General Practitioners

• Primary Care
  To help maintain your vision our Primary Care Services are second to none. We suggest you schedule an eye exam at least once every year.
• High Cholesterol

Ophthalmologists

• Glaucoma
  Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness in people over the age of 40. It is a group of diseases that leads to vision loss. Vision loss occurs when the optic nerve is damaged by pressure inside the eye. The higher eye pressure compresses the optic nerve causing damage. This damage can be seen by your eye doctor as a central depression in the optic nerve called the “optic cup”. It represents the area where optic nerve fibers have been damaged or lost. As the nerve fibers are lost, so too is the vision. This process is referred to as glaucoma.
• Ophthalmology
  Eye Specialists of Mid-Florida, P.A. began as a small ophthalmology/optometry practice in downtown Winter Haven in the early 1960s. Through the 1970s & 1980s, the practice continued to experience growth and diversity with the addition of several doctors including optometrists and ophthalmologists. After outgrowing their existing location, a new clinic and ambulatory surgery center were built in Winter Haven in the early 1990s and another in Sebring a few years later. It was during this time the doctors moved toward more specialized treatment areas, and changed the name of the practice to Eye Specialists of Mid-Florida, P.A. Eye Specialists continued to expand its services into other communities in the Central Florida area, including Auburndale, Lakeland (2 locations), Lake Wales, Haines City, Clermont, and Sebring to better serve the needs of our patients.
• Macular Degeneration
  Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of vision loss in people over 55. Macular degeneration is a very common condition and affects one in five people aged 70-84. It is age-related, and by the time we are 85, almost half of us will have some degree of macular degeneration. There is a whole spectrum of disease, ranging from very mild changes to the more severe. This disease affects the part of the retina called the macula.
• Laser Eye Surgery
  Arrange to have a driver bring you to and from the Eye Surgery and Laser Center, LLC. Your vision may be blurry for a short time following the treatment until the dilating drops have worn off. You may undergo a visual exam, and both eyes may be dilated. Drops may be instilled to regulate the pressure in the eye. Your vital signs will also be checked.
• Cataracts
  The cataract laser softens the firm center of the cataract by breaking it up into tiny cubes. This has been shown to reduce the amount of emulsification energy needed to break up and suction the cataract out of the eye by 50% to over 90%, making the surgery gentler on the eye. We have always known the more emulsification energy that is used inside the eye to break up the cataract, the more risk of haziness of the vision for a while after surgery due to swelling of the cornea. More energy is required to emulsify more advanced, firmer cataracts. Most of the time this hazy vision recovers within the first few days up to a couple of weeks. Rarely this leads to persistent swelling of the cornea requiring a corneal transplant. Astigmatism correction with the cataract laser system has been shown to be more precise than we can do manually for both lower and higher degrees of astigmatism. It also improves the safety and accuracy of the astigmatism procedure.
• Cataract Surgery
  The Eye Specialists of Mid-Florida, P.A. surgeons strives to make cataract surgery as precise and reproducible as possible to produce the best visual outcomes for our patients after surgery. With the new improvements in lasers, we believe we cannot compete with the precision of the laser in some of the manual steps during cataract surgery.
• Eye Exam
  The price of an appointment is based on the reason for the visit and if there are any medical needs for diagnostic testing to be done in addition to your office visit. The diagnostic testing can vary from 5 different levels. Therefore, it is hard to give an exact quote for the appointment. On average, routine eye exams without insurance start at $109, and Contact Lens evaluation (fitting) fees start at $40 in addition to the routine eye exam fee. Please refer to the next question for clarification on the contact lens evaluation fee. Again, if the exam is deemed medical or requires additional testing, the charges could increase. Please feel free to call 800-282-3937 to discuss your eye care needs to obtain a better idea of visit costs.

Psychiatrists

• Depression
• Anxiety

Endocrinologist

• Diabetes Care
• Diabetic Retinopathy
  Laser treatment may be helpful for reducing macular swelling. Laser may also help with proliferative diabetic retinopathy by reducing the areas where the circulation is very poor, making the “bad chemicals” go away, so that the abnormal blood vessels can shrink. There are also now very effective medicines for treating diabetic retinopathy, some of which are introduced into the eye at regular intervals using a very tiny needle. When there has been bleeding into the center of the eye (vitreous hemorrhage), it will often clear by itself, but it is essential that the eye is examined to be certain that it is safe to observe it. Other problems can cause bleeding in the eye, including retinal tears that can lead to retinal detachment, and it is very important to know what is going on. If the blood fails to clear on its own, it is possible to remove the blood with an outpatient surgical procedure called a vitrectomy. Sometimes blood will organize and form scar tissue, pulling on the retina and causing it to come away from the wall of the eye. This is called a tractional retinal detachment, and may require surgical intervention.

Radiologist

• Ultrasound
  The first reading is called biometry (either by laser or A-scan ultrasound); this is done to determine the length of the eye from the front of the cornea to the back of the eye, which is called the macula (center of the retina). For this procedure, the patient will be asked to place their chin in an instrument similar to the microscope the surgeon used when examining their eyes. The patient will look toward the red instrument fixation light while the laser biometer measures the length of the eye. The second reading is called keratometry; this is done to determine the focusing power of the cornea. The third reading will be measuring the depth of the anterior chamber.
• X-Rays

Surgeons

• General Surgery
  ESMF participates with many prepaid health plans. Due to the ever-changing number of plans available, we are unable to list all of them on this site, however, feel free to ask a staff member if we participate with a specific provider or contact your health plan provider directly. ESMF and Eye Surgery and Laser Center (ESLC) (the ambulatory surgery center where we provide surgical services) are separate providers; consequently, they may have different agreements with various health plans. ESMF and ESLC make every effort to contract with the same providers; however, we cannot guarantee this will always be the case.

Plastic Surgeons

• Eyelid Surgery
  Eyelid surgery corrects conditions like entropion (inward-turning lids), ectropion (outward-turning lids), or dermatochalasis (excess skin). Microsurgical techniques reposition structures and remove excess tissue. Recovery typically involves 1-2 weeks of bruising and swelling.
• Blepharoplasty
  With age, the skin and tissues that surround the eye can become loose, sag, and obstruct the upper and side vision. When the vision is significantly obstructed, eyelid lift surgery (blepharoplasty) may be covered by insurance. If you are having problems with droopy eyelids, call for an appointment to see if you may be a candidate for eyelid lift surgery.

Dermatologists

• Burns