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Connecticut Retina Consultants, In The News…

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BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) – A treatment option for patients with diabetes battling eye disease.

Diabetics have an increased risk of vision loss.

For Daldison Martinez, no more scheduled monthly visits to treat his diabetic eye condition.

Not after his ophthalmologist Dr. James Weisz at Connecticut Retina Consultants implanted this.

“It’s an implant that’s injected via a small needle,” explains Dr. Weisz.

This tiny implant, smaller than a grain of rice, was inserted into Daldison’s right eye to
lessen the leaky damaged blood vessels in the eye causing the blurred vision.

Daldison says, “I started to get floaters and they were being frequently.”

So Dr. Weisz turned to the latest treatment option for diabetic eye disease.

This minute capsule is packed with Iluvien, a steroid designed to last three years.

“To be released slowly over a period of three years,” says Dr. Weisz, “so it’s a constant bathing
of the medication inside the eye for three years.”

Daldison was not responding well to the standard treatment of monthly steroid injections.

Dr. Weisz says, “The medication closes up those pores so they don’t leak so much. It allows the swelling to go away and sharpen their vision.”

“Significant improvement and stabilized improvement,” for Daldison says Dr. Weisz

“It does clear it up,” says Daldison, “It does clear up these little floaters. They kind of just start to vanish.”

And one implant may just be all he needs.

“He may very well not,” says Dr. Weisz, “like a lot of things once the issue is stabilized for that long and the blood vessels begin to heal he may not need the injection again.”

The implant costs $8,000. It is Medicare-approved and is covered by insurance as well.

For more information call Dr. Weisz at 203-365-6565

“It’s an implant that’s injected via a small needle,” explains Dr. Weisz.