Why choose Mid-North Eye Center for your glaucoma care?  Experience the Mid-North Difference.

Our office and operational systems are focused on providing the best possible care for patients like you concerned about glaucoma.  Very few eye centers in the Chicago area have comparable expertise, equipment and computerization of medical images that make our center unique.

EARLY DETECTION: A HIGH INDEX OF SUSPICION

Detecting glaucoma is more than a collection of instruments, or even a well-organized office. It requires a passion for detecting and treating early glaucoma, so that our patients can lead healthy and active lives. 

Many cases of glaucoma where the diagnosis was uncertain elsewhere are detected or confirmed at Mid-North Eye Center.  We leave no stone unturned in our detection methods. A high index of suspicion, as in “this is a case of glaucoma until proven otherwise,” serves us well in evaluating the many new patients who come to us with one question in mind, “Do I have glaucoma and if so what treatment I need?”

IMAGING FOR EARLY DETECTION

For instance, we offer Cirrius™ ocular computer tomography testing.  Very few other centers have this cutting edge device.   The Cirrius™ test results often prove to be the “game-changer” in terms of whether or not a patient suspected of having glaucoma require treatment.

Although we focus a lot on the optic nerve which is in the back for the eye to see whether or not someone has glaucoma, the eye pressure is determined by the anatomy in the front of the eye, called the anterior chamber.  Testing to examine this structure, called gonioscopy can be uncomfortable and for this reason the test is not performed as often as it should be.  Mid-North is one of the only private practice eye centers to offer a technology called anterior segment imaging.   This can often be done instead of the uncomfortable gonioscopy procedure, which much of the same information!
  

VISUAL FIELD TESTING

Most centers only offer one type of visual field test, called standard automated perimetry (SAP). While this test is very valuable, many glaucoma specialists believe that by the time that SAP shows visual field damage from glaucoma, 20 or 30% of the optic nerve is already gone.

At our center, in addition to SAP, we offer blue yellow visual field testing and frequency double frequency testing. These modalities may offer in some patient’s earlier detection of visual field defects than SAP. 

STEREO DISK PHOTOGRAPHY

This test requires dilation of your pupil. Two pictures of each optic nerve are taken, separated by 7 degrees.   When these two images are projected side by side and viewed with a special device, a 3-dimensional or stereo-view of the optic nerve contour is possible.

This method is considered universally as the “gold standard” in optic nerve image. We are proud to say that we are one of the few offices that offer this service at our own facility and performed by our own experienced staff.

MONITORING IN GLAUCOMA WITH ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS (EMR’s)

Whether you are told you are have glaucoma, or just required ongoing testing to make sure you don’t develop it, the ability to monitor for subtle changes in the optic nerve, nerve fiber layer, or visual field test is critical.

Our office uses EyeRoute™ imaging technology.  This allows images that are taken in our diagnostic suite to be projected into each exam room. Images from two or more visits can easily be compared on the computer to see if changes have occurred.   For stereo disk photography and visual field testing in particular, EMR’s have helped us to take better care of our patients.

FLOWSHEET & FOLLOWUP CARE

For patients with glaucoma, one of the best ways to monitor to you is to track your eye pressure and medications from visit to visit. Dr. Stone devised a flow sheet that was published in a national eye journal specifically for this purpose.  This allows for patterns in your therapy such as an up drift in your pressure readings to be easily spotted.