Dr. Stanley Chang Receives Castle Connolly “Physician of the Year” Award

Dr. Stephen Trokel elected to The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery Hall of Fame

Nurses at Harkness Institute win highest awards from Press Ganey for third year in a row.

The Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University Medical Center is proud to announce the opening of The Gloria and Louis Flanzer Vision Care Center.

Comprehensive and Geriatric Ophthalmology

Comprehensive Ophthalmology

Columbia Ophthalmology Consultants’ comprehensive ophthalmology service offers routine ophthalmic evaluations that screen and treat a wide range of ophthalmic conditions.

Their expertise includes:

• Routine annual eye and vision exams
• Prescriptions for eyeglasses and referrals for contact lens fittings
• Management of a variety of common eye problems, including:
• Cataracts
• Glaucoma
• Conjunctivitis
• Dry eyes
• Blepharitis
• Diabetic eye examination
• Macular degeneration

Diagnostic services provided are evaluation of visual acuity, refraction, slit lamp evaluation, ophthalmoscopy, tonometry, gonioscopy and visual field testing. When necessary the comprehensive ophthalmology section refers patients to subspecialty ophthalmologists for evaluations regarding eye surgery and/or long-term treatment. The comprehensive service handles most of the general ocular problems and those patients desiring screenings for cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

Geriatric Ophthalmology

Columbia Ophthalmology Consultants provides special services to its geriatric population. Acknowledging an elderly patient is not simply an "older adult." We understand that geriatric patients have unique responses to treatment and disease. We provide our elderly patients specialized expertise or experience to deal with specific geriatric syndromes that may impact evaluation, treatment, and prognosis.

Our staff also collaborates with The Jewish Guild for the Blind to provide special rehabilitation services for patients with Low vision problems.

Low Vision significantly impairs the functioning of the patient and cannot be adequately corrected with medical, surgical, therapy, conventional eyewear or contact lenses. It is often a loss of sharpness or acuity but may present as a loss of field of vision, light sensitivity, distorted vision or loss of contrast.

Low Vision services do not cure the cause of the vision problem. These services utilize the remaining vision to its fullest potential. Low vision care does not replace the need for other concurrent treatments such as laser, medication and surgery along with other rehabilitating modalities to maximize practical and useful vision. Rehabilitating modalities may include prescription eyewear, filters, microscopic - telescopic eyewear, magnifiers, adaptive equipment, closed circuit television systems, independent living aids, training and counseling patients.

The history, physical examination, functional assessments of vision, and evaluation of low vision aids come together with the patient’s goals and diagnoses to allow for the development of a rehabilitation plan.

For more information please visit the website for The Jewish Guild for the Blind.