Dr. Anzhelika Vaccaro and staff from OCLI’s Port Jefferson and Stony Brook offices will be providing free vision screenings for glaucoma and cataracts on August 20^th at the Community Health Expo 2011. The Expo is free and will be held from 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm at the Coram Fire Department located at 303 Middle Country Rd. in Coram. The Expo is sponsored by Legislator Sarah Anker, Councilwoman Connie Kepert, in conjunction with Lakeview Rehabilitation and Care Center.

 About Glaucoma: Glaucoma is an eye disease that slowly and painlessly steals away your sight. Glaucoma is called the sneak thief of sight because it has no symptoms—it does not make your eyes red or cause pain. But it is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, and half of the people who have glaucoma don’t know that they have the disease and are not aware that they are going blind.

 The cause of glaucoma is unknown, but there are several risk factors that increase your chances of developing glaucoma. These include high eye pressure (called intraocular pressure, or IOP), older age, and having a family history of glaucoma. Anyone with any of these risk factors should get regular eye examinations to look for glaucoma. African Americans and Hispanics are also more likely to develop glaucoma.

 About Cataracts: Nearly 22 million Americans age 40 and older have cataracts, one of the most curable causes of vision loss. A cataract is the clouding of the eye’s normally clear lens, blocking the passage of light needed for vision. They form slowly and cause no pain. Some stay small and hardly affect vision, but if the cataract does grow and begin to affect your vision, it can usually be removed with surgery.

 Cataract surgery is the most commonly performed operation in the United States with over 3 million cases performed annually. Dr. Broderick is now performing some of the first laser enhanced and customized cataract surgeries on Long Island.  This new medical breakthrough in laser cataract surgery adds a new level of precision, accuracy and predictability to the procedure that simply was not possible with conventional manual surgery.

 To learn more about glaucoma and cataracts and for a free vision screening, stop by OCLI’s booth at the Community Health Expo on August 20th between 12:00 pm and 4:00 pm.

See the July 2011 Dr. Eric Donnenfeld’s Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today feature by clicking the link below.

A Landmark Event by Dr. Eric Donnenfeld

Prevent Blindness America (PBA) has declared June as Cataract Awareness Month in an effort to educate the public on the risk factors, symptoms, and treatment options of the world’s leading cause of blindness.

According to PBA, there are more cases of cataract globally than there are of glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy combined. Today, cataract affects more than 22 million Americans aged 40 and older. As the U.S. population ages, more than 30.1 million Americans are projected to have cataracts by the year 2020.
Risk factors for developing cataract include a family history of cataract, diabetes, smoking, extended exposure to UV rays, serious eye injury, and the use of steroids.

Americans spend $6.8 billion every year on direct medical costs for outpatient, inpatient, and prescription drug services for cataracts, according to “Economic Impact of Vision Problems: The Toll of Major Adult Eye Disorders, Visual Impairment, and Blindness on the U.S. Economy,” a 2007 study funded by PBA.

“We encourage everyone, especially those age 40 and over, to get a dilated, baseline eye exam from [their] eye care professional,” said Hugh R. Parry, PBA’s president and CEO.

If you or a loved one believes you have a cataract, please call 1-866-733-6254 to arrange an appointment with an Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island doctor today.

Dr. Eric Donnenfeld is featured in an article about Laser Cataract Surgery in the Herald Community Newspapers – Good Health section.  See the full article here. Advanced laser surgery helps cataract patients

Doctors Gerard D’Aversa (image top left), Robert Broderick (image top right), Russell Fumuso (image lower left) and David Nelson (image lower right) are among the first cataract surgeons in the United States to offer Laser Cataract surgery. This new medical breakthrough in laser cataract surgery adds a new level of precision, accuracy and predictability to the procedure that simply was not possible with conventional manual surgery. These OCLI surgeons use the Alcon LenSx^® Femtosecond Laser at Island Eye Surgicenter in Carle Place, where the surgeries are being performed.  Island Eye Surgicenter is only the fourth surgical facility in the US to acquire this advanced technology. Cataract surgery is the most commonly performed operation in the United States with over 3 million cases performed annually.  To learn more about customized laser cataract surgery, please contact 1-866-SEE-OCLI (1-866-733-6254) to schedule an appointment.

NOW UNTIL DECEMBER 31st, 2009

Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island’s expert facial rejuvenation team, Dr. Peter Wong & Daniel Garibaldi are pleased to offer you this holiday special for Botox. This offer must be presented to redeem. Look your best this holiday season. Call or email us today!

1-866-SEE-OCLI

Click Here To Email OCLI

It is my honor to share with you some of the outstanding community service activities which Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island contributed to this year. Our participation in these events is made possible by your eye care physicians and our fantastic staff members who make up OCLI. All of us at OCLI are excited to share with you these stories of how we give back to the communities we have the privilege to serve. Thank you to all of the patients who have contributed to these causes with us. We could not accomplish this without our wonderful doctors, staff and you, our patients.

All of us at OCLI wish you the very best this holiday season.

Tom

Despite plummeting temperatures, persistent rain, pink cheeks and frozen feet, OCLI staff members rallied for the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” annual walk on October 18. Joined by a myriad of local breast cancer survivors, volunteers, businesses and community members to fight breast cancer and save lives, they endured the unusually chilly and miserable weather to show their personal commitment to the cause.

OCLI (www.ocli.net) has participated in the annual walk since 2000 and became a Long Island Flagship Sponsor in 2009. As a Flagship Sponsor, OCLI committed $15,000 to the cause, and raised another $22,536 through office bake sales, cook book sales, and other fundraising activities.

The team was led by Ellen Corcoran, OCLI’s Lynbrook Office Manager, who raised $5,500 for the cause and was the 10th largest fundraiser on Long Island.

“Today, there is more hope than ever for people facing breast cancer” said Ms. Corcoran. “However, there is much more work to be done. I believe that hope for a world without breast cancer starts with me. Not only is this my opportunity to join my community to fight back against breast cancer, it is also a way to inspire hope by raising funds and awareness to help those facing the disease and save more lives”.

In total, 17,000 people participated in the Long Island walk and together raised $2,800,000. The American Cancer Society uses the money to save lives by helping people stay well by taking steps to prevent cancer or find it early; by helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking research and by fighting back by encouraging lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer.

Pictured left, Claire La Rocca, left, an office manager at OCLI Rockville Center, stands with Ellen Corcoran, right, office manager of OCLI Lynbrook, and OCLI team captain. Pictured right, OCLI managing partner Richard Sturm, MD with his daughter Chandler Sturm, center, and friend Erin Quinn.

Nadimire Jules, a class of 2000 Westbury High School graduate, embarked on a very special journey this past summer. A second-year med student at
Drexel University College of Medicine, Nadimire traveled to Ghana to spend one month helping local ophthalmologists provide eye care to those living in
rural villages. Nadimire traveled to Ghana through Unite for Sight, a nonprofit organization providing eye care worldwide and offering high impact hands-on public health opportunities for volunteers. As part of her preparation, Nadimire shadowed several ophthalmologists at OCLI prior to her trip to gain additional knowledge and skills she will need while in Ghana.

Ms. Jules remarks, “I am so grateful for the positive response that I have received from Ophthalmic Consultants of Long Island. I truly appreciate the
opportunity to work with their distinguished ophthalmologists and technicians, to learn and gain the skills that I used to help the ophthalmic staff in Tamale, Ghana”.

Ms. Jules is also fundraising on behalf of Unite for Sight, to help cover the cost of the free eye care services that they provide to patients. To make a donation visit www.uniteforsight.org. Dr. David Sachs, OCLI’s latest addition as an Associate Surgeon

Dr. David Sachs, OCLI’s latest addition as an Associate Surgeon leading their East Meadow office and a Drexel graduate himself, offered this observation: “This is a very special cause that Nadimire is working for, and I am very excited to help her in achieving her goal of volunteering to assist patients in Ghana who do not have access to ophthalmologists.”

Ms. Jules was able to observe live surgery with the assistance of Island Eye Surgicenter doctors and staff.

Nadimire observes Dr. David Sachs and Dr. Peter Wong of OCLI with Bob Nelson, Executive Director of Island Eye Surgicenter perform eye surgery on patient.

“We are pleased to offer this extraordinary young woman the opportunity to shadow doctors Nelson, Berke, Wong, and Sachs and observe surgery at Island Eye Surgicenter” said Tom Burke, CEO of OCLI. “Working with our
doctors and the expert Surgicenter staff helped Nadimire gain knowledge in many areas including cataract, glaucoma, corneal and retinal disease”.

ICare in America consists of a group of faculty headed by Dr. Marguerite McDonald and includes Dr. Michael Lemp, Dr. Gary Foulks, Dr. Kelly Nichols, Dr. Richard Lindstrom, Dr. Terrence O’Brien and Dr. Stephen Pflugfelder. The group was convened to review the results of a recent landmark survey of patient and eye care specialist perceptions regarding the impact of Blepharitis in America, conducted July through September of 2008.

ICare in America concludes that a large portion of the U.S. adult population is affected by symptoms associated with Blepharitis and that ophthalmologists and optometrists are concerned about the diagnosis of Blepharitis.

For more information about ICare in America visit www.icareinamericasurvey.com

Dr. McDonald at ICare in America reception (ASCRS April 2009)