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Eye Care & Surgery

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Service Overview

WhidbeyHealth offers comprehensive ophthalmology care for all ages. Using the latest technology and treatments, coupled with an emphasis on patient education, our goal is to provide the most effective eye care using the latest technologies.

Above all, we strive to provide our patients with the best quality of life possible by preserving and enhancing their vision. We treat all our patients with the utmost care and concern and place their health as our highest priority.

  • Comprehensive Care: Diagnosing, monitoring, and treatment of all ocular and visual problems, including disorders of the eyelids and visual neurologic pathways.
  • Medical and Surgical: Medical, laser and surgical treatment of cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetes, strabismus, and corneal diseases.
  • Elective Treatments: Elective refractive surgical care to correct near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism, which may in turn reduce or eliminate the need for eyeglasses or contact lenses.
  • Eye Exams: Comprehensive visual acuity and ocular exams for all ages, and if needed, provide glasses and/or contact lenses to correct focusing problems.

Common Eye Disorders

We provide expert care for a full spectrum of eye conditions – from the most common to the more complex. Whether you’re managing nearsightedness, cataracts, or glaucoma, or facing a less common disorder affecting your vision or eye health, our team offers the skill, technology, and personalized attention needed to protect and preserve your sight. Some of the most common disorders we treat include:

  • Cataracts
  • Diabetic Retinopathy
  • Dry Eye
  • Flashes and Floaters
  • Glaucoma
  • Age-Related Macular Degenration
  • Retinal Tears

Laser Surgery for Cataracts

Cataract surgery is the most commonly performed surgery in the United States with more than three million procedures performed each year. A cataract is the clouding of the natural clear lens in the eye, resulting in hazy vision, unusual glare, poor night vision, and reduction in color perception. During cataract surgery, the clouded lens is removed then replaced with a clear, artificial intraocular lens.

Our team offers the most incredibly accurate and precise cataract surgery without the need for a surgical blade. Integrating Laser Assisted Cataract Surgery, the LenSx® Femtosecond Laser system provides precise removal of cataracts.

With laser cataract surgery, a small beam of laser energy makes it possible to make the incisions and lens fragmentation without the need for a surgical blade. The laser procedure provides many benefits to cataract patients, including:

  • Precision – the most precise incisions for cataract surgery compared to any other technique
  • Safety – corneal incisions and assists cataract removal without a surgical blade
  • Astigmatism Correction – correct for astigmatism with very accurate corneal incisions
  • Customized Treatment – completely customized to the individual patient

The LenSx® Laser uses sophisticated technology called Ocular Coherence Tomography (OCT) to provide an incredibly precise and detailed image of the inside of your eye. Then, our team customizes your treatment plan and guides the laser to create small incisions and fragment the cataract. This makes it possible to remove the cataract more easily and safely and, if needed, correct for astigmatism. Once the incisions are complete, the cataract is removed and an implant is placed in the eye for vision correction.

Dropless Cataract Surgery™

Dropless Cataract Surgery™ is now available to eliminate the after-cataract eye drop regimen. Historically, cataract patients have been on a drop regimen of Ketorolac (NSAID), Moxifloxacin (antibiotic), and Prednisolone (steroid). This regimen may be up to 12 drops a day for two to four weeks. The effectiveness of the drops is directly related to patient compliance and ability to apply drops. Depending on insurance, these drops can cost patients up to $350.

Instead, medications are administered into the eye at time of surgery and continue working through your post-operative period, eliminating the need to worry about administering drops. Dropless Cataract Surgery™ reduces the direct costs and improves compliance and convenience for our patients. This method also is especially beneficial for patients with arthritis or who have difficulty administering drops.

Laser Treatments for Other Disorders

Presbyopia Treatment with LenSx® Femtosecond Laser

Presbyopia affects patients over the age of 40, causing a decreased ability to focus on objects at distance and near simultaneously. Presbyopia results in the need for reading glasses in most people. With the precision of the LenSx® Femtosecond Laser and our highest technology multifocal intraocular lenses, we can offer patients with presbyopia the most advanced treatment available to correct distance and near vision to significantly reduce the need for wearing glasses or contact lenses.

Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty

When eye drop medications fail to lower the eye pressure enough or cause significant side effects, Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty can be used to lower intraocular pressure in glaucoma patients. Laser energy is applied to the drainage tissue in the eye. This starts a chemical and biological change in the tissue that results in better drainage of fluid. This eventually results in lowering of Intraocular Pressure. It may take 1-3 months for the results to appear.  The procedure takes only minutes and can be performed in the office.

YAG Laser Posterior Capsulotomy

The most common complication of cataract surgery is clouding of the part of the lens covering (capsule) that remains after surgery, called posterior capsule opacification – also referred to as “secondary cataract.” If the cloudiness affects your vision, you may choose to have a procedure called YAG Laser Posterior Capsulotomy to correct this problem. By using a laser to cut a hole in the clouded back lining of the lens capsule, light is allowed to pass through the membrane to the retina at the back of the eye. The procedure takes only minutes and can be performed in the office.

Our Provider

Community Connection

As a Public Hospital District, WhidbeyHealth is owned by the taxpayers of Whidbey Island, and we are committed to providing local access to quality health care.

Comprehensive Care

WhidbeyHealth offers a broad range of flexible, patient-centric care in more than 25 service areas with convenient locations across the entire island from Oak Harbor to Clinton.

Close to Home

An exceptional team supports a broad range of inpatient and outpatient services so our community doesn’t have to travel off-island for many of their healthcare needs.

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