New Patients

What should I expect during my first appointment?

• Please inform our receptionist of your arrival.
• You will be asked to provide a valid medical referral and to complete some preliminary questions.
• Your vision will be measured. Please bring your current reading and distance glasses.
• Your eyes will be dilated.
• Preliminary eye scans will be performed.
• You will be examined by Professor Mitchell who may request further imaging such as fundus photographs and an angiogram.

What should I bring to my appointment?

Please bring:

• a valid Medicare card and referral from your GP, optometrist or other medical specialist
• your current reading and distance glasses
• a list of your current medications (and medical conditions summary)
• previous correspondence regarding eye conditions (if available)

Please expect your appointment to take 2-4 hours.
Please advise us of any allergies you may have.
Your vision will be more blurry than usual for a few hours after pupil dilation.

While new treatments are increasingly available and some retinal conditions can be treated, many cannot be at present. We will advise you how best to improve or maintain your vision. Where no treatment is necessary or possible, we will advise you of your prognosis.

IMAGING

We have advanced imaging equipment:

Heidelberg Retina Angiography enables performance of key angiography techniques to diagnose retinal disease with fluorescein angiography or indocyanine green (ICG) angiography.

Zeiss Cirrus 5000 Optical Coherence Tomography enables high level spectral domain OCT imaging of the retina and optic nerve to assess diagnosis and response to treatment.

Zeiss Clarus 500 Ultra wide-field retinal camera enables colour imaging of the central and peripheral retina and wide-field fluorescein angiography imaging.

Zeiss PlexElite 9000 wide-field OCT angiography: one of only 5 such machines in Australia. Enables detailed non-invasive imaging of retinal vascular bed to define capillary bed damage in conditions like diabetic retinopathy and segmentation of outer retina and choroid to visualise abnormal choroidal new vessels in neovacular age-related macular degeneration (“wet” AMD).

Patients requiring treatment

The main treatments we perform are laser and intravitreal injections. Patients undergoing active treatment are given priority appointment bookings.

LASER

Pan-retinal photocoagulation or PRP remains the main laser treatment in some conditions such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy and retinal vein occlusions. Retinal laser may be used in combination with intravitreal therapy to control disease.

What does laser treatment involve?

• Prior to your laser treatment you will receive dilating drops.
• Treatments are performed on a special slit-lamp, similar to the one used for examination.
• You will be asked to keep still and look at a fixation target. It is important to keep looking at the target so there is no danger of lasering the centre of your vision.
• Treatments can cause some eye ache or pain during and for a few hours after.
• A number of laser sessions scheduled over a few weeks are usually needed to complete the treatment.
• Your vision will be more blurry than usual for a few hours after pupil dilation.

INTRAVITREAL INJECTIONS

Intravitreal injections are now the mainstay of treatment for many retinal conditions. This involves an injection into the white part of the eye to prevent unwanted growth of abnormal retinal vessels which if left untreated causes retinal oedema (swelling) or haemorrhage (bleeding) and eventually scarring.

Medications injected include anti-VEGF (Eylea, Lucentis) and steroid (Ozurdex, Triamcinolone).

How many intravitreal  treatments will I need?

Usually more than one intravitreal injection is needed. Many people need monthly treatments for a few months and when the condition improves, we extend the treatment out gradually by 1-2 weeks up to 12 weeks.

Many people need maintenance treatment to prevent deterioration of vision.

What does intravitreal treatment involve?

• Drops will be instilled to anaesthetise (numb) your eye.
• You will be taken into one of our treatment rooms.
• Your nurse will clean the skin around your eye and instil antiseptic drops in your eye.
• You will be asked not to touch your eye and face after this.
• Your treating doctor will instil more drops, insert a lid speculum and perform your treatment.
• The injection itself is very quick.
• Your eye will be rinsed.
• We do not routinely pad the eye afterwards.
• You may dab your eye with a clean tissue. Do not reuse a tissue such as after wiping your nose.
• You will be given a post-intravitreal treatment information sheet with important information including emergency contact numbers. Please keep a copy of this.

What to expect after intravitreal treatment?

Normal signs and symptoms:

• Surface irritation which may last up to 24 hours (watering, soreness on blinking).
• A patch of blood at injection site (especially if you take a blood thinner such as aspirin, warfarin etc).
• Lubricant drops may help relieve the symptoms of irritation.

Referrers

What patients should you refer to us?

We are a medical retinal practice. We see patients with retinal and macula conditions only. This includes diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, retinal vascular occlusions, central serous chorioretinopathy, myopic degeneration.

We are a bulk-billing practice. We ask that you assist us in maintaining this service by providing annual referrals for your patient.

What patients do we not see?

We do not see patients with general ophthalmology conditions such as watery eyes, eyelid problems, pterygium, glaucoma, cataracts, etc. Should our patients develop these problems they are referred to other ophthalmic services.