Cataracts are a clouding of the lenses inside your eyes that occurs naturally with age.  Cataracts usually start in the early 60’s and slowly become worse to the point where your vision becomes noticeably blurred.  Fortunately though, cataract surgery can safely fix your vision.  Surgery involves removing your cloudy lenses and replacing them with clear synthetic lenses.  Once your cataracts are removed, they never recur. Please see our cataracts page for more information.

To determine if you are a suitable candidate for LASIK, we would have to perform a complete eye exam with a refraction and dilated exam. Once we have this information and your medical history, we can further discuss if LASIK is right for you. By the way, most insurances do not cover LASIK, since it is considered an elective procedure. Please see our LASIK page for more information.

For a comprehensive eye exam at Hertzog Eye Care, you should expect to be at our office for about an hour from your appointment time. For other treatments or for a glasses or contact lenses exam, an appointment may only take 30 to 45 minutes to complete. We always strive to make our appointments as quick as possible for our patients, and to avoid having such a packed schedule that patients have to wait. Keep in mind that, unlike many ophthalmology offices, we do accept patients on an emergency basis. These patients include our current patients, new patients, or patients referred from one of several local urgent care clinics. If it is a problem that has to be looked at on the same day, we will work that patient into our schedule, and that may set us behind in our schedule. Keep in mind that if it was your eye emergency, we wouldn’t hesitate to do the same for you. To schedule an appointment, click here.

Myopia, or nearsightedness, is a vision condition where an individual can see close images, but struggles to see images in the distance. Most people first notice that they are nearsighted when their distance vision is blurry in the classroom, or when they drive at night. Typically, myopia can be ‘corrected’ with glasses or contacts, but they do not stop myopia from getting worse. Children are especially at risk for progression as the younger they develop myopia, the higher their risk for developing severe myopia into adulthood. With increased myopia comes an increased risk of several sight-threatening eye diseases later in life, including: cataracts, glaucoma, retinal detachments, and myopic degeneration. For this reason, most experts consider myopia, itself, as a disease.

Most people with myopia will have stabilized by around age 19-20 yo. Once stabilized, LASIK surgery can be an excellent option to correct myopia. If you believe you are nearsighted, please give us a call and we’ll give you some options on how to correct it.

Hyperopia, or farsightedness, is a vision condition where an individual generally has functional distance vision, but has difficulty with their near vision. Depending on the degree, uncorrected hyperopia can lead to eyestrain, headaches, and aching eyes at both distance and near. Hyperopia can usually be corrected very well with glasses and contacts, and with LASIK, within certain parameters. Contact Hertzog Eye Care to determine the best course of action if you believe you have hyperopia.

Presbyopia is a normal aging condition of the eye in which the crystalline lens loses its flexibility. This, in turn, makes it difficult for you to perform near tasks, like reading, using your cell phone, and using the computer. Presbyopia may seem to occur overnight, but the actual loss of flexibility takes place slowly over several of years, starting around the age of 40. Presbyopia is correctable with glasses and contacts for most people, so please contact us if you feel that these near vision problems are happening to you.

These terms refer to any condition that makes the eyes red and inflamed. The causes of pink eye are many, but the most common cause is generally a bacterial or viral infection. Other causes are allergies, dry eyes, and chemical irritants. To treat a pink eye, we must first determine the cause, so the sooner you have your eyes examined, the better. Bottom line: If you have a pink eye that doesn’t resolve within a few hours, especially if a decrease in vision occurs, call us at 562-597-3100.

Dry Eye Syndrome is a condition where the eyes produce too few tears and/or the tears evaporate too quickly.  Symptoms include, redness, scratchiness, burning/stinging, blurred or fluctuating vision, and excess tearing. Excess tearing seems couterintuitive, but it can be an overcompensating reflex to dryness. The tears that your eyes produce are made up of 3 layers that work together to protect your eyes.  Causes of dry eyes include: autoimmune conditions, medications, aging, dry/hot weather, moving air, reading or using the computer, amongst many others.  These can combine to throw off the balance of your tears, and cause your tears to evaporate more quickly than your eyes can produce tears, resulting in dry eye symptoms. Please see our dry eye syndrome page for more information.