Winthrop Hosts Eye Health Lecture for Mineola Seniors

held a lecture at the last week to help educate seniors on the risks to their eye health and ways to treat diseases that can threaten their vision.

The hour-long presentation focused on two growing diseases: macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, which have become a major point of concern in the United States. Diabetic retinopathy is the country’s leading cause of blindness, while macular degeneration is a major cause of blindness in working adults over the age of 55.

Nazanin Barzideh, a vitreo-retinal surgeon and an Attending Ophthalmologist at Winthrop, guided her audience through the complicated diseases that can affect the eyes.

“The idea is to bring a little more information to the public,” Barzideh said. “Everybody these days is very concerned about their eye health. Everybody wants to make sure they see as well as they can. I think it’s important for people to be educated to know what are the conditions out there and what the treatments are.”

Over the past 10 years researchers have learned more about the diseases, shifting treatments. In the past, macular degeneration was tackled using varying methods, including lasers and needles. The newest treatments focus on the use of the medications in order to try and slow the progression and effects of the disease.

“These two conditions have gone under a lot of development in the last 10 years,” Barzideh said. “So when your 70 year old hears they have macular degeneration, they know a friend, or they have a relative or loved one that has been affected by this.”

Several seniors in the audience said they had either experienced prior problems with their eyes or were concerned about the potential for future diseases. One senior had to move up during the presentation and explained to Barzideh that she was having trouble seeing what was on the screen.

Several more approached Barzideh after the lecture to answer personal questions regarding eye health. Barzideh says she enjoys answering questions because she wants to provide as much help as she can.

“Usually people come up afterwards and have personal questions and they usually tell me ‘wow, we didn’t know what was happening’,” she said.