A Message from Dr. Farbowitz
I just returned from the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) in New Orleans. It was a whirlwind 3 days of lectures, presentations and demonstrations of the latest and greatest techniques and technologies in ophthalmology. It reminds me of why I became an ophthalmic surgeon more than 20 years ago.
In what I expect to become a regular blog, I hope to be able to open a window to the wonders of the human eye and the amazing things that we can do in this incredible specialty.
So first, a little about me. I’m a comprehensive ophthalmologist, which means I take care of a wide variety of eye conditions in patients of all ages. I have a special interest in laser vision correction and new technology cataract surgery and lens implants. I have been in practice in Short Hills, NJ for the last 15 years.
I was one of those kids who knew he wanted to be a doctor, specifically an ophthalmologist from a young age. Embarrassingly, my ambition in my high school yearbook was “opthalmologist” misspelled. (Many people miss one of the “h”s. It’s ophthalmologist. It makes it worse that I was the editor of the yearbook! But fortunately my grades were better than my spelling and proofreading. I went to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, as premed. Even back then, I enjoyed writing, and chose a writing seminars minor. I was science editor of the school paper, and wrote for the alumni magazine. Medical school at NYU followed, and then training at Long Island Jewish medical center and UCLA. So that’s my path to my current practice.
In the day to day practice of medicine, it is easy to lose sight (no pun intended) of the advances that have taken place even since I began practice in the mid ’90s. Like only a few other surgical specialties, ophthalmology has been the beneficiary of the explosive growth in technology.
Every year when I return from one of these conferences, my head spins with the myriad of ways that I can improve the quality of my patient care. Whether it is an automated camera that takes panoramic pictures of the patient’s retina through a tiny pupil eliminating the need for dilation, or a sophisticated microscope attachment that measures the eye during cataract surgery and predicts lens implant power, the possibilities seem endless.
So while I’m at the midpoint of my career as a surgeon, I feel like a kid in a candy store. And things will only continue to get better. We are blessed in our field that we have some of the brightest and most creative minds in medicine and biotechnology at work making major advances in eye care and surgery.
Keep your eyes peeled (I have to quit with these puns!) on this space for regular posts on the wonders of the human eye and some exciting developments that I think will really help my patients.
A word about New Orleans- this was my second trip back since hurricane Katrina 11 years ago. The city pulses with vibrancy and color, and southern hospitality is alive and well in the big easy. But As I passed the superdome and spent time in the convention center, I couldn’t help but think about the loss of life and property that happened here a short decade ago. New Orleans is back, but the scars remain.
