About 10 years ago, when I lived in Michigan, my optometrist told me to go see an ophthalmologist because he could see a “possibility in the future” of getting closed angle glaucoma. I went to the ophthalmologist recommended most often by colleagues and friends and he agreed and suggested that I get iridotomies (little holes) lasered in my eyes as a preventive measure. I read up on it (had access to excellent research, working at a health services research company) and the possible side effects worried me greatly. So I made an appointment with another ophthalmologist for a second opinion. She also said that she felt it was a good idea after she examined my eyes. I told her that she was the second doctor to tell me that. She asked me who my first consult was and when I told her it was Dr. Katz she say. “Dr. Katz is an expert in this, you should have him do it.” I sat on the fence. I told my PCP about it and I told her that statistically I only had a 10% chance of developing closed angle glaucoma without the surgery. She said “I’d feel a lot better if that was 1%. Gosh, three strikes against my opinion by three (four?) respected doctors! Although I’m a proponent of less is more when it comes to medical treatments, I’m not stupid. We were planning on retiring and moving to New Mexico so I bit the bullet and had it done a few months before our move. I had none of the bad vision side effects mentioned as possible. The iridotomies are still there, safely protecting my eyes according to my current optometrist. He did say that he’d never seen the particular placement of them that I have in my eyes, and that they are placed differently in each eye. I will assume that Dr. Katz chose where to make the holes based on the many iridotomies he’d performed.
About 10 years ago, when I lived in Michigan, my optometrist told me to go see an ophthalmologist because he could see a “possibility in the future” of getting closed angle glaucoma. I went to the ophthalmologist recommended most often by colleagues and friends and he agreed and suggested that I get iridotomies (little holes) lasered in my eyes as a preventive measure. I read up on it (had access to excellent research, working at a health services research company) and the possible side effects worried me greatly. So I made an appointment with another ophthalmologist for a second opinion. She also said that she felt it was a good idea after she examined my eyes. I told her that she was the second doctor to tell me that. She asked me who my first consult was and when I told her it was Dr. Katz she say. “Dr. Katz is an expert in this, you should have him do it.” I sat on the fence. I told my PCP about it and I told her that statistically I only had a 10% chance of developing closed angle glaucoma without the surgery. She said “I’d feel a lot better if that was 1%. Gosh, three strikes against my opinion by three (four?) respected doctors! Although I’m a proponent of less is more when it comes to medical treatments, I’m not stupid. We were planning on retiring and moving to New Mexico so I bit the bullet and had it done a few months before our move. I had none of the bad vision side effects mentioned as possible. The iridotomies are still there, safely protecting my eyes according to my current optometrist. He did say that he’d never seen the particular placement of them that I have in my eyes, and that they are placed differently in each eye. I will assume that Dr. Katz chose where to make the holes based on the many iridotomies he’d performed.