice a significant improvement in comfort because their tears no longer evaporate too quickly. Teamwork between the patient and the provider is essential for maintaining these results over time.

Common Questions About Dry Eye

How do I know if my dry eyes are a serious medical problem? If you feel constant burning or find yourself using artificial tears multiple times an hour, it is time for a professional checkup. We use specialized imaging to see exactly what is happening with your oil glands.

Does the LipiFlow treatment take a long time to complete? The actual procedure takes only about 12 minutes in our office. It is a relaxing experience that many patients compare to a gentle massage for their eyelids.

Schedule Your Dry Eye Treatment Consultation in Wilmington

Experience lasting relief from the stinging and burning of chronic dry eye by visiting our surface disease specialists. The LipiFlow system offers a clinical solution that targets the root cause of your discomfort rather than just masking it. Call our team today to find out if this innovative thermal pulsation therapy is right for your eyes.

Are You a Good Candidate for EyePrintPRO Scleral Lenses?

/in , /by

When you want to correct your vision with contacts, traditional contact lenses aren’t always the right solution. Some people need a special kind called scleral lenses to see better. Our eye doctors in Wilmington, NC, at Paul Vision Institute offer EyePrintPRO scleral lenses for patients who are considered good candidates for this option. You might benefit from these lenses if you have any of the following issues.

Keratoconus or Other Corneal Problems

Irregularities in your corneas can make it difficult to wear traditional contacts. EyePrintPRO scleral lenses are designed to fit your eye shape, even if you have corneal problems, such as keratoconus or post-surgical issues.

High Prescription

These scleral lenses in Wilmington, NC, may be a good option for you if you have a high prescription. Some prescriptions that are usually high can make it hard to correct vision with eyeglasses or regular contacts.

Double Vision

If you suffer from double vision, regular contact lenses aren’t the best solution for correcting your vision. But scleral lenses can help you see better.

Severe Dry Eye

Having dry eyes can make it impossible for you to wear traditional contact lenses comfortably. Scleral lenses made with EyePrintPRO technology provide fully customized contacts that you can wear, even with severe dry eye symptoms.

Complex Eye Conditions

Having a complicated eye disease or condition means you may not be able to wear standard contacts. But EyePrintPRO scleral lenses may be a good option to consider.

Schedule an Appointment for Scleral Lenses

Do you think you might benefit from wearing EyePrintPRO lenses? At Paul Vision Institute, we can help you determine if these scleral lenses in Wilmington, NC, are the most suitable solution for correcting your vision.

How Routine Eye Exams Protect Your Vision 

/in , /by

Do you get your eyes checked every year or every other year? That’s a great way to stay on top of your eye health! At Paul Vision Institute, our eye doctors in Wilmington, NC, offer routine eye exams to help protect patients from diseases and conditions that can lead to vision loss. Let’s go over how these exams help keep your vision safe.

Finding Eye Diseases Early

Coming for an eye exam allows our optometrists to check for eye diseases that can affect your vision, such as macular degeneration or cataracts. If we find these conditions early, we can monitor them or treat them as needed to protect your eyesight.

Discussing Risk Factors

During eye exams in Wilmington, NC, we can go over your family history and other possible risk factors for certain eye diseases. If you have one or more risk factors, we may recommend testing.

Monitoring Eye Conditions Over Time

If you’ve been diagnosed with an eye condition, eye exams allow us to monitor it. Some diseases, such as cataracts, don’t need treatment right away. Watching the progress of these diseases helps us determine when to treat them.

Offering Vision Solutions as Needed

As your vision and eyes change with age, eye exams can help ensure you receive solutions for better eyesight, such as corrective lenses.

Providing Eye Health Tips

We encourage you to ask us about how to care for your eyes and reduce your risk of developing eye diseases as you get older!

Schedule an Eye Exam with Our Optometrists Today!

Is it time for your routine eye checkup? Our eye doctors at Paul Vision Institute offer comprehensive eye exams in Wilmington, NC, to help keep your vision and eyes in great shape or catch problems early.

Did You Know We Offer Same Day Eye Exams?

/in , /by

Vision issues can crop up suddenly, leaving you to wonder what is wrong and how long you must wait for an appointment. You could experience anything from a change in your eyeglass prescription to needing treatment for glaucoma. Paul Vision Institute is pleased to let you know that we offer same-day eye exams in Wilmington, NC, for any patient who feels they should come in right away.

What to Expect at Your Same Day Eye Exam

The first thing to expect is that Dr. Edward Paul or one of our other four optometrists will look directly into your eyes to determine if they spot any type of problem. If so, they will use X-ray and other diagnostic equipment to clarify what the eye issue is and why you are experiencing it.

You may need your eyes dilated to allow our optometrists a better view of the back of your eyes and how well this area functions. We will let you know if you need dilation drops at the start of the appointment, and you will complete some other tests before this happens.

The letterboard test is one of the simplest yet most accurate ways to check vision. Your optometrist sets a large piece of cardboard several feet away from you containing letters of various sizes. Some will be darker than others to gauge how clear they are to you. Based on the results of this test, your optometrist may write you a new prescription.

The severity of your issue determines whether you will complete any other tests duringsame-day eye exams in Wilmington, NC. If a foreign object is caught in your eye, we urge you to go to the nearest emergency room.

How We Diagnose and Treat Macular Degeneration

/in , , , /by

Macular degeneration in Wilmington NC is a potentially serious eye disease that affects people as they age. Although macular degeneration typically doesn’t cause complete vision loss, you may lose some or all of your central vision. While there is no cure for this age-related eye condition, you can receive effective treatments for it.

Wet Macular Degeneration

With this type, the blood vessels in your macula and retina leak fluid and blood, and your eyes take on a bulging appearance. Wet macular degeneration affects only 10 percent of people diagnosed with the disease. However, this type is the more severe of the two because it can cause complete loss of central vision when left untreated. We urge you to schedule an exam at Paul Vision Institute right away if you notice dark spots in the center of your visual field.

Dry Macular Degeneration

The dry type of macular degeneration causes a buildup of yellow protein deposits in your macula called drusen. The drusen causes your eyes to feel very dry while thinning your macula at the same time. Loss of central vision occurs slowly over time. Some people with the dry type of macular degeneration develop the wet type after several years.

Diagnosis and Treatment of Macular Degeneration

We start the eye exam by dilating your eyes to check for signs of the disease. Your optometrist may also use one or more advanced tests to confirm or rule out the diagnosis. Once we know which type you have, the next step is to start using prescription medication. Nutritional supplements and lifestyle changes are also useful, as is photocoagulation if you have leaking blood vessels. We may also recommend specific low vision tools to increase your quality of life.

Your vision is too important to ignore. Please contact us to screen for macular degeneration in Wilmington NC if you have any concerns.

3 Reasons to Schedule a Same-Day Eye Exam

/in /by

If you don’t always spend a lot of time thinking about your eye health, you would certainly be a part of the majority. Despite the importance of your vision, it’s easy to take it for granted until something goes wrong. At Paul Vision Institute, we offer same-day exams because we want to give our patients every advantage to keep their eyes as strong and resilient as possible. Here are a few reasons why it makes sense to add some urgency to your eye exam in Wilmington, NC.

1. It’s On Your Mind

You can certainly choose to schedule your eye exam for a few weeks out, but what are the odds that you’ll be able to keep that appointment? Eye exams don’t get pushed to the bottom of the list because they’re not important, but because there are so many other things that can take immediate practice. Might as well get it out of the way while you’re thinking about it.

2. You’ll Feel Better

Putting this task off — even if you feel generally good about the state of your vision — isn’t going to make you feel any better about it. Once you’ve crossed this one off of your list, you can breathe a little easier. Why not cross it off now, so you can get to the next task on your list.

3. It’s Simple to Find an Eye Doctor in Wilmington

At Paul Vision Institute, you’ll meet optometrists in Wilmington, NC who understand the value of your schedule. This can be more important than you realize, particularly if you’re loathe to go to the doctor. If you’re constantly working with people who don’t realize that you have other priorities in your life, you’re that much more likely to keep putting off an exam you know you need to schedule. If you don’t want to make any more excuses, contact us today to get it done.

3 Ways a Low Vision Optometrist Can Help with Sight Limitations

/in , , /by

Low vision means you have a type of impaired vision that cannot be corrected with the typical actions like wearing corrective lenses or getting eye surgery. If you have been diagnosed with low vision, it is important to work with a low vision optometrist in Wilmington, NC. These professionals can work with you to ensure you continue to get the most use of the visual abilities you have. Take a look at some of what you can expect below.

Get the most accurate diagnosis

A functional vision exam is a comprehensive eye exam that assesses how your eyes and all the parts of them are functioning. Oftentimes, patients do not fully understand what is behind their low vision issues because they have not received an accurate diagnosis. The functional vision exam will ensure all parts of the eye are thoroughly assessed, which makes it easier to address the issues you are experiencing.

Find out about adaptive optical solutions

Adaptive optical solutions are an ever-growing area of optometry. Adaptive optics is a type of technology that may improve visual performance by interacting with systems within the eye. For example, a specially made screen may be used with your computer to change how light wavelengths are delivered, which makes the screen easier for you to see. During your visit to see a low-vision optometrist, the doctor will likely discuss adaptive optics that could help your situation.

Gain access to visual rehabilitation

In some cases, visual rehabilitation can improve low vision issues. Even though not every patient or every eye condition can be improved, certain ones can. A low-vision optometrist will look at the latest treatment methodologies and advise you on any possible treatments. They will look at low vision rehabilitation that could help you learn how to use your eyes to see better, for example.

Find Out More About Low Vision Care in Wilmington, NC

Even though having low vision issues can be life-changing there are ways a Wilmington, NC eye doctor can help. If you would like to set up an appointment to discuss low vision, reach out to us at Paul Vision Institute to schedule an appointment.

Can Eating Healthier Prevent Glaucoma?

/in , , , /by

Your eye doctor in Wilmington, NC sees many patients diagnosed with glaucoma who wonder if they could have done anything to prevent it. Glaucoma is a serious eye condition that can—and often does—lead to partial or complete blindness. It stands to reason that if you could do something to avoid the diagnosis, you would do it, right? Many people feel that getting adequate nutrients, in other words, eating healthier, could prevent glaucoma. But is this fact or wishful thinking?

What Causes Glaucoma?

To answer this question, you need to know what causes glaucoma in the first place. In that way, you can kind of step backward and find out if more nutrients might actually make a difference.

Glaucoma can be caused by one or more reasons, either acting individually or in tandem with one another. Factors and conditions that can lead to glaucoma include:

  • High blood pressure
  • Diabetes
  • Overweight
  • Genetic predisposition
  • Extreme Myopia or Farsightedness
  • History of serious eye injury
  • Use of certain medications
  • And more…

Note that while the above-mentioned things are risk factors for glaucoma, the actual physical manifestation of glaucoma is very specific. Your eye doctor can diagnose glaucoma in Wilmington, NC by identifying these manifestations.

The Connection Between Nutrition and Glaucoma

Although there is no known direct correlation between nutrition and glaucoma, if you consider the risk factors of glaucoma, you will see that some of them are related to poor health. Specifically, untreated diabetes, high blood pressure and being overweight are all under a person’s control, give or take, depending upon circumstances. A healthy diet can help to bring a person back to the end of the spectrum defined as good health; sufficient intake of vitamins and minerals, and weighing within the range of what’s considered healthy in ratio of their height.

Basically, eating healthily can lower the number of risk factors that a person is exposed to. Someone who eats whole, nutrient-dense foods is simply less likely to have those risk factors that can sometimes be controlled.

The bottom line is that eating healthy can’t directly prevent glaucoma, because there are risk factors that don’t correspond to good nutrition However, since eating healthy can reduce the risk factors that you personally have, it’s worth it to commit to a wholesome diet that can partially help.

What Happens After Your Cataract Diagnosis?

/in , , /by

It can be shocking to learn you have cataracts. But the first thing to keep in mind is that they’re pretty easy to treat. Your eye doctor in Wilmington, NC, has different options for treating cataracts that will help improve or restore your vision. But it’s interesting to know exactly what cataracts are, what causes them, and how they’re diagnosed.

Cataracts Are Cloud-Like Films

Cataracts are cloudy films that form over the lenses of your eyes. Each eye has a lens that’s positioned behind the iris, and its purpose is to focus light on the retina so you can see images clearly. When something happens to inhibit the way your lens focuses this light, it becomes difficult to see. In the event of cataracts, a milky-white film forms over the surface, which can worsen over time if left untreated.

Cataracts Are Usually Caused by Injury or Normal Aging

If you’ve suffered an eye injury at some point in your life, or if you’ve had eye surgery, you may be more prone to developing cataracts. Or, sometimes, people simply develop cataracts as they age. Some diseases, such as diabetes, may also put you more at risk. You may first notice the signs of cataracts if you need more and more light to see clearly at night. Cataracts may also cause you to see ‘halos’ or ‘auras’ around bright lights. Also, if things appear smoky or hazy throughout the day, it could be a cataract that’s to blame.

Treatment for Cataracts Involves Simple Surgery

In most instances, your eye doctor can resolve cataracts through simple eye surgery that removes the cloudy lens and replaces it with a clear, artificial one. Cataract surgery is extremely common, and recovery times are short. Generally, it’s considered a very safe treatment. Usually, the procedure can be done in-office on an outpatient basis, and you can return home the same day. You will need someone to drive you to and from your appointment, however.

If you’ve recently been informed that you have cataracts in Wilmington, NC, schedule an appointment with Paul Vision Institute today. We’re happy to sit down with you to discuss your options for treatment.