Named a 2020 Top Doc by his peers in Richmond magazine, Dr. Jerry Neidigh is owner of Grove Eye Care. He received a Doctor of Optometry degree from Pennsylvania College of Optometry in 1998. He externed at Grove Eye Care in 1997 under Dr. Bruce Kiraly and came to work at the practice two days after graduation. Neidigh is a past president of the Richmond Optometric Society and the Virginia Optometric Association. The 2004 recipient of the Virginia Optometric Association’s Young Optometrist of the Year award, he also was recognized as the 2015 Optometrist of the Year. Neidigh is active with Virginia and American Optometric associations, and his areas of focus include specialty contact lenses, dry-eye therapy and ocular disease.
Interviewed last week, Neidigh shared what services were available in his offices and through telehealth under COVID-19 restrictions, as well as preventive measures patients can take to protect their vision.
What placed you on the optometry path?
Dr. Jerry Neidigh: I knew what I wanted to do from a very early age. I had a long-standing history of both eye and teeth problems. I started wearing glasses at 8 and had hard contacts at 15. Growing up in Pennsylvania, I had gotten to know my eye doctor, Dr. Charles Stuckey, through annual eye exams. He had one of those small practices in a house, and I got fit for contact lenses in the kitchen. I thought the technology was really cool, and you really got to know your patients like your family physician did.
With the COVID-19 restrictions, what are you doing in the office and what are you doing through telemedicine?
Neidigh: We are following the CDC guidelines that came out March 17 or 18, and we stopped seeing routine eye-care patients [for the time being]. However, if there is an emergency or something urgent, we have a doctor on call every day of the week. The doctor talks with them on the phone or via telehealth — Zoom or FaceTime. It’s on a case-by-case basis. Because regulations have been relaxed, we are able to extend, for example, contact lens prescriptions and get patients a small supply of contact lenses until we can open to the public again for routine examinations.
What are three preventive tips that you can give our readers?
Neidigh: No. 1 is to get an annual comprehensive eye examination. The reason for that is that we can detect over 270 conditions by looking at the eye — diabetes, high blood pressure and so many more by looking at pressures, blood vessels, looking at the retina and the cornea. Even those with 20/20 vision should get that exam. We can work more closely with general doctors with figuring out what’s going on.
Two is to wear sunglasses and block out ultraviolet light. Ultraviolet light damages the eye and prematurely ages the eye just the same way it does your skin. Wear sunglasses or get some sort of UV protection on your regular clear glasses. It’s not the brightness of sun; it’s the UV rays that cause the problem. UV light leads to early development of cataracts and increases the risk of macular degeneration.
The third is maintaining eye health by not smoking because that increases risk for macular degeneration, and then eating right and exercising, those things you are supposed to do to stay healthy. Eat lots of green, leafy veggies and certain fruits. Foods high in antioxidants help retain the health of the retina and reduce the risk of macular degeneration.
What is something that patients tend to overlook or ignore that they shouldn’t?
Neidigh: The signs and symptoms of dry eyes. What I mean by that is if you have itching, burning, redness, sandiness, gritty feeling in eye, fluctuating vision, increased glare at nighttime, those are all potentially symptoms of a dry eye. Dry eye is the most undiagnosed condition in the United States. Most folks just go through their day and think these symptoms are normal, and they don’t bring it up unless asked by their doctors. It’s a chronic condition that can’t be cured, but it again it can be managed. There are all kinds of ways to manage it. Over-the-counter tear drops or lubricants. There are prescription drops. You can use hot compresses, and nutrition. Incorporating omega-3s has been proven to help with improving the eyes.
What new procedure or therapy are you especially excited about?
Neidigh: There are two of them. In the dry-eye area, there are several different glands that help to produce the different layers of your tears — mucus, water and oil. Last summer, we introduced a new procedure that clears out the mucus and oil glands. It clears them out and then allows them to fill up with new oil. It’s an in-office procedure that takes 12 minutes. It’s a heated eyelid massage that pushes the old oil out of the glands so they can fill up with new oil.
And there are new products for the eye doctor to provide myopia management. Nearsightedness is very hereditary. Traditionally, hard contacts could slow progression of nearsightedness in children. They held the cornea in place, like a retainer, so the patient didn’t become as nearsighted as quickly. Now companies are developing new products like soft disposable contact lenses and glass lenses that will slow the process.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
