Services

This section of our website will give overviews of our services. Select a condition to the left to learn more about it.

Eye Exams

The West Seattle Eye Clinic uses various up-to-date tests and procedures to examine your eyes. The tests range from simple eye chart reading to using a high-powered lens to examine the inside of your eyes. Here are some of the most common tests that your doctor may use in order to examine your eyes.

Refraction

This is the test that is used to determine your exact eye prescription for eyeglasses and contact lenses. Depending on the clarity of various lens options, our staff will fine-tune your required prescription power. Refraction determines your level of nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia.

More information about Refractive Errors

Slit-Lamp Examination

The slit lamp is an instrument that allows the doctor to get a highly magnified image of the eye's structures including the lids, cornea, iris and optic nerve. Signs of infection or disease are detected with this exam.

Glaucoma Test

There are many different tests that can be used to evaluate the presence of glaucoma. Their purpose is to detect a degeneration of your optic nerve. Following a drop to numb your eye, the doctor will use an applanation tonometer to determine your eye pressure. Sometimes it is necessary to provide additional testing, including a visual field test, corneal pachymetry or an optic nerve head analysis. Your doctor will let you know if this is required.

Dilation

Dilating drops are drops that your eye doctor puts in your eyes to make the pupils larger. This gives the doctor a better view of the internal structures of the eye. The pupil is like a window to the inside of the eye. Dilating drops usually take about 20 to 30 minutes to start working. While they are working, you will be sensitive to light and may notice a difficulty in focusing on close-up objects. These effects may last for up to several hours. For your convenience, we can provide you with sunglasses.

Cataract Surgery

Cataracts can't be treated with medication or lasers. Surgery is still the only treatment option and one of the most common and reliable operations. Each year, more than a million people have their vision improved through cataract surgery. During surgery, the cloudy lens is removed and replaced with a clear, man made intraocular lens (IOL).

In order to treat cataracts, your doctor uses a microscope and small instruments to make an incision and remove the old lens. Depending on the condition of the lens, it will either be removed in one piece or broken apart with soundwaves (ultrasound). The pieces will then be removed. The natural membrane (capsule) that held your lens is left in place.

Once your old lens has been removed, your doctor inserts the new lens (IOL) through the incision. The IOL is then positioned in the capsule that held your old lens. With the new lens in place, your doctor is ready to close the incision. In most cases, the incision is self-sealing (no-stitch). That means it will stay closed on its own without stitches. Sometimes, however, a stitch may be needed.

Newer lens implants, such as the ReSTOR and ReZOOM lenses, allow patients to see both near and far following surgery. These so-called presbyopia correcting lens implants are an exciting new development that we can offer to our cataract patients.

More information about Cataracts

Eyelid Surgery

Blepharoplasty is generally done using local anesthetic. You will receive a mild sedative to help you relax. The duration of the surgery is dependant on the amount of tissue to be removed, although the procedure usually takes about 45 minutes.

When performed on the upper eyelids, your doctor will remove the excess skin, muscle and fatty tissue that tend to accumulate along the eyelids. If a lid lift is to be performed, the muscle lifting the lid is typically plicated. The incisions are made along the natural folds in the skin so that as they heal they become difficult, if not impossible, to see over time. The stitches are self-absorbing and dissolve over the course of a week.

When performed on the lower eyelids, provided there is not too much excess skin, your doctor will make the incision inside or behind the eyelid. This technique allows the removal of fatty tissue while avoiding the need for an external incision. If there is excessive skin or muscle folds below the eye, an incision may also be made just below the base of the eyelashes. As this incision heals, the fine scar should also become less visible.

More information about Blepharochalasis/Ptosis

Pediatrics

It is never too early to have an eye exam, although it is prudent to have children examined by the age of four. There are a number of conditions where an early examination is mandatory: prematurity, tearing, crossed eyes or failed vision screening. Early treatment allows for timely intervention, which is particularly important for a child’s developing eye sight.

Tear duct probing is a common procedure done under a general anesthetic to relieve blockage of the nasolacrimal duct. The surgery is very safe and highly effective. It is typically performed after a year of age.

Strabismus surgery is procedure to straighten crossed eyes. If left untreated strabismus can lead to permanent loss of vision in the weaker eye. The surgery involves moving muscle on the eye to allow them align properly. The surgery is performed under a general anesthetic and be done with sutureless incisions for greater postoperative comfort.

More information about pediatric diseases

Corneal Surgery

A corneal transplant is the replacement of damaged or diseased cornea with a healthy cornea in order to restore vision. The cornea was one of the first parts of the body to be transplanted, and corneal transplants remain one of the most common, and most successful of all transplant procedures. During the procedure, part of a cloudy or warped cornea is replaced with a graft from a healthy cornea, which comes from an eye bank. Since a cornea heals slowly, full healing and vision improvement may take a year or more.

It now possible to perform sutureless corneal transplantation, where only the diseased inner lining of the cornea is replaced. This permits much more rapid recovery of vision while also providing a more stable cornea post operatively.

More information about Corneal Disorders/Diseases

Dry Eye Treatment

Artificial tears, which lubricate the eye, are the most common treatment for dry eye. They are available over-the-counter as eye drops. Sterile ointments are sometimes used at night to help prevent the eye from drying. People may also find comfort in using humidifiers, wearing wrap-around glasses when outside, and avoiding windy and dry conditions.

The first prescription medication for dry eye, Restasis, is now available for certain types of dry eye. For people with more severe cases of dry eye, temporary or permanent closure of the tear drain (small openings at the inner corner of the eyelids where tears drain from the eye) may also be helpful.

More information about Dry Eye

Glaucoma Treatment

If your doctor suspects glaucoma, he will typically test your eyes in a variety of ways. First and foremost, he will test your visual acuity and measure the pressure in your eye. Regular and complete eye exams help to monitor the changes in your eyesight and will help to determine if glaucoma has developed. Your physician may also order a visual field examination, corneal thickness determination and optic nerve head analysis. Using laser technology and enhanced computer imagery, we are often able to diagnose and detect problems before a patient begins to experience vision loss.

Treatment to control glaucoma is aimed at lowering intraocular pressure. This may be achieved through a variety of means, but typically involves either eye drops or laser surgery. If response to more conservative measures fail, glaucoma surgery can be used to successfully lower intraocular pressure.

More information about Glaucoma

LASIK

The recent advancement of medical lasers now makes it possible to correct your vision for nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) and astigmatism. The entire surgical process takes place in about 20 minutes and can eliminate the need for corrective lenses. Laser vision correction can truly change your life.

LASIK was first approved in America by the Food and Drug Administration in November 1995, although the first laser procedure was performed in Germany back in 1987. To date, there have been over 4 million laser vision procedures performed throughout the world.

Virtually all people treated have experienced an improvement in vision that would allow them to pass a drivers' license exam without the aid of eyeglasses or contacts. At the West Seattle Eye clinic we use state of the art iLASIK for all of our procedures.

More information about Refractive Errors

Diabetic Eye Treatment

The location of the disease and the degree of damage to the retina determines the type of treatment of diabetic retinopathy. There are two effective methods in reducing vision loss from this disease. One method involves treatment with laser photocoagulation, a way of sealing off the leaking blood vessels and causing abnormal blood vessels to regress. A more recent approach involves injecting drugs into the eye that modulate vascular permeability and or reduce the inflammatory response within the retina.

The best treatment for diabetic retinopathy is prevention. Early detection and management is important to prevent the development of the more sight damaging stages of the disease. Keeping blood sugar at an even level and frequent eye examinations will help. With careful monitoring, treatment of diabetic retinopathy can be started long before sight is affected.

More information about Diabetes and the Eye