A book has been swimming around my head for quite a while and it is finally out. The blog posts have been pretty scarce over the last 10 months as my wife Dr. Diana Driscoll and myself were each putting the final touches on our books. My first book, An Eye Doctor Answers: Explanations to Hundreds of the Most Common Questions Patients Wish They Had Asked Their Eye Doctor, was the last to make its debut and was just published last month on Amazon.

It is very exciting to see something that I have wanted to do for a long time finally become a more than just an idea. When I first set out to write this book I thought I would cover the top fifty questions patients asked their eye doctors. The list of questions patients either wanted to know, or I thought they should know, about their eyes quickly grew. In An Eye Doctor Answers you will find the explanations to almost 400 questions.

My intent was to write a book that was easy to understand, that would read as if you and I were sitting and talking at the end of the exam. Sometimes, nothing makes a point more clearly than a picture or a diagram thus I have included a lot of both. Most good reference books list the sources of their information, An Eye Doctor Answers is no different. I have included a lot of references plus a detailed index to make it easy to find the answers to your questions.

In almost 25 years of practice I have naturally answered a lot of questions, after all that is a big part of what we do, helping patients understand their condition and the associated treatment. Of course, I included the common questions that center around what is myopia, astigmatism, cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration, but I didn’t stop there. Many patients are very curious about a wide variety of questions such as how do 3D glasses work, what are my refractive surgery options and risks, or how do I keep my kids from getting more nearsighted. To make it easier to quickly find what you need there is a complete list of questions at the back of the book.

 An Eye Doctor Answers: Explanations to Hundreds of the Most Common Questions Patients Wish They Had Asked Their Eye Doctor is published by the Physician’s Publishing Group as a 254 page paperback or as a Kindle eBook both of which are available on Amazon.com. 

2. You are guaranteed to get unexpired lenses

3. If your lenses are not performing properly you don’t have to worry about exchanging your old lenses

4. You can exchange unopened, unexpired, unmarked boxes in new condition at your yearly eye exam

5. If you have a defective lens, we will replace it free of charge

6. We have the latest manufacturer’s rebates available to save you money

7. Competitive pricing

8. FREE shipping

9. You will be getting the lenses from an authorized distributor of the brand you wear

10. You will have the satisfaction of supporting a local business that cares about you and your eyes

Image courtesy of Flickr user Malkav.

• Tab Mix Plus – Adds increased options and functionality to Firefox’s current tab system
• Unites States English Dictionary – a spell checker
• Google Toolbar for Firefox – search Google from the browser without going to the website, includes other helpful items as well
• Adblock Plus – gets rid of pop ups and advertisements, you can tell it which pages you want the ads removed
• Delicious Bookmarks -  Store your bookmarks online and categorize them.  Decline the option to install Yahoo’s Toolbar, Google’s is better
• ForecastFox – gives you weather in the bottom right corner of the browser
• Gmail Manager – Much better way to access your Gmail, especially if you have multiple accounts
• IE Tab – sometimes only Internet Explorer works, usually only needed for an E-Commerce site
• Remember the Milk for Gmail – My todo list integrated with Gmail
• Sxipper – Gives me the option to enter my passwords at logon screens

That’s it those are my must have Firefox Browser Extensions/Addons.  You can search for other Firefox addons at the Firefox Addon Website.  I have also reviewed addons that are available to patients with impaired vision.

1. “The current system is set up to reward sickness. Doctors get paid when you see them. And you only see them when something’s wrong, right? Hospitals get paid when someone gets injured or is sick. Pharmaceutical companies make outrageous profits when their drugs are prescribed (and they lavish gifts worth more than your annual salary to the doctors who prescribe the most…see #5). Insurance companies take in more money when there are more sick people to cover. Everything revolves around us being sick.”

The current system doesn’t “reward” sickness.  I can’t imagine a cancer patient feeling rewarded.  More likely they feel  grateful for the excellent care their insurance covers and the second chance at life.  Our current system, unfortunately does not reward good lifestyle choices (see #2).  The coverage for well visits is weak at best.  It is true doctors as well as hospitals get paid when we are sick. I don’t know of a single doctor that would not welcome the chance to consult with a patient regarding preventative medicine.  Preventative care saves a ton of money in the long run and improves the public’s productivity by keeping people well, out of the hospital and in the workforce or school, home, etc.

Who is to say a profit is outrageous?  Profits are necessary to fund future medications, medical devices etc. that solve health problems that treat your family, my family, everyone.  Without a profit a drug company has no money to fund research, donate their product to the needy etc.  Regarding lavishing gifts on doctors to prescribe their meds worth more than an average citizen’s yearly income is an inflammatory statement with no basis in fact that makes the public’s blood boil, and for good reason I might add, but it has no substance.  Many years ago I would not doubt some degree of this went on.   To say or imply that “pay to prescribe” is now or was in the past a common, everyday practice that most, if not all, docs were involved in is to irresponsibly inflame the debate.

2. “We are killing ourselves. Our choices bring on diabetes, heart-attack-inducing high blood pressure and cholesterol, obesity, chronic illness, and the like. We eat crap. We supersize it. We consider the walk from the parking lot to our office exercise. We only see the doctor when we get sick.”

I agree here, however, we don’t need to nationalize healthcare to solve this problem.  We need to reward people for making the right choices. We also need to educate people that the choices they make directly influence their well being and future financial health.  Heathcare costs could be cut tremendously through educated lifestyle changes.

3. “Tens of millions of healthy people choose not to pay for health insurance, putting the financial solvency of the system at risk. This leaves those that do pay into the insurance system paying more. The concept of insurance is to spread the cost so that when you need help, you are not buried under steep bills that you could not possibly afford to pay back. So those who opt out are cheating everyone else. Including, probably, their own family and friends.”

I’d have to agree here that when healthy people opt out it does make the premiums higher for everyone else, however this is America and they do have that choice.  What those individuals should not be able to do is should they find themselves in a health crisis and now expect the U. S. Taxpayer to come in and bail them out because they decided to go bare and not insure themselves or their family.

We need a true high deductible, insurance plan that people can purchase as a fall back option so that in the event a family or individual has a health catastrophe, that event does not bankrupt the family or force them to become a burden to the state.  I have found that there is not a wide enough difference in premium between the high deductible plans and normal insurance to make high deductible insurance a currently viable option for most families or individuals.

4.  “Big Healthcare, i.e. pharmaceutical companies, hospital networks, insurers and their support industries, spend hundreds of millions each year lobbying Congress to make sure there are not major changes to the business structure we call healthcare.”

Yes, every company in every industry lobbies Congress wishing to impose their view whether those views are for philosophical or financial reasons.  Nearly every organization from the NAACP to the NFIB (National Federation of Independent Businesses) is trying to influence congress.  Everyone is afraid of change, because we feel the change may be worse than the current method.  There are also many organizations that do not have a financial interest in this debate that are also trying to impart their will on this legislation.  Like or not this is our system and we should not fault companies, individuals or organizations for trying to get their voice heard.  Everyone wants to be heard and everyone has a right to be heard.

5. “Doctors are rewarded for prescribing drugs. Big pharmaceutical companies are known to hand out “consulting agreements” worth more than your annual salary to doctors who prescribe their drugs like candy.”

Maybe in 1980 some docs were paid to be consultants.  I’m sure Big Pharma does employ some physicians as consultants that give lectures and those consultants must and should disclose that they are paid to consultant or lecture on behalf Brand X Pharma Company.  Even if the consulting docs let their consulting obligations influence their prescribing habits the number prescriptions these doctors write is minuscule compared to all of the prescriptions written by the tens of thousands of other docs.

Doctors prescribe the best medication for the patient.  We want a medication with the fewest side effects, lowest resistance and that promotes good compliance that will treat the patients problem quickly and effectively.

For this practice to be widespread it would have to be like the secret too big to keep.  Psst “did you know Dr. S is getting $60K per year from Brand X Pharma?  Yeah, I know his receptionist, she says he bought a boat with it”.  Big Pharma doesn’t have enough money to do this.

So there you have it.  We need reform of our healthcare system, without a doubt, however rushing to accomplish this rapidly, as is the current plan, will cause us to be saddled  with a suboptimal solution for which generations after us will have to deal with the circumstances.