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How
the New Drivers License Law Affects Seniors |
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Effective January 1, 2004 all drivers
who are 80 years of age or older and who are in the process of renewing
their drivers license are required to pass a vision test.
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In an effort to make this process
more convenient for you, our doctors will be happy to complete the necessary
paperwork for your license renewal. Simply call one of our patient counselors
and request an appointment for a routine eye exam. |
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The
American College of Eye Surgeons |
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The American College of Eye Surgeons was
founded in 1986 after several years of labor, intensive meetings and discussions
by a small group of extremely dedicated ophthalmologists concerned about
the absence of surgical certification in the board certification process
of ophthalmologists. Tremendous advances in technology have revolutionized
eye surgery, thereby necessitating a surgical certification process to
ensure that quality eye surgery is performed. |
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The founders of the American College of Eye Surgeons
recognize that the American Board of Ophthalmology (ABO) did an excellent
job assessing the candidates with respect to their medical knowledge in
ophthalmology. However, it was also recognized that actual surgical skills
were not being tested. The certification by the American Board of Ophthalmology
may reasonably suggest that an individual, thus certified, was not only
a knowledgeable medical ophthalmologist, but also a competent ophthalmic
surgeon. Unfortunately, an assumption that ABO certification constitutes
validation of surgical skills is not accurate. Thus, the American College
of Eye Surgeons was formed to establish a certifying board for quality
ophthalmic surgery. |
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After extensive work by the founders of the American
College of Eye Surgeons, in conjunction with the highly respected and
nonprofit Professional Examination Service, the American Board of Eye
Surgery (ABES) was established in 1988. This board tests ophthalmologists
on their ability to perform quality eye surgery. |
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Your doctor of ophthalmology, having been certified by
the American Board of Eye Surgery (ABES) and a participating member of
the American College of Eye Surgeons, is distinguished as a doctor and
is one of a unique group of eye surgeons dedicated to maintaining the
highest standards in ophthalmic surgery for the benefit of you, the patient.
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American
Board of Eye Surgery– February
2002 |
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Alan B. Aker, M.D., Elected President-Elect
of The American Board of Eye Surgery |
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February, 2002 - Alan B. Aker, M.D., of Boca Raton, Florida,
was elected to serve as President-Elect of The American Board of Eye Surgery |
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Dr. Aker, a 1968 honors graduate from the United States
Military Academy at West Point, graduated from New York Medical College
in 1976. He completed his internship at Montefiore Hospital and Medical
Center Bronx, New York, in 1977, and completed his residency at North
Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, New York, in 1980. |
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Dr. Aker is a frequent lecturer and has chaired numerous
conferences, including the American College of Eye Surgeons Quality Surgery
Seminar. He has served as visiting Professor of Opthalmology and Surgeon
Director for the Caribbean Eye Program on the Island of St. Kitts and
Nevis. He currently serves as Director of the International Institute
for Advanced Laser Surgery and is presently serving as Chief Medical Editor
of Ophthalmology Management magazine. Dr. Aker served as President both
of the American Board of Eye Surgery and American College of Eye Surgeons
from 1997-1999 and 1992-1994 respectively. |
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As President-Elect, Dr. Aker is directly involved with
all activities of the organization, including coordinator of projects
and educational programs related to quality control in the field of medicine. |
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The American Board of Eye Surgery, along with the Professional
Examination Service of New York City, has developed a certification process
for ophthalmic surgical techniques through observing both live surgery
and actual outcomes. ABES certifies surgeons in cataract/implant surgery,
LASIK laser vision surgery (refractive surgery), and corneal transplant
surgery. |
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Advances
Continue in Cataract Surgery– Alan B. Aker,
M.D |
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Most of us can still remember the Good Old Days. We didn't
have nearly the crime, violence and moral decline prevalent in what now
seems like an ever darkening world. Growing up as a young boy, our house
and our car were almost never locked. The Good Old Days were definitely
better from that standpoint. However, when we consider cataract surgery,
those were anything but the Good Old Days. Patients were kept in the hospital
after surgery for a week or more, often with sandbags on either side of
their head to prevent injury to the eye. |
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Today our cataract surgery is much more complex and demanding
for the surgeon. Fortunately, for our patients, it has become a short,
painless, and wonderfully life-enhancing procedure. Our goal at our center
is to minimize the traditional inconvenience and discomfort to the point
where the surgery is almost reduced to a non-event for the patient. |
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The dramatic changes that have taken place really began
with the development of phacoemulsification.
Although introduced nearly thirty years ago, phaco (as it is commonly
called) did not really become widely accepted until recently. This technique
allows the surgeon to remove the cataract through a much smaller incision.
Phaco utilizes ultrasonic technology to soften the sometimes extremely
hard cataract. The phaco handpiece could be likened to a tiny, very delicate
and very powerful jack-hammer. By carefully applying this energy, the
cataract is softened and can be aspirated (sucked out) through the small
phaco needle. Phaco has allowed us to reduce the surgical incision to
3 millimeters or less (less than 1/4 inch)! |
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Even before phaco was widely accepted,
intraocular lens implants gained widespread use among surgeons
as new surgical skills were developed and improved. As better intraocular
lens implants were designed, their use became almost universally accepted,
and are now virtually always performed at the time of cataract surgery. |
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Another major advance affecting the after care for patients
with intraocular lens implants was the development of the YAG
LASER. My wife Ann and I were trained in the use of the YAG Laser
by one of the two doctors credited with its development in Switzerland.
We were amazed at its potential to help patients, and were fortunate to
be part of the FDA investigational work on this laser. The YAG Laser is
used to open cloudy membranes that form behind the intraocular lens implant. |
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One of the truly bothersome complications of the older
larger incision cataract surgery was the astigmatism that often limited
vision following surgery. Now that we are able to combine the newer technology
foldable intraocular lenses with the small incision phaco technique, the
problem of significant post-operative astigmatism has been almost completely
eliminated. |
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Vision
of Goodwill: Doctor’s work benefits needy in several countries
– Alan B. Aker |
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A thick white cataract had covered the pupil of Cynthia
Rearic's right eye for more than a decade on the day she met Alan Aker. |
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Aker and his wife, Ann, both ophthalmologists in Boca
Raton, were attending a bat mitzvah last year at the Palm Beach Gardens
Marriott where Rearic works as a waitress. |
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"He came up to me and asked for some silver ware,"
Rearic recalls. When he stared, "I thought, 'Oh boy, another person
looking at my funky eye.'" |
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Aker asked Rearic if she knew that it was a cataract
and why she hadn't had it removed. A single parent with two teenagers
at home, Rearic, 48 explained her situation: She works several jobs and
makes more than poverty level income. She doesn't qualify for aid, but
she can't afford insurance and she definitely couldn't afford a $6,000
cataract operation. |
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Aker, 50, offered to do the surgery free if she could
get to his Boca Raton facility. Rearic's response: "Why?" |
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"Because God has given us the finances and the facility
to help people take care of things like that," he told her. |
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Three weeks later, Aker's surgery restored Rearic's sight.
"It was so fantastic. It was like a miracle," she says. |
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Rearic is not the only beneficiary of the Akers' generosity.
In 1982 they helped set up the Caribbean Eye Program to treat the needy
on St. Kitts in the West Indies. They also established an eye institute
in the Dominican Republic designed to serve the poor. |
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And on Saturday, May 13, as part of the third annual
nationwide Mission Cataract, Aker and a staff of volunteers will screen
and schedule for surgery anyone who is visually impaired and has no means
to pay. |
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Aker grew up on Long Island where his dad
taught school and his mom worked for the telephone company. "We had
everything but money," he says. |
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Now that he's got it, he enjoys giving it away. "Ann
and I have always been 'project' people,"says Aker. "I guess
my parents taught me to care about people." |
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"Ann
and I have always been 'project' people, I guess my parents taught
me to care about people."
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A graduate of West Point, Aker first worked as an engineer,
then applied to New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y. and recalls
his entrance interview. He wanted to be a doctor, he says, for "purely
selfish reasons. I've been an engineer, and bridges never say 'thank you.'
I want to hear that." |
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He's been hearing it ever since. Aker's family has ties
to the Amish community in Pennsylvania and every year he treats more than
200 Amish patients for free. "(Patients) must know that what they
have is treatable and must get down here and back on their own,"
he says. To make the process easier, Aker bought and renovated two nearby
houses, which he turned into what his employees call The Amish House,
a place where patients stay without charge after surgery. |
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Ophthalmology is a "happy specialty," says
Aker. "We can perform dramatic, life-changing surgery in 10 minutes...We
can give the precious gift of sight and restore quality of life."
And so he does. |
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