Connecticut

Glaucoma Associates

Highest quality glaucoma diagnosis and care

Glaucoma is pressure damage to the optic nerve.

The risk of damage is higher if your eye pressure is in the 20s, if your parents or siblings have glaucoma nerve damage, if you are nearsighted, or if your eye shows signs of pseudoexfoliation. Patients who are very nearsighted or have pseudoexfoliation can easily be damaged by pressures in the upper teens. Low blood pressure, whether due to being very slender or aggressive treatment of high blood pressure, increases the risk of glaucoma damage.

The extent of glaucoma damage, and the likelihood of damage worsening, is assessed by considering: your family history, intraocular pressure (sometimes measured 2 ways), corneal thickness, visual fields, OCT scans of the nerve fiber layer, contours of your optic nerve, and size of your eyeball.

Knowing the extent of damage crucially determines how much to lower your intraocular pressure. If there is enough damage to affect a visual field test, it is generally preferable to keep the pressure 16 or lower.

Glaucoma drops can sometimes make eyes red and irritated — but this is generally avoidable by doing SLT laser to minimize the need for medication, using preservative free medication (often at a dosing frequency less than that advised by the drug company), and putting a hot wet cloth (or other microwaveable hot pack) on the eyelids at least twice a week for 2 minutes. Heating the eyelids helps the oil glands of the eyelids to flow a little faster (oil flows better when warm) and this protects the cornea from drying and irritation.

 

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111 East Avenue, suite 335

Norwalk, CT 06851


(203) 853-2020

Cataract surgery by a glaucoma doctor

 

If you live long enough, the lens inside your eye will become cloudy and will need to be replaced by a clear plastic lens implant. Cataract surgery is usually performed when the patient notices intolerable glare while driving or when general blurriness is no longer correctable with glasses.

Cataract surgery is a necessary component of many glaucoma surgeries because the natural lens can crowd the drain that keeps eye pressure down. Patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma often have cataracts which are more difficult to remove, so glaucoma surgeons become accustomed to challenging cataract surgeries.

LENS IMPLANTS and GLASSES

After cataract surgery, most patients will use reading glasses for close vision while having not much need for distance glasses. Almost all patients will see slightly better with distance glasses but only about 1 in 20 will need to wear distance glasses most of the time.

MONOFOCAL lenses focus at one particular distance; glasses are needed to see closer (or further) than that distance). Monofocal lenses give the most vivid vision with the least glare, but glasses are often useful to get the best focus. Monofocal implants are covered by insurance.

MULTIFOCAL lens implants are not covered by insurance. They can improve the ability to see clearly both near and far without glasses. However, they tend to reduce contrast (for example, the ability to see a white line on the edge of the road while driving in rain)and increase glare. The reduced contrast and increased glare cannot be improved by glasses. The loss of contrast can be an increasing problem later in life if there is substantial glaucoma damage or retinal disease such as macular degeneration or epiretinal membrane. Even aging can make contrast loss more of a problem, so Dr. Libre generally advises against multifocal lenses, though it is certainly true that many excellent doctors believe that they benefit their patients.

MONOVISION means that one eye sees far and the other sees close. This reduces the need for glasses to change the focus. However, the difference between the eyes reduces depth perception which can be frustrating. However, making one eye focussed just slightly closer than the other (mini-monovision) will reduce the dependence upon reading glasses without causing noticeable difficulty using the eyes together. Dr. Libre recommends this for most patients. The typical result is that patients after cataract surgery can read texts on the phone and larger print reading material, but will use reading glasses for smaller print and reading more than a few minutes.

TORIC lenses correct astigmatism or corneal warpage. Toric lenses are warped implants which counteract the warpage of the cornea. Like multifocal lenses, toric lenses are not covered by insurance. Unlike multifocal lenses, they do not reduce contrast or increase glare. Another option for correcting astigmatism without a toric lens, is to change the location and number of incisions in order to reduce the warpage of the cornea. Dr. Libre often recommends this for astigmatic patients.

The LIGHT ADJUSTABLE LENS (LAL) is an implant which can be fine-tuned by ultraviolet light several weeks after surgery. LAL patients will usually end up with less astigmatism and more precisely corrected mini-monovision, so they tend to see better without glasses than patients with traditional implants. There is no loss of contrast or increased glare. While they are less likely to use glasses, LAL patients will always see a little better with some additional corrective glasses for near or far. Disadvantages of the LAL: it costs $2500/eye; 3-5 additional postoperative visits are needed to adjust the implant; special sunglasses are used outdoors until the adjustments are completed, so that sunlight won’t cause random adjustments; the UV light is uncomfortably bright for some patients and probably better avoided for people with a family history of macular degeneration;.

Femtosecond laser can be used for some steps of cataract surgery, but most studies have found that the laser does not significantly improve outcomes and for this reason Dr Libre does not use the femtosecond laser.

Our Doctors


Peter E Libre, MD

 

Dr. Libre earned his undergraduate degree from Yale (Biology) and his MD from the University of Maryland; he served his ophthalmology residency at Columbia U Medical Center and glaucoma fellowship at Cornell NY Hospital. He has been on the Columbia faculty since 1994 and authored peer-reviewed articles in glaucoma and cataract surgery. He has performed many thousands of cataract surgeries, glaucoma surgeries (including trabeculectomy, Ahmed valve implant, IStent, Kahook, Hydrus) and laser treatments (SLT, iridotomy, iridoplasty, cyclophotocoagulation, micropulse cyclophotocoagulation).

He speaks fluent Swedish, passable Spanish and Italian, and bit of ophthalmic Haitian Creole.

Getting outside is a priority: he bikes, roller skis or kayaks to work; tends hens and vegetable gardens; loves snow, mountains, wind and water.

Top Doctors list: Castle-Connolly, CT Magazine, NY Magazine


Anita A. Singh, OD

 

Dr. Singh earned her undergraduate degree from University of California, San Diego (Biochemistry) and her Doctor of Optometry degree from State University of New York, College of Optometry. She completed clinical training at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn, Somers Eye Center and West Point Military Base. After graduation, Dr. Singh practiced medical optometry in the Bronx and Westchester County, and later worked as the clinical director of a refractive surgery center in CT before joining CT Glaucoma Associates.

Dr. Singh is experienced in managing glaucoma, cataracts, macular degeneration, corneal disease and dry eye. She speaks conversational Spanish. When not at work, Dr. Singh enjoys spending as much time outside as possible, caring for her flower garden, and tackling home improvement projects with her husband.


“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

– Albert Einstein

Expensive and complicated is often worse than inexpensive and simple.

For example, most styes are blocked, not infected, glands. So the right treatment is hot compresses to melt the oil plugs, not antibiotics trying to treat an infection that is not there.

Similarly, most dry eye is due to inadequate oil flow through the oil glands. Hot compresses melt the oil plugs, and improve the flow of oil, which protects the cornea and slows evaporation of the tears. Unfortunately, expensive patented dry eye medications, so marginally effective that they were never approved in Europe, are commonly prescribed without even trying hot compresses — which are usually more effective.

Many glaucoma patients with chronically red, uncomfortable eyes are told to add more products to their eyes: allergy drops, lubricating drops, anti-inflammatory drops. However, the effective approach is less, not more: use the fewest drops possible and prescribe only preservative-free medication — plus hot compresses at least a few times a week to keep the oil glands flowing.

Cataract patients often pay about $300 for postoperative drops: a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, a steroid, and an antibiotic — but this expense and complexity is of uncertain value. The non-steroidal drop is very important, but there is no evidence that the expensive new products are better than the older generic ones. The expensive steroid drop can be easily replaced with an inexpensive injection at surgery — or an expensive steroid implant that has not been shown to be better than injection. And there is growing evidence that antibiotics injected into the eye at surgery are critical, while antibiotic drops do not seem to be helpful. (Dr. Libre, with technician/student Sean Matthews, published a study of injectable antibiotic effectiveness: “Endophthalmitis prophylaxis by intracameral antibiotics: in vitro model comparing vancomycin, cefuroxime, and moxifloxacin” (Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery, 2017).

RED EYES from glaucoma treatment?

Many glaucoma patients have chronically red eyes due to glaucoma medications and the preservatives used to keep bacteria from growing in the bottles.

Treatments that help avoid red eyes:

  • SLT laser, so that pressure control is not completely dependent on drops

  • low doses of 3 or 4 medications, instead of maximal doses of 1 or 2 medications

  • preservative-free medications

  • application of a hotpack to the closed lids (2 minutes, several times a week) to unblock the oil glands — the oil slows evaporation of the tears