Comprehensive Vision Care In Your Neighborhood

My name is Dr. Taylor Kneip. I'm an optometrist over at Yorkshire Eye Clinic. I started there last July so I've been there about a year now and I do everything from comprehensive eye exams to medical exams, like same-day visits for red eyes and vision problems and that kind of stuff.

Why is the retina important to vision?

So the retina is the innermost tissue that makes up the inside of the eye. And it's made up of photoreceptors, and all kinds of cells that are a big projector screen for what you see in the outside world, basically. And so the retina catches all that information and sends it to the brain to be processed.

What are common retinal diseases?

Some of the most common retinal diseases would be diabetic retinopathy, which is a condition that diabetic patients that we watch for where they can have changes to their blood vessels, and fluid buildup inside of their eye and that can cause decreased vision, floaters. And so it's just something that we will monitor on a yearly basis. There's other conditions such as like, retinal holes or retinal tears, which can lead to retinal detachments.

What is macular degeneration?

So macular degeneration is a retinal condition, most likely seen in the older population and it forms because of a buildup of material underneath the retina and it causes distorted vision. It can cause spots in your vision. And so what we monitor for is changes over time. It's a slowly progressive disease for the most part but we like to watch it at least on an annual basis to make sure that things aren't changing. Just because once things start to change, it changes our treatment that we wanna do with it and how frequently we wanna see those patients.

What are symptoms of retinal disease?

The most common signs and symptoms for retinal diseases aren't...you're not gonna feel anything. The retina is made up of light-sensing cells, so there's no pain receptors inside of the eye. So most of the time, people will notice floaters, flashes of lights. They'll notice distorted vision or parts of their vision that are missing, or maybe even they feel like their peripheral vision is constricting.

Why is it important to catch retinal diseases early?

It's important to catch retinal diseases early just because the earlier that we're able to treat the more favorable outcome for the patient. So if you start to notice any changes in your vision, it's better to be safe, just to get it checked out and make sure that there's nothing wrong, and if there is that we get you to the right people in a good amount of time.

How does the optomap help doctors care for patients?

The optomap is a camera that takes a wide field photo of the retina and it gives us doctors a chance to see more of the retina in like a photo than we have in the past. The photos we used to be able to take were a fairly small portion of the retina and to supplement that we would dilate patients to see the peripheral retina. And with the optomap, it takes a photo of that peripheral retina so we're able to better document findings in that area of the retina, even catch things earlier that we can zoom in on that particular finding, and monitor that from one year to the next or from one visit to the next.

How is an optomap image captured?

An optomap image is captured just by sitting in a little machine. It's a quick photo just like you would sit for any other photo. It's quick. You take two photos of each eye and there's a bright green flash, pretty painless.

How does the optomap benefit patients?

The benefits of the optomap to the patient are that we're able to document findings from one year to the next. Previously, we were just documenting in a chart our findings and that can vary from one doctor's way of documenting to the next. And so it gives us a photo that we can look back from one year to the next and see exactly what things are changing or staying the same. And it's a good alternative to dilation. If a patient isn't able to be dilated that day, we're still able to view the part of the retina that we wouldn't otherwise be able to.

Why do you recommend vision care at Yorkshire Eye Clinic & Optical?

I would recommend eye care at Yorkshire Eye Clinic & Optical because we're able to provide a really comprehensive eye experience for the patients. We have me as an optometrist that's able to do comprehensive exams and red eyes. We also have two ophthalmologists that see comprehensive exams and they're also able to perform cataract surgeries and other procedures. And they're the only ophthalmologists here in Brookings, so it's kind of unique to our clinic. So we're also able to provide continuity of care because we have the same electronic health records as Brookings Health System and Avera Medical Group so we're able to look at patients' charts and see a more full picture of what that patient is taking as far as medications, diabetic status, all that kind of stuff. And we also have the great staff over at Yorkshire.