Ophthalmologist’s protocol produces unsurpassable outcomes with reduced recovery times.
Scientists have yet to pinpoint when the trend began, but the population of the distinctive orange and black migratory monarch butterfly has been in decline since the early 1990s.
Maryann Evans
Now officially listed as endangered, the monarch population has dropped more than 80 percent over the past three decades, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Maryann Evans is among those trying to prevent the insect from becoming extinct.
“I’ve built two monarch habitats, one at my house and the other at Viera High School,” Maryann explains. “The habitats are made up of host plants like milkweed and lantana that the monarchs feed on so they can thrive. We’re hoping for the best.”
Maryann, 57, built the habitat at her home on her own. The other was built by the students in the environmental club she started at the school, where she taught language arts until her fading eyesight forced her into retirement last January.
“I couldn’t see well enough to grade papers anymore,” Maryann laments. “My eyesight was so bad that I needed a magnifying glass just to read a book or look at something on a computer. But it wasn’t just things that were up close that I couldn’t see.
“The vision in my left eye, which was worse than the right, was so bad that if a student or someone else came up to me on me left side, I couldn’t see them coming. The only way I knew who was there was by their voice.
“I couldn’t see the TV either, so a lot of times I just listened without watching. I finally found a pair of glasses with magnifiers, and I used those for a couple of months, but then my vision faded even more so not even the magnifiers worked.”
Maryann’s vision didn’t fade overnight. It took a couple of years for it to reach its lowest point. All along, she knew the cause was cataracts, a clouding of the eye’s lens that most often forms as part of the natural aging process.
Maryann’s case was further affected by her eye doctor’s decision to not perform cataract surgery, a process during which the cloudy lens is replaced with an artificial intraocular lens.
In February, however, the doctor retired and sold his practice to Mark A. Rosanova, MD.
“It was like an answer to my prayers,” Maryann said of the sale to Dr. Rosanova, who renamed the practice Rosanova Eye. “I was literally praying, Dear God, please bring someone into my life who can take care of this. Then, lo and behold, Dr. Rosanova comes along.”
The Rosanova Method
Dr. Rosanova is a board-certified, fellowship-trained ophthalmologist renowned for his work in the field of cataract surgery, where his patients consistently experience unsurpassable results with reduced recovery time.
These outcomes are due largely to a unique pretreatment protocol that Dr. Rosanova has established for bladeless, computer-controlled, image-guided, laser-assisted cataract surgery.
The protocol, known as The Rosanova Method, combines the latest diagnostic technologies, formulas and algorithms with state-of-the-art replacement lenses, and uses two of the industry’s most advanced tools.
One of those tools is Alcon’s Verion™ Image Guided System, which allows Dr. Rosanova to customize every aspect of his patients’ cataract procedures, from the measurements taken prior to surgery to the precise placement of the replacement lens.
The other is the LenSx® femtosecond laser. Also produced by Alcon, this state-of-the-art bladeless instrument provides unmatchable precision that greatly decreases the amount of collateral damage done to the eye during surgery.
In addition to providing accuracy greater than can be obtained by hand, the LenSx laser can also make incisions to relieve various amounts of astigmatism, which is an imperfection in the curvature of the eye that causes blurred vision.
The laser also creates perfectly rounded openings that allow for the best positioning of replacement lenses. And, when used in combination with the Verion guidance system and the most advanced replacement lenses, it helps create exceptional patient outcomes.
“When implanting an astigmatism-correcting lens using standard protocols, the benchmark data shows that 48 to 50 percent of all eyeballs come out seeing 20/20 or better,” Dr. Rosanova states. “When using my protocol, that number is 88.4 percent.
“And those are the results of all lenses. If I narrow that down to patients receiving some of the advanced lenses that have only been available for the past year or two, the number of eyeballs seeing 20/20 or better following cataract surgery jumps to 97 percent.”
Better Than Ever 
Dr. Rosanova introduced this technology to Brevard in April, when he became the first surgeon in the county to perform cataract surgery using the LenSx laser for removing and replacing Maryann’s “extremely dense” cataracts.
“When Maryann first came to us, her near vision was so compromised that she could only see well enough to count fingers without glasses,” Dr. Rosanova reports. “As far as her distance vision goes, she could see nothing clearly.
“She also had a terrific amount of astigmatism, and when I gave her the glare test to determine her sensitivity to light, the vision in her right eye, which was her good eye, dropped to 20/50.
“That means that if she was driving at night, anytime a car came at her with its headlights on, the vision in her right eye was so bad that she couldn’t see clearly out of that eye, which could be a very dangerous situation.”
“My vision is better than 20/20, and I don’t need to wear glasses. Dr. Rosanova fixed it.” – Maryann
To correct those problems, Dr. Rosanova recommended fitting Maryann with Alcon’s PanOptix® replacement lenses. The PanOptix is a trifocal lens that allow patients to see clearly at near, far and intermediate distances.
Dr. Rosanova chose a toric version of the PanOptix because it allows for correction of astigmatism. As is typically the case, he performed two surgeries, one on each eye, about two weeks apart. The results, Maryann says, have been incredible.
“It’s like a miracle occurred,” Maryann raves. “Before I went to see Dr. Rosanova, I could only see shadows out of my left eye, and I needed my dog to walk me to the kitchen and bathroom at home.
“Now, my vision is better than 20/20, and I don’t need to wear glasses. Dr. Rosanova fixed it, and now I see better than I ever have. Everything is so clear and crisp, and colors are so much brighter. It’s truly amazing.”
Maryann, who sees so well that she plans to rejoin the workforce, says she’s fortunate to be a patient of Dr. Rosanova. She lauds the physician for his attention to detail and caring nature. He leaves no questions unanswered.
“He does a great job of explaining everything that he’s going to do during the surgery, and even then, he still gives you a video to watch and some paperwork to read just in case you missed anything,” she relates.
“On the day of the surgery, he comes to you beforehand and explains everything he’s going to do again. Afterward, he gives you his personal cellphone number and encourages you to call him with any questions.
“He’s a doctor who is really there for you, and you can tell that not only does he really know what he’s doing, but he really cares about his patients. He’s got his patients’ best interests at heart, and that’s why I gladly recommend him to anyone.”
