|
 Appointments
are available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through
Friday. New patient consultations should be arranged through
your primary eye doctor, with the approval of your primary care
physician if required by your insurance. We limit our practice
to diseases and surgery of the retina, and do not prescribe
glasses or contact lenses.
Your appointment can be arranged
at any of our office locations in Edina, Plymouth, St. Cloud,
St. Paul, Duluth, Oakdale and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Upon your arrival in our office,
VRS staff will enter or update your registration and insurance
information. It is very important that you have your insurance
card(s) with you to avoid delays.
Depending on the complexity of
your problem, your first visit with us may require over 2 hours.
If special diagnostic testing and/or laser treatment is
necessary, you may need to be in our office for half a day. To
perform an adequate retinal examination it is necessary to
dilate your pupils at each visit. Because this may blur your
vision for 12 to 24 hours and make your eyes sensitive to light,
you should arrange to have someone drive you home. Sunglasses
may make you more comfortable during your trip home following
your appointment.
An Ophthalmic Technician will
initially greet you, and will note your present problem and
record a detailed ocular and medical history. Please bring the
names, addresses and phone numbers of the doctors involved in
your care so we may keep them informed about your diagnosis and
treatment. You will be asked for a list of your current
medications. Your vision and intraocular pressures will be
measured and eye drops will be used to dilate your pupils.
Pupillary dilation requires up to 30 minutes.
Your physician will then perform
a thorough ophthalmological and vitreoretinal examination. If
necessary, additional diagnostic testing will then be done. This
may include retinal photography, fluorescein angiography, ocular
ultrasound and visual field testing.
Once your examination and any
additional tests are completed, your physician will explain the
results to you. The doctor will take all the time necessary to
explain your specific problem(s) and to outline a course of
action. We encourage you to bring a close family member along
for the examination and explanation to be certain that all of
your questions are answered and that the doctor's
recommendations are fully understood.
A complete consultation report
will be sent to your referring eye doctor and to your family
doctor.
Treatment, if necessary, may
include medications, laser photocoagulation and/or operating
room surgery. If medications are needed, your physician will
explain the rationale for the medication(s) chosen and will
provide prescriptions and instructions.
Laser treatments are performed in
our office and are done with local anesthesia. It may be necessary to schedule laser treatments to be performed at a
later date following your consultation visit. If the need for
treatment is urgent or if you are traveling a distance that
makes such future scheduling difficult for you, laser treatment
may be performed on the same day as your consultation visit. In
this case, the time you spend in our office may be longer than
expected; we strive to accommodate your need for urgent
treatment yet stay on schedule for other patients' appointments.
Since an eye patch may be needed over the treated eye for
several hours following the procedure, you will need to bring a
driver to take you home.
If operating room surgery is
required, it will be scheduled at one of our affiliated
hospitals. Depending on the nature and urgency of your
particular condition, surgery may be done the same day as your
consultation, the following day, or scheduled at an appropriate
time in the future. Most surgical procedures are done in
outpatient same-day surgery (without hospital admission) or with
one night in the hospital. After surgery, you will be given
complete instructions for post-operative care.
If same-day surgery is
anticipated, and you are from outside the Twin Cities
metropolitan area, we will help arrange overnight hotel
accommodations for you and your family. You will need to return
to one of our offices the day after surgery for your first
post-operative check-up.
Health plans usually require
preauthorization for surgery. Most patients will need to have
had a physical examination completed by their primary care
physician within 30 days prior to surgery.
|
