Irwin Azman Archives - Dr. Azman Reviews

Contact Lens Eye Care: The way it should be

Contact Lens Eye Care: The way it should be

When it comes to contact lens eye care, there are a lot of different options out there. But when you want the highest quality, most meticulous contact lens eye care in Maryland, you have to see Drs. Thomas and Irwin Azman at Azman Eye Care Specialists.

Founded in 1975 by the two brothers as a specialty practice limited to contact lens care, Azman Eye Care Specialists has since been recognized both nationally and internationally for excellence not just in the contact lens field, but also in dry eye care.

Azman Eye Care has the expertise and specialized equipment to focus on contact lens eye care problems that other offices can’t address: helping dry-eye patients, treating patients who have trouble wearing contact lenses, need bifocal lenses or those who have been told they can’t wear contact lenses. The Azman Eye Care practice maintains all the latest diagnostic equipment available. They have the latest instruments that can be found in only a few places in the country, including a wavefront topographer, which can detect slight irregularities of the cornea. The practice is also continually involved in FDA studies involving contact lenses, contact lens solutions, dry eye diagnosis and treatment. All of their specialized testing offers the highest quality contact lens eye care to each and every patient.

Many contact lens wearers and eye doctors believe that dry eyes are a normal part of wearing contact lenses and that nothing can be done about the problem. Symptoms like eye fatigue, red eyes, and slightly blurred vision are all symptoms that can be addressed. The problem is that many offices do not have the knowledge and experience to manage and treat these critical symptoms. That’s why patients come from Texas, Florida, Oregon, Colorado, New York, New Jersey and other states for the expert contact lens care that they can’t find anywhere else.
The Azman Eye Care team of doctors, technicians and staff work together to offer the most meticulous and personalized contact lens eye care available.

Doctors listen carefully to patients and develop treatment plans for each person and situation. “The most common complaint we get from people about doctors they have seen in the past is about the quality of the examination,” says Dr. Thomas Azman. “A meticulous, comprehensive contact lens eye examination is essential,” he says. “Not an eye-glass exam, but one specifically for contact lenses.” Dr. Irwin Azman continues, “Most eye doctors see about 3,000 patients a year, and because of that they have less time to do a thorough review of a patient’s medical records and history. As a result, they don’t always have a complete picture of the patient’s contact lens and eye-care background.” In contrast, the doctors at Azman Eye Care limit their patient load to 1,200 patients per year, allowing them to gather all the facts pertinent to each patient’s visual and contact lens requirements.

The doctors at Azman Eye Care ask about symptoms that many people live with, thinking they are normal. They take the time to listen to their patients’ needs and symptoms, and then discuss and explain all the contact lens treatment options available. Many doctors also limit the type of lenses that they fit to patients. Azman Eye Care Specialists are different. They prescribe the best contact lens for the individual’s visual needs. As a result, their patients are comfortable and have crisp and clear vision all wearing hours.

The differences between Azman Eye Care team and other seemingly similar practices are clear. Azman Eye Care has the state-of-the-art diagnostic instruments necessary to help their patients, but use them with customized care, knowledge and compassion. The doctors at Azman Eye Care form a relationship with their patients, and that is a rarity today. They have received hundreds of testimonials from patients expressing their gratitude for resolving problems that other doctors could not. Dr. Thomas Azman says, “I am most proud that each and every patient leaves my office with the understanding that they know we care about their eyes and their well-being.” That’s a level of commitment and service you won’t often find in today’s other offices.

Dry Eye Relief: From New Jersey to Maryland

Dear Dr. Irwin Azman;

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for all your help. When I visited your office in April, I was particularly impressed with your state of the art equipment and for the care and concern you showed me. Since I was from New Jersey, you went out of your way to see me on the weekend (twice on Sunday). You made me feel special and more like a friend than a patient. Your follow-up telephone calls really meant a lot to me. Your recommendations for treatment of my dry eye problems are working; I highly recommend that anyone with eye problems seek you out.

-Carol K. Secaucus, New Jersey

The early days of PRK, LASIK and Laser Vision Correction.

The primary reason that I would recommend someone to Azman Eye Care is because I believe that both Dr. Thomas Azman and Dr. Irwin Azman always have the patient‘s best interest at heart. Although they are often busy with their daily schedules, they always take the time to fully explain their diagnosis together with the corresponding options that are available.

In my particular case, rather than rush into LASIK laser surgery, Dr Azman was willing to wait until I was completely ready and had spent several months experimenting with contact lenses to determine my optimum binocular vision. When I was ready (late ‘90s), Dr Azman suggested that I have the surgery in Canada because the technology there was not yet available in the U.S. And, Dr. Tom personally escorted me on the trip to provide both pre and post-operative care. Now, that’s what I call customer service!

In another case, a friend of mine had received consultation from another laser surgery provider and was ready to have surgery. Because she had a history of vision difficulties, I suggested that she visit Dr Tom Azman at Azman Eye Care to receive a second opinion prior to having surgery. As a result, she learned that she had dry eye syndrome, and was advised not to proceed with the surgery. Today, she is grateful that she reconsidered her original decision.

I think the best compliment that I can give to both Dr. Tom Azman and Dr. Irwin Azman is that they are men of integrity; and as a patient, you can feel confident trusting them with the care of your eyes.

-Bob W. Timonium, Maryland

Best of all my golf game has improved.

Golf Green Island (Photo credit: jurvetson)

Precision Accelerated Orthokeratology

Thank you Dr. Irwin Azman for getting rid of my contact lenses while playing golf. At first I was a little skeptical but I now know your Precision Accelerated Orthokeratology system works. Your system not only has given me freedom from my contacts while playing golf I now experience more precise vision without the discomfort I use to have with my contacts. Best of all my golf game has improved.-James R. Baltimore, Maryland

Dr. Azman Pirouettes through the contact lens exam

When choosing schools for one’s children one tends to be very picky. One never settles for anything less than the best, and one makes sure that all aspects of the education process—from the school’s cleanliness to the experience and talent of the teachers to the principal’s professionalism— fit perfectly with one’s parenting values, Similar should be one’s mindset when choosing a healthcare provider, especially for an aspect of one’s anatomy—the eyes-upon which depends so much of one’s life.

However, I only followed my own advice after this story:

I decided I wanted to try wearing contacts when I had had just about enough of the literal and figurative headaches that were involved with wearing glasses, I couldn’t enjoy rollercoasters to their fullest potential, couldn’t swim In the summer, couldn’t roughhouse with my brothers. So I went to the eye doctor who was covered under my pitiful health insurance and asked for contacts. He quickly went through the tests, the measuring, the dilating of my pupils, but I never felt he A) was the expert in his field or B) took enough time to get to know my eyes.

My gut wasn’t wrong—after wearing the contacts for a few hours, I felt as though they were dirty and needed so be cleaned, so I took them out rubbed them with solution , rinsed them with saline, put them hack in. And for a few more minutes, that was great. Until the blurriness came back. Now I know that I suffer from Dry Eye Syndrome, but then I Just thought I wasn’t cleaning my contacts well enough or that something was wrong with the actual hydrophilic lenses.

So, I gave up contacts, went back to the suffering of spectacles, resigned myself to the fact that there was an entire world out there that I’d never get to experience due to the limitations of my lorgnette.

However, that world kept tugging, kept calling, kept encouraging me to partake of it, and not long after we moved from New York to Maryland, it became too loud to ignore any longer.

I chose Dr Irwin Azman at Azman Eye Care because my In-laws went there and since then have not thought of any place else. As far as I’m concerned, if you don’t come here, you’re doing your eyes, and the rest of your body, a great disservice.

If you look at a ballet dancer, one who is trained classically and does nothing but dance, you will see that she makes an arabesque look effortless; a pirouette and a pile, as simple as pie; a cabriole, with apparent casualness. You only understand that there are days and literally years of hard work, sweat and preparation that go into dancing if you study them.

Dr. Irwin Azman and Dr. Thomas Azman not only have years of education and experience under their belts, but they also seriously enjoy their profession. They have put in, and continue to do so, their 80+ hours per week. They have racked up countless sleepless nights preparing for med school exams. And they have experimented to discover the absolute best way to treat patients—as Individuals and with a personal touch.

So, like the ballerina, whose beauty and style are only a result of painstakingly precise practice, Dr Irwin Azman and Dr. Thomas Azman do what any other eye doctor would consider either unnecessary or even Impossible, with such grace and apparent ease, I suggest that anyone who values his eyes and the importance of good vision to a healthy lifestyle go see Dr Irwin Azman and Dr Thomas Azman!

-Josh G. Pikesville, Maryland

Specialty Contact Lens Services

Dr. Irwin Azman is one of the few contact lens specialists that has extensive experience in the diagnosis and management of the keratoconus patient. With over 30 years of experience, his team of technicians, new technologies in instrumentation, contact lens materials and designs, Dr. Azman is able to prescribe each keratoconus patient with the perfect fit.The one characteristic that sets Dr. Irwin Azman apart from other eye care practitioners is that he neither avoids nor declines the challenge of prescribing the most difficult keratoconus cases. Dr. Azman tends to have a perfectionist demeanor.

Dr. Irwin
Azman will take all factors into consideration to prescribe the
best lens system for his keratoconus patients: To Schedule appointment call(410) 561-8050

Corneal specialists agree that it is best to exhaust all non-surgical options for keratoconus before undergoing corneal transplant surgery, especially for younger patients. Optometrists and Ophthalmologists from all over Maryland and surrounding states refer their challenging keratoconus patients to Dr. Irwin Azman.

Diagnosing Keratoconus

We are now able to detect the presence of keratoconus well before subjective symptoms develop. Corneal Topography and Aberrametry measurements has become the standard of care in diagnosing and management of keratoconus. A computerized system images the shape of the cornea together with the entire optical system by taking tens of thousands of data points. The results are instantly analyzed and wave front topography maps are generated. These printouts will show Dr. Irwin Azman a map print (just like a finger print) of the patient’s location and severity of any corneal distortion and high order aberrations (HOA).

Dr. Irwin Azman maintains a practice devoted to patient care, with cutting edge technology, to the restoration of vision and comfort lost as a result of refractive eye surgery (including LASIK and Radial Keratotomy), keratoconus, corneal transplant surgery, pellucid marginal degeneration, extreme dry eye, corneal dystrophies, corneal trauma and Stevens-Johnson Syndrome.

I was simply told by my previous optometrist that I “am not a candidate” for contact lenses.

I am currently a patient of Dr. Irwin Azman. I underwent cataract surgery of my right eve in January 2003 and now have an astigmatism problem in that eye. In addition. I have a cataract in my left eye and also have the normal reading vision problems that comes with age. I was simply told by my previous optometrist that I “am not a candidate” for contact lenses. That was that. Nothing else was said. So I continued with glasses. Since going to Dr. Irwin Azman, he and his staff have spent an enormous amount of time doing tests and fitting me for contact lenses. Even though I get frustrated. Dr. Irwin Azman persists in trying to keep “tweaking” the prescription to make my vision as good as possible. I now can see better with my contacts than with my glasses!! Dr. Irwin Azman has taken a lot of time and effort in order for me to be able to wear contact lenses and I would not hesitate referring anyone wanting the same.

-Phyllis B. Owings Mills, Maryland

Orthokeratology: Free from glasses and contacts, with no surgery!

A. K. (Patient)

Precision Accelerated Orthokeratology

As a student wearing glasses, my vision deteriorated to 20/400. Now thanks to Dr. Irwin Azman’s Precision Accelerated Orthokeratology technique, I passed my drivers test and go to school without lenses on. I am now free from glasses all waking hours. Thank you Dr. Irwin Azman!!

Specialty Contact Lens Services

Dr. Irwin
Azman will take all factors into consideration to prescribe the
best lens system for his keratoconus patients: To Schedule appointment call(410) 561-8050

Contact lens drama

I would like to relate my experiences with attempting to wear contact lenses, both before becoming a patient of Dr. Irwin Azman, and after. To start, while living in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas I decided to try wearing contacts as my glasses kept getting in the way. My first attempt was with a very young doctor, who had recommended mono-vision corrective lenses. After several iterations with different lenses, not only could I not see very well, but the contacts were very uncomfortable. I finally gave up with this doctor. The next doctor I tried was much more experienced, and even commented that it would take some time to get the prescription correct due to my far-sighted eye sight. Again the process of weekly visits, each time changing the prescription. While I was able to see better I never got results even close to using my glasses. Again I gave up with this doctor. The final doctor was again better than the previous two. This doctor was in a contact lens specialty, and this doctor even tried the toric lenses. Again my vision did get better, but nothing that I could live with for long periods of time. And as with the other two doctors the contact lenses were very uncomfortable. In each of the three cases mentioned above I became discouraged and finally gave up trying to wear contact lenses. They were uncomfortable and my vision was far less accurate than with my glasses. This process covered approximately 18 months. In the middle of last year, I became a Federal Employee and relocated to northern Maryland. I decided to try one last time. I searched through the phone book and the Internet searching for someone who specialized in tough cases like mine. I contacted the Azman Eye Care Clinic and Dr. Irwin Azman called me and we discussed my situation. After that conversation I made an appointment and the process started. Dr. Irwin Azman started by running a number of tests, while the overall health of my eyes was good, I did have a moderate case of dry eyes. Dr. Azman treated this condition first, and would not even entertain working with contact lenses until that condition was under control. Once the condition was under control, we began the process of narrowing in on the correct lenses, using what I consider a hybrid solution. Specifically working with a combination of bi-focal lenses with a mono-vision approach. While it did take several months, I was finally able to see almost as well with contacts as I can with glasses, and they are comfortable. In conclusion, had I not gone to a Doctor that was careful, persistent and knowledgeable in all areas of vision correction I would have given up again! As it stands now I can see well enough with contact lenses that I no longer have to deal with glasses and that is a very good feeling.