Profile of an Ophthalmologist

 

Dr. Frank W. Read

Dr. Read practices ophthalmology at Maine Eye Center. He served as the Chief of Ophthalmology at Maine Medical Center for 15 years. He graduated from Williams College and Tufts Medical School and completed his residency at Stanford University.

Q. Dr. Read, you are one of Maine’s most prominent eye doctors, and we are grateful to have this opportunity to learn from you. Please tell us a little bit about your career.

I came to Maine in 1971 after teaching Ophthalmology at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary. I joined Dr. Richard Goduti in practice and worked with him for 17 wonderful years. He was my mentor. After he died, I got very busy and added a series of doctors, and now there are 14 ophthalmologists working with me in all sub-specialties at Maine Eye Center.

Medicine has become a very complicated profession. Nowadays, people are always asking physicians, would you want your children to go into medicine? Sure, I would. What could give a doctor a greater high than an 80-year-old woman, the day after her cataract surgery, saying, “I’ve just seen my grandchild for the first time in 10 years?” This is not an unusual outcome after cataract surgery.

My primary interest is cataract surgery. I perform 600 surgeries per year, and I have been doing this for 35 years. I have performed 10,000-15,000 surgeries. I also take care of some glaucoma patients.

There have been many advances in the field. When I first went into ophthalmology, access to cataract surgery was limited; now access is no problem. Surgery used to take one hour; now it takes 15 minutes. Patients used to be hospitalized for a week and experience lots of complications; now, the surgery is an outpatient process, we see almost immediate improvements, and there are rarely any complications. It’s enormously satisfying.

I love ophthalmology. We give patients something so positive: we restore their vision.

Q. What are the first signs of problems with cataracts?

Glare from headlights and bright sunny days begin to affect people’s vision. At some point, the patient will come in. Surgery can wait until the condition interferes with the patient’s life.

Q. How do you think that people can best take care of their eyes?

In general, the eye is well protected by the fat cushion around the eye. Good nutrition, not smoking, and seeing an eye care practitioner as often as is recommended for the patient are all important. It is probably true that heavy exposure to ultra-violet light does cause cataracts or helps them develop more quickly. But it’s not a very strong factor. There’s also not much evidence to suggest that overexposure to the sun causes macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration is the greatest cause of legal blindness in people over 65 in our society. In the under-developed world, though, it’s cataracts. My wife, Nancy, and I go every year to Quiche, Guatemala, four hours by bus north of Guatemala City, with a team of up to 24 people, many from the Maine Eye Center and others from other eye practices, plus translators, cooks, etc. People there suffer greatly from cataracts due to high elevation, problems with nutrition, and lack of eye care. We work for five days, providing the only eye care that is available for 250,000 indigenous people. We typically operate on 50 to 60 patients with extremely advanced cataracts every year. Like my work in the United States, this is very rewarding.

Q. Thanks for sharing information about your work with us, Dr. Read. Finally, what are your thoughts about the Iris Network?

I think the Iris Network is a super organization that provides incredible services to the people of Maine. At Maine Eye Center, we have consistently referred patients to the Iris Network. Your core programs that train and teach people with vision loss to live independently are a great service for those who need it. Your low vision care program is extremely important. I think Maine AIRS is also a wonderful program. As an ophthalmologist, I am extremely positive about the Iris Network.
 

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