24 The QUEE NS Courier • JUly 10, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com THE COURIER/File photo Mayor Bill de Blasio announced support for state Sen. Tony Avella in District 11 race. MAYOR DE BLASIO ENDORSES AVELLA IN RE-ELECTION BID BY LIAM LA GUERE [email protected] @liamlaguerre Mayor Bill de Blasio announced July 8 his support for state Sen. Tony Avella in the District 11 race against former City Comptroller John Liu. “Throughout this past session, Sen. Jeff Klein and Sen. Tony Avella worked tirelessly on behalf of the residents of New York City and helped make progress on issues that had been stalled for far too long,” de Blasio said. De Blasio added that he looks forward to working with Avella to achieve progressive goals such as increasing minimum wage, expanding affordable housing and passing the DREAM Act. “Mayor de Blasio has been at the forefront of the fight for progressive Democratic values, and it is my honor to receive his endorsement,” Avella said. “I look forward to working together towards making New York the city that we all deserve.” Avella also picked up backing from the Communications Workers of America, District 1 in an announcement on July 3. Not to be outdone, Liu received numerous endorsements from labor organizations in recent weeks as well as Democratic leaders, including Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. Using Lasers in Cataract Surgery By Dr. Barry Drucker During my career as an ophthalmic surgeon, I have seen the wonderful advances in performing cataract surgery go from the use of magnifying glasses for performing large incision surgery which required multiple suture closure and days in the hospital to the present, sutureless outpatient procedure. Patients have asked me for years if this surgery is done by laser. Up until now, the answer was “NO”, because we utilized incisions made under the microscope with a blade followed by ultrasound removal of the cataract. However a paradigm shift has occurred. Now, no blade, laser assisted surgery is available which has increased the efficiency and safety of cataract surgery. In this new procedure, the patient need not be injected for anesthesia. Eye drops are utilized to numb the eye. The operating table is rolled to the laser and in about 5 minutes all incisions are carefully performed by a “Femtosecond Laser”, precisely and consistently. The precision is greater than that of the most skilled surgeon and reproducible such that the need for spectacles is lessened. This same Femtosecond laser can, if so indicated, make certain corneal incisions that will reduce or eliminate astigmatism, if present preoperatively. Finally, another laser can be used to measure or confirm the power of the needed intraocular lens during the operation, after the cataract is removed. This is called “Intraoperative Aberromertry”. It is particularly important if the calculation is difficult before surgery because of an extremely dense cataract or if the patient had undergone Lasik years before. At present very few surgical centers have the machinery for these two new lasers. Certainly in the future, I feel this is the way ophthalmologists will be doing routine cataract surgery. When friends or relatives of mine need cataract surgery, I recommend and prefer doing laser assisted cataract surgery and Laser aberrometry for safety and precision. Dr. Barry L. Drucker Dr.Barry L. Drucker is a board certified ophthalmologist and a Fellow of the American College of Surgery. He has practiced in Bayside, Queens for over 25 years and can be reached at 718 224-5500 Dr. Drucker’s Office is located at 58-47 Francis Lewis Blvd (Suite 202), Oakland Gardens, N.Y. 11364. ADVERTORIAL
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