Stargardt Disease

Stargardt disease is a degeneration of the macula causing a decrease in central vision. It is the most common form of inherited juvenile macular degeneration. Normal visual acuity is 20/20, and a person who has Stargardts will have a visual acuity anywhere between 20/200 and 20/400. Here are a few fundus autofluorescence and fluorescein angiogram images that I took a while back of a child with this disease.

Retinal Detachment

Here are a few images of a retinal detachment with differential focusing...

Yowza! That's a doozy! :(

Cotton Wool Spots

Here is a photo of a patient’s eye showing cotton wool spots, which are the white, puffy, cloudlike tissue visualized here:

These spots occur when there is a lack of blood supply to that area of the retina, specifically the nerve fiber layer. Since there isn’t sufficient blood flow through these vessels, the nerve fiber layers are injured and begin to swell and look like puffy pieces of cotton, hence the name “cotton-wool spots.” They are most commonly found surrounding the optic nerve and along the temporal arcades. They typically don't cause any impairment in vision, but are usually a sign of an underlying condition, such as hypertension or diabetes. They also appear in patients who have HIV.

I don't normally look or smell like this...

Yep, that is what I told my neighbor when he saw me gasping for air after my run today. Why did I feel the need to share this with him?? No clue, but I laughed at myself as soon as he shot me a weird look and kept walking.

The last few weeks I've wandered away from my many new year's resolutions, as most people do, I suspect. But I am determined to not be "most people." The 10k that I regretfully signed up for is a month away, so I decided that I better get back on that horse!! So this morning I woke up early and kept myself as busy as possible so that I didn't have to go running. Finally after a bean burrito, I decided that was enough energy (and probably gas) to propel me through a four mile run. I keep forgetting to time myself on these runs, but I am estimating that it took me around 50 minutes to run/flail/gasp for air four miles. The farthest I have ever run in my life was 4.4 miles and that was after I had broken up with an ex and didn't know how to deal with all the heartache, so I just ran (out of the blue, without training) until that hurt subsided. Today was a planned 4 miles and I feel like an old person. A very smelly old person! Anyways, I am glad to be back on my plan to better myself!

I am very lucky that I have such a beautiful park right around the corner from me. Here is one of the many beautiful views that I get to see when I run through the park:

It's not very snowy today, but you get the picture.

As for the ophthalmic photography blog goes, I have decided that I am going to eventually have a separate website for that. I just recently bought a web design program that I am determined to relearn (it's been 10 years since I have used it) and build my own site. I'm sure that will take a while, but until then I will keep the marble-cheesecake and ophthalmic photo blog together. Just an update, if anyone was wondering.

Feeling awesome after my run, but smelling like armpits....time to shower! Have a wondrous day!

Orbital Tumor

Today was one of those days where I was ecstatic to be at work. The other photographer wasn't in (that's not why I was so excited...) and I got every cool diagnostic test that came in my direction- and there were quite a few today! It was a great learning day! I love having days like that where I go home knowing that I learned something new.

This photo was not taken today, but I still thought it was very interesting.  But here is a photo of a patient who had an orbital tumor, specifically a benign tumor of the ethmoid sinus:

This montage of two images shows choroidal folds that are caused by the tumor pushing on the globe. This type of tumor is more common in females, usually over the age of 40. This was not the case for this patient, making it even more rare. The tumor also caused proptosis which is a displacement of the eye, which was clearly visible just looking at the patient. The patient ended up having the tumor removed via her nose, which I'm sure was not pleasant at all. I wish I could have been there to watch that surgery. Maybe next time, they'll invite me.

First Entry as an Ophthalmic Photography Blog!

I finally got the okay to start my very own ophthalmic photography blog!!! I've been wanting to do this for years, I am so excited to be working for a place that really seems to care and that responds quickly to the worker bee's needs! I am basically going to use this as a learning tool for myself (and hopefully others!) so that I can have a better understanding of what I am taking pictures of and why.

As an Ophthalmic Photographer my job consists of photographing medical phenomena of the eye to document diseases, treatments, surgeries, and congenital defects that aid Ophthalmologists in the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders.  Working in a clinic that has such a wide variety of specialties, I get to see some amazing things- from diabetic retinopathy to melanomas, to retinal or choroidal detachments, to glaucoma, and even surgeries. People from all over the country come to see our doctors and I feel very privileged to be a part of this clinic.

On a weekly basis we (the team of photographers) perform OCTs (Optical Coherence Tomography), visual fields, fundus photography, fluorescein angiograms, anterior and posterior segment ultrasounds, ERGs (electoretinogram), VEPs (visual evoked potentials) and VERs (visual evoked response). Whew! That's a mouthful!

Since this is my first official entry, I am going to start off with just a simple color fundus photo of my own eye.  As far as I know, this is a pretty healthy lookin' ball! For those of you non-ophthalmic photographers, this is a photo of the back part of your eye. The entire image is showing my retina. The white-ish ball to the right side is my optic nerve, which transmits all of the visual information that it receives from the retina through the optic chiasm and finally, to the brain. The darker pigmented area in the center of the photo is my macula, which is the center of my vision. The very center of that is called the fovea, which is responsible for viewing fine details, such as reading.

So that's just the basics, folks! More to come!!

My First 10 K

Good GOD. A friend of mine that knows of my running endeavors invited me to run a 10k with her on St. Patrick's day. This year. I hope she's willing to hold back my hair or catch vomit at some point. Currently, I am barely surviving my 3.5 mile runs and now I have a new goal of running an entire 6.2 miles. I'm assuming they won't wait for me if it takes me 6 hours to actually finish the race....therefore, I feel the need to work my way up to running the 10k in it's entirety. Boom! I can do this! Right?.....right? I feel the need to insert this photo, because I feel it suits me...and perhaps my running style: