What is Ophthalmology?

Carbondale, Illinois

This hard-to-pronounce term Ophthalmology comes from two Greek words which together mean science of the eyes. Dr. Jackson is a fully-trained ophthalmologist, which means that after his years at medical school, he studied for four more years to become a specialist in eyes, able to perform eye surgery.

Our human eyes are nearly identical to animal eyes, and ophthalmology for veterinarians is much the same as for medical doctors. Veterinary medicine is regulated separately however.

Different from Optometry
An ophthalmologist is not the same as an optometrist. An optometrist goes to optometry school for graduate study. Optometrists have the initials OD after their name, meaning Doctor of Optometry. An ophthalmologist will have either M.D. for Doctor of Medicine, or D.O. for Doctor of osteopathic Medicine.

Their jobs overlap to some extent, as both can test your eyes, fit you with contact lenses or glasses, and diagnose and treat eye conditions. But an ophthalmologist can also prescribe drugs and perform surgery.

Specialties Within Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology is already a medical specialty, but within it are many sub-specialties, such as:

• Glaucoma - an eye disease involving abnormally high pressure inside the eye, which can lead to impaired vision and eventually blindness if not treated
• Eye Injuries - which may require surgery for repair
• Neuro-ophthalmology - study of the nerves connection with vision
• Ocular oncology - cancer connected with the eyes
• Pediatric ophthalmology - care of childhood eye problems
• Refractive surgery - the correction of vision by changing the curvature of the front clear part of the eye, the cornea

Dr. Jackson is a refractive surgeon with a great deal of experience. He belongs to several professional organizations, and you can read about his education and background here.

What is refractive surgery?
Refraction means bending. Light rays are bent when they enter our eyes, and in a perfect, 20/20 eye, they are bent at exactly the right angle to make them focus clearly on the back inside surface of the eye, the retina. The retina has light-sensitive cells which register the information contained in those light rays, change it into neural information, and send it on to the brain via the optic nerve. Our brain then interprets this information, finds names for it, and in an instant, we know we're looking at My Front Door, not at the back of a bus.

That's what happens in a perfect eye. But who has perfect eyes? Not everyone, but since 1995, when the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) first approved the use of excimer lasers for correcting nearsightedness, we can have our blurry vision corrected in any of several different ways. [link to LASIK directory page]

How the eye bends light rays
Two parts of the eye do this bending of light:

• The clear part in front of the colored iris, known as the cornea
• The lens, a small curved structure behind the iris

Most of the refraction is done by the cornea. Refractive surgery uses a cool laser to change the curvature of the cornea, so that it will bend light rays at a different angle. The goal of such a treatment is to make the light come to a clear focus on the retina, so you will see clearly.

LASIK surgery
Using a laser system with a computer, a microscope, and specialized surgical tools, a refractive surgeon can correct three common vision impairments:

• Nearsightedness (myopia)
• Farsightedness (hyperopia)
• Astigmatism (irregularity in the eye's shape which causes blurriness)

However, not everyone who has one of those conditions will make a good candidate for LASIK. Over the past ten or twelve years, basic LASIK has been made even more precise and effective than it originally was. And several variations of LASIK have been developed, which are more appropriate for people with certain eye conditions. Dr. Jackson offers Wavefront-guided LASIK, PRK, IntraLase, Epi-LASIK, LASIK, CK, and RK.

How LASIK works
LASIK questions

If you are tired of fussing every day with contact lenses or glasses, and would like to be able to discard them, at least much of the time if not completely, please contact us for an initial consultation. Dr. Jackson will be glad to answer your questions, and you can meet our friendly staff, take a look around our facilities, and perhaps make an appointment for an thorough vision exam. We have delighted many residents by freeing them from blurry vision, and are devoted to making it a very pleasant experience for all our patients. Contact us today!

For more information on what LASIK and other vision correction
procedures can do for you, Contact us today.

Schedule an ophthalmology consultation in Carbondale, Illinois