Equipment upgrades to benefit patients

SYCAMORE – Hauser-Ross Eye Institute has upgraded its equipment and added more days for patients to see retina specialists each week.

Wendewessen Amde, MD, and Ahmed Abdelsalam, MD, both from Chicagoland Retinal Consultants, LLC, are seeing patients as part of the team of board-certified and fellowship-trained ophthalmologists at Hauser-Ross.

Dr. Amde specializes in the management of medical and surgical diseases of the vitreous and retina. His expertise includes the treatment of both macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, simple and complex retinal detachment repair, macular hole repair, surgical removal of epiretinal membranes, and the surgical management of complex trauma cases.  Amde also takes special interest in the diagnosis and medical and surgical management of eye inflammation and uveitis.

Dr. Abdelsalam specializes in medical and surgical diseases of the vitreous and retina. His expertise includes treating macular degeneration, advanced diabetic retinopathy, trauma, traumatic retinal detachments, complex and recurrent retinal detachments, giant retinal tears, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, and pediatric vitreoretinal surgery.

Hauser-Ross has enhanced its Zeiss OCT scanner. Optical coherence tomography, commonly known as OCT, is a relatively new technology which dramatically improves the way eye disease is diagnosed, tracked and treated. OCT is widely used by ophthalmologists and optometrists to help care for patients with eye diseases such as glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, cataracts, and more. The upgraded equipment provides high definition, 3D images and analyses of the retinal tissue for early detection and monitoring of glaucoma and retinal disease.

"A major benefit of OCT is that patients are scanned quickly and non-invasively and most of the time dilation is not needed," said Dr. Jasmeet Dhaliwal, who uses the technology for his patients' glaucoma management.

Hauser-Ross has also has upgraded its fundus camera, which fully integrates digital imaging and archiving. Fundus photography is used to document retinal pathologies and diseases and to assist in patient education, as well as teaching and clinical research purposes.