Dr. Nehal Patel, board certified ophthalmologist with Gulf Coast Eye Institute, sat down with Mary Avila-Shears on the Daytime at Nine segment of Good Morning Valley. Dr. Patel spoke about cataract awareness and recent advancements in the field.

After more than a decade in practice, Dr. Patel is still fascinated by the eye. “It’s a phenomenal opportunity to be involved in this field, to provide quality care and to restore vision in individuals who are suffering and not seeing.”

Where cataracts are concerned, Dr. Patel explained it this way: “Everyone is born with a natural lens inside their eye,” he said. “Because of aging, these lenses can turn cloudy. The way we take care of this problem has changed tremendously over the years – from the type of surgery we do to the technology to the way we rehabilitate vision.”

“Things are always changing,” he added. “Surgical techniques change. Technology changes. Most recently, laser assisted cataract surgery has come into play. The femtosecond laser is now something we use in cataract surgery. We don’t use any blades anymore. It’s all blade free.”

Gulf Coast Eye is one of the only practices in the Valley that’s involved in cataract research. “We have always utilized state of the art technology and every possible advancement that’s available to us,” said Dr. Patel. “We also have very experienced doctors. We specialize in cataract surgery but we also have specialists in glaucoma and retinal issues. We always evaluate the whole patient and do our best to restore their vision.”