Wilson Eye Center expands services

Published 9:00 pm Monday, December 5, 2005

VALDOSTA — Help for those with low vision problems is only a visit away.

Wilson Eye Center in Valdosta recently expanded to offer services for patients experiencing functional vision loss.

Dr. Steven Wilson and Dr. Cynthia Register work with the patients whose vision cannot be helped through glasses, contacts or even surgery. The cause of such drastic vision loss varies, but includes macular degeneration, glaucoma, diabetes, and damage or scar tissue.

“We do a complete evaluation and then determine the patient’s goals, whether it’s reading the newspaper, watching television or retaining their job. Then we devise an aid to help them achieve those goals,” said Wilson.

Just as the type and severity of low vision varies, so do the aids available to help the patients. “We have spectacle mounted telescopes which they can use to watch television,” he said. Some patients can also use the special glasses to allow them to drive in a limited capacity.

Other aids available include various hand held magnifiers and a closed circuit television (CCT) unit. People using the CCT, which looks like a small computer, place documents on a reader tray which are then magnified on the screen and can be adjusted to be read in a variety of print sizes.

Patients can use the CCT to help them read books, documents at work, or even to write a check.

“This is a lifestyle changing program that before now, patients had to drive to Atlanta or Jacksonville to receive,” Wilson said. As many of the patients cannot drive, it placed an extra burden on them to have to leave the area for this type of medical attention.

Wilson Eye Center physically expanded its building on Patterson Street in October 2001 to accommodate the low vision program and the addition of two more doctors to the staff. Growing from 4,000 to 7,000 square feet, the center now offers a more complete array of vision care services.

Wilson said Dr. Eric Kolisz joined the practice in the fall of 2000 to offer sports vision and vision therapy services. Kolisz, a transplant from Indiana, said he had an opportunity to join a practice in Connecticut, but chose Valdosta instead and is extremely happy with that decision.

Another addition to the staff is Dr. Scott Petermann, a recent graduate of Emory University. Petermann’s specialities include Lasik surgery for vision correction, botox injections for eye wrinkles, plastic surgery on eyelids and both cataract and glaucoma surgery.

Wilson began his practice in Valdosta in 1981, expanding to the current location in 1989. In addition to the four full time doctors, Dr. Alex Culbreth also practices at the center part time.



To contact Business Editor Kay Harris, please call 244-3400, ext. 280.