Meet Our Keratoconus Specialist in Middle Village, New York
Dr. Mesha Patel was raised in Queens, New York. She earned her BS degree in Biology at Adelphi University, and completed her optometry studies at SUNY College of Optometry, in NYC.
From a very young age Dr. Patel was dedicated to pursuing a career in Optometry which drove her to apply for this program during her late high school years. While enrolled at Adelphi University, she also worked for several Optometric specialties including Contact Lens Care and Vision Rehabilitation which reinforced he passion and sparked the start of her Optometric career.
During her time at SUNY College of Optometry, she demonstrated a special interest in Ocular Disease and Specialty Contact Lenses. She now specializes in primary eye care and specialty contact lenses.
Dr. Patel is highly trained in hard contact lens fittings including gas permeable and scleral lenses for treatment of keratoconus and corneal disease as well as orthokeratology for management of myopia. Dr. Patel is dedicated to providing thorough and specialized comprehensive eye exams.
When she is not busy providing exceptional patient care, Dr. Patel enjoys cooking, traveling and spending quality time with her family.
Dr. Melania Napolitano is a native of Brooklyn, NY who spent a large part of her childhood in Napoli, Italy. She is multilingual, speaking Spanish and Italian fluently, which benefits her in her professional life. Dr. Napolitano earned her Bachelor of Science Degree at Queens College, NY, and completed her Doctorate at SUNY State College of Optometry. Dr. Napolitano is committed to her patient's care, providing management, treatment, and diagnosis of eye conditions & diseases, such asdry eye, cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration. During her comprehensive eye exams, she spends time with each patient, reviewing their eye health & ways to maintain their vision & total wellbeing. She loves seeing patients of all ages and has developed a special interest in myopia management or myopia control. At the forefront of optometry & eye health research, we now have various methods to help children & teenagers retain their natural, healthy vision and prevent their vision from worsening! Not only does keeping a child's prescription at a very low level help their vision stay clear, but it drastically reduces the risk of eye diseases like myopic maculopathy, retinal detachment, and glaucoma. We encourage parents to contact us and ask about myopia management so we can preserve our sight for a better future. Dr Napolitano also is trained in specialty contact lens fittings for patients with keratoconus or corneal disease. Our primary treatment to help patients with corneal disease is scleral contact lenses as they provide amazing vision & comfort without compromising the cornea. Dr. Napolitano is passionate about giving back and improving optometric care, and this is clear in her activities outside of her practice. Her volunteer time includes community lecturing and free vision screenings for seniors and children in the community. Her goal is to raise awareness for sight-threatening conditions. Contact our office today, and schedule an appointment for your eye care needs!
Our Doctor Can Diagnosis and Treat Keratoconus
Your cornea is the transparent, outer lens of your eye, and it typically has a smooth dome shape. Keratoconus describes a condition in which the corneal structure isn’t strong enough to maintain a healthy ball shape.
Meet with our Keratoconus Specialist in Middle Village, New York to define your eye's condition and ways for treatment.
As a result, the cornea bulges outward into more of a cone. Our professional optometric team at our eye care clinic is knowledgeable about how to diagnose and treat keratoconus.
Keratoconus is rare, with an estimated one person out of every 2,000 having the condition. It generally appears in the teenage years and can progress slowly or rapidly.
Keratoconus also runs in families, so if you or your children are at risk, it’s advised to contact us for a thorough eye exam.
Causes of Keratoconus
Your cornea is held in place by very small collagen fibers. When they are weakened and too fragile, they aren’t able to preserve the round shape of your cornea.
A reduction in the protective antioxidants of your cornea, which act to destroy damaging by-products made naturally by corneal cells, is what causes keratoconus.
In addition to genetics, some types of eye injuries may increase your chance of being diagnosed with keratoconus.
Specific ocular diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa, vernal keratoconjunctivitis and retinopathy of prematurity, as well as some systemic conditions (Down syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, Leber's congenital amaurosis and osteogenesis imperfecta) are also associated with this corneal abnormality.
Our Keratoconus Specialist in Middle Village, New York has years of experience identifying the various levels of keratoconus and other corneal conditions.
Symptoms of Keratoconus
When the shape of your cornea begins to bulge, it alters your eyesight in two different ways. As the cone shape forms, your normally smooth corneal surface becomes wavy, called irregular astigmatism. Additionally, as your cornea expands, vision becomes increasingly nearsighted. Focusing becomes impossible without eyeglasses or contact lenses. Usually, the problems begin in one eye and develop later in the other eye too.
Typically, patient’s eyeglass prescription will change often as the vision becomes worse and contact lenses will be difficult to wear due to discomfort and improper fit.
When keratoconus become more severe (which usually takes a long time however on occasion can happen rather quickly), the cornea can begin to swell and form scar tissue. This scar tissue can result in even further visual distortion and blurred vision.
Altogether, these changes can create the following symptoms:
- Blurred vision
- Streaking of lights
- Halos around bright lights at night; glare
- Sudden change of vision in only one eye
- Objects appear distorted, both near and distant
- Double vision from just one eye
- Triple ghost images
How We Diagnose Keratoconus
Our eye doctors will inspect carefully for the signs of keratoconus during your comprehensive eye exam. It’s critical to inform us of any symptoms that you’ve been experiencing. To diagnose the condition, we’ll measure the shape of your cornea. Computerized Corneal Topography is used for this procedure, which takes a picture of your cornea and analyzes it instantly.