Hollywood - For as long as shecan remember, Irina Bashmakova hashad problems with her eyes.

Wearing glasses since the secondgrade - and contacts since her earlyteens, the 30-year-old stay at homemother was very near sighted and wassearching for laser surgery that wouldcorrect the problem and eliminate theglasses or contacts.

While she had the problem, it was-n’t new to her family. Nearsighted-ness, or Myopia, as it is medicallytermed, is a vision condition in whichpeople can see close objects clearly,but objects farther away appearblurred. People with Myopia can havedifficulty clearly seeing a movie or TVscreen or the whiteboard while theyare in school.

Irina found that Myopia occurs if theeyeball is too long or the cornea (theclear front cover of the eye) is toocurved. As a result, the light enteringthe eye isn't focused correctly, anddistant objects look blurred.

Because she realized that some-thing needed to be done - Irina beganasking around for the best area doctorand eye center. That is how she dis-covered the Braverman Eye Centerand Dr. Stanley Braverman.

When she came in for her consul-tation, Irina was blown away by thenew Hollywood office as well as every-one who was involved. It was some-thing she never expected.

“I remember reading about the pa-tients who had different proceduresdone,” she recalled. “The one thingthat I took away from those articles inthe Sun Times Newspaper was howDr. Braverman and his staff weretalked about often for the way theyhandled each patient. That was ahuge selling point and also made mefeel so much at ease.”

So, last October, after consultingwith Dr. Braverman, who explainedevery facet of the procedure, Irina em-barked on a journey that would elimi-nate the blurry vision and replace itwith clear eyesight. It truly left herspeechless.

“All I could remember, after surgery,when I had no problem seeing, that Istarted to cry,” she recalled. “It wasthe first time in my life that I could everremember seeing so clearly. It was in-deed life-changing.”

As she recovered from the LaserVision Correction (PRK) and felt bet-ter and better every day, Irina wasready to recommend the procedure,Dr. Braverman, the professional staffand the state-of-the-art facility, to any-one and everyone who would listen.

“I can understand how peoplewould be apprehensive about anythingto do with their eyes,” she said. “Butafter everything I experienced, I wouldtell everyone to check it out. It has re-ally made a difference in my life. 

What Are Cataracts?A cataract is formed when the natu-

ral lens of the eye, responsible for fo-cusing light and producing sharpimages, becomes cloudy and hardens,resulting in a loss of visual function.The lens of the eye is clear at birth butis one of the first parts of the body toshow the effects of aging. A cataract ispainless and usually develops gradu-ally over several months or years. Theonset of a cataract in one or both eyesmay cause decreased night vision, im-paired depth perception, and in-creased color distortion.

Cataracts are the leading cause ofvision loss among adults age 55 andolder. In fact, poor vision fromcataracts affects 60 percent of alladults over age 60. However,cataracts also can result from injury,heredity, or medications, so they canaffect people of all ages.

Understanding that no two condi-tions or patients are the same, Dr.Braverman analyzes the patient’ssymptoms, performs a comprehensiveeye exam, and may test for glare dis-ability and contrast sensitivity beforemaking a diagnosis. The final decisionto proceed with the surgery belongs tothe patient.

Your optometrist or Dr. Bravermanmay prescribe glasses, medication orsurgery depending on your symptoms,complaints and age. Usually surgerywill not be recommended until glassesno longer work to make you visuallyhappy. In the case of clear lensectomysurgery, the patient cosmeticallywants to get rid of their glasses, butthey are out of the LASIK treatmentrange.

Cataract Surgery: What To ExpectThanks to new advancements, this

is a great time to have cataract sur-gery. Your eye is like a camera. It hasphotographic paper (the retina), and acamera lens. Two excellent optionsexist for cataract surgery. The choiceis yours. Traditional Cataract Surgeryis the removal of your cloudy naturalcamera lens, which is usually dis-solved using high frequency ultra-sound through a small (less than 3millimeter) opening. If your eye quali-fies, the second option, Laser AssistedCataract Surgery can now be doneusing state of the art FemtosecondLaser technology to assist with partsof the cataract surgical procedure, in-cluding softening up of the cloudycamera lens.

This Femtosecond Laser AssistedSurgery reduces the amount of highfrequency ultrasound needed. LaserAssisted Cataract Surgery takes a del-icate procedure and refines it evenmore, so that the surgical precision isunparalleled. The computer-guidedaccuracy of the laser complimentsyour doctor’s skills with today’s latesttechnology. An artificial man made

lens is then placed inside the eyewhere the cloudy lens used to be.

There are several types of highquality premium vision lenses that canbe used, giving you potentially betterresults than with a standard basiclens. After the surgery, eye drops aregiven to the patient to aid in the heal-ing of the eye, which takes a fewmonths, but the patient is able to re-turn to normal activity almost immedi-ately after surgery and usually seeswell within just days. If the eye is oth-erwise healthy, cataract surgery issuccessful in more than 98% of pa-tients and they enjoy improved visionafter the procedure. Cataract surgerycontinues to improve. Recent devel-opments include no-stitch surgery,topical anesthesia, surgical correctionof astigmatism, new upgraded pre-mium lens designs, Laser AssistedCataract Surgery, and Dr. Braver-man's newly trademarked LACE™procedure. The LACE™ procedure, ifyou are deemed a candidate, cannearly always guarantee that the pa-tient will need no glasses for distancevision, and no glasses for distance ornear vision if a multifocal lens implantis used. At the Braverman Eye Center,we are proud to offer the advancedAMO CATALYS® Precision Laser Sys-tem, for unsurpassed FemtosecondLaser Assisted cataract surgery per-formance.

About Dr. Stanley BravermanDr. Stanley Braverman is a Volun-

tary Assistant Clinical Professor at theUniversity of Miami School of Medi-cine and the Anne Bates Leach EyeHospital/Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.He is also an Adjunct Associate Clini-cal Professor at the Nova Southeast-ern School of Optometry. In addition totreating patients, Dr. Braverman, aboard certified ophthalmologist, hasbeen a medical researcher, and is theinventor of several eye surgical instru-ments, and author of many articles formedical journals. Dr. Braverman's

newly trademarked LACE™ procedure(Laser Assisted Cataract Extraction)provides the best possible cataractsurgical results. He has lectured atprofessional meetings about upgradedlens implants, advanced cataract sur-gery and LASIK, both nationally andinternationally. He has recently beenrecognized by Newsweek Magazineas one of the Fifteen Leaders in LaserEye Surgery in 2011, and recently co-authored a book on Z-Lasik that isbeing distributed internationally. Youcan find it on Amazon.com.

An initial cataract or LASIK consul-tation can be scheduled by calling theBraverman Eye Center at: (954) 458-2112 or (305) 374-8694. For addi-tional information please contactRegina Vasquez, Surgery Coordinatorfor cataract surgery, or RosemaryHartford, LASIK Coordinator for LASIKsurgery, or visit the Braverman EyeCenter website at www.braver-maneyecenter.com - where you canwatch a video of cataract or LASIKsurgery and learn more about all of thelatest advances in cataract surgeryand upgraded lens implants, as wellas LASIK Surgery, including Near-FarMultifocal PresbyLASIK, for patientsover 40 years old who require glassesfor both distance and near vision.

In addition to Dr. Stanley Braver-man, a Refractive Cataract and LASIKLaser Vision Correction surgeon, yourother subspecialty eye care needs canalso be evaluated and treated. Onstaff at the Braverman Eye Center areRashid Taher MD FACS and TirsoLara MD FACS, Vitreo-Retinal sur-geons; Andre Sarraga MD FACS,Ophthalmic Plastic, Reconstructiveand Cosmetic Surgeon; Aarup KubalMD FACS, Complex Glaucoma Spe-cialist; Jesse Pelletier MD, FACS,Corneal Surgeon; Eric Ciliberti MD,Neuro-Ophthalmologist; and Ryan Y.Hargreaves OD, Shalonda McCallumOD and Ashley Noble OD. All sub-spe-cialist surgeons at the Braverman EyeCenter are Board Certified.

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Laser Vision Correction Is Changing Lives

Dr. Stanley Braverman and patient Irina Bashmakova, who has had problems with her eyes for as long as she can remember.

Dr. Stanley Braverman Continues To Help Make Vision Dreams Come True

The state-of-the-art Braverman Eye Center is located at: 1050 N. FederalHighway, Hollywood, Florida 33020. 

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