Protecting Your Eyesight with Dr. Christina Prescott

Hello, everyone, This is Martha Stewart. William Shakespeare said that the eyes are the window to your soul, and in the medical world, it's true that I say a lot about your health. My guest today is an expert in I care. Doctor Christina Prescott is an ophthalmologist at NYU Langone, where she is also Vice chair for Education and director of the Corneus Service. As an ophthalmologist, she treats patients for cataracts and other vision disorders. Welcome to my podcast, doctor Prescott.

Thank you so much. It's such an honor to be here.

Well, it's so nice to have you here. May I call you Christina? Okay, now I have to report that doctor Prescott, Christina has actually treated my eyes for kind of pre cataract conditions and inserted trifocal lenses a lens in each of my eyes. And I I have been so happy for the last year. I think we just passed my year's anniversary. I have been so happy. I have no contexts, I have no eyeglasses, and I have twenty twenty vision as of last week.

Yes, I was so excited, and I have to admit I was a little nervous when Martha came in and we talked a little bit about possibly doing cataract surgery, and I asked what you wanted to see and she said, I'd like to see everything perfectly at every distance. And the bar was a little high, but luckily, I think we got there.

You did it. You did it, and really I'm very happy. And I think that my age to have vision like I have, which I can drive and see every single road sign night and day. I can read in bed, I can watch movies far away. I can do pretty much everything with my eyes that eyes were meant to do. And really and truly it's those little lenses. Can you describe that operation right off the bat, because I think it's not magic, it's good science, and I think people would like to know about that.

It's so exciting. So I am. I think I have the best job. Well maybe martha job's a little bit, but.

Other than Martha's Stewart, I think I have the best job there is because cautaract surgery, which is the probably the majority of what I do, is such an amazing surgery. So literally the surgery is done through about a two millimeter incision, takes about ten to fifteen minutes, and it involves removing the cataract, which is the natural lens of the eye that's become cloudy over time, usually just as part of the natural maturing process. And then we have

Wow. Right, gosh, it was so terrible. Yeah, for everything. It was for the entire medical community and for all of us because you were in danger of getting the disease. Yeah, but it is an incredible progress report to be able to say that you can actually give back the vision that we were born with.

Right, And some people it's even better than the vision they were born because you were very fortunate in terms of even before you had the cataracts developing, you didn't wear glasses for anything, so you had very healthy eyes to start with. But some people come in and they say they've worn glasses since age five.

Oh, I know, I got classes when I was twelve. No I had I was near sighted. Oh okay, and I could I was. I had very good vision, but I couldn't see far enough to get my driver's license. So I did wear eyeglasses, and then I got contact lenses. And then when I got your lenses, Oh my gosh.

So this is the first time you haven't needed anything then never. No, That's what I'm so happy about.

Yeah. Yeah, So it's a very extraordinary thing that doctor Prescott does. She is also a young mother. She is extremely well educated. Can you describe your education please for us.

So I went to Columbia in New York, so right around the corner here for undergraduate, and I was a biophysics major. I just always really liked biology, physics, optics. And then I worked at Regeneron, which is a company that now some of you who are interested in eyes may be familiar with because they make a product called Iliyah which has been very successful for macular degeneration. But I started working there when I was in college, and

I've been all over.

Yeah, you have, You've been. And in the meantime you also have time to get married and have two children.

Three children.

Oh, three children, Oh my gosh. How old are they?

Oh my goodness, they're getting old.

Seventeen year old who actually had as an intern, which is I wouldn't necessarily recommend, but it worked out well.

He's a great kid.

And then a fifteen year old who I was as a resident, and then an eight year old, so there's a bit of a gap, but it's fun.

Wow. Well, it's so incredible, and you are just the master of your craft, really and truly, I have been so thrilled, and I thought maybe we should talk about besides the lenses which you've been planted in my eyes, we should really talk about general guidelines for taking care of one's eyes, because so many of us just don't have any idea. We know that they're precious, we know that we need our eyes. If there was one of the five senses that I could not live without, I

Well, the good thing is it's actually pretty simple. I think overall we've talked about this a little bit. Is a lot of the things, and as you mentioned so eloquently earlier, you know, the eyes are really the window to the solar and the self, and also really most of the things that affect the eyes are things that affect the rest of the body. It's just that we can see them in the eyes. So we have the epidemic of diabetes and high blood pressure in this country.

Can see it in the eye.

Your eyes great.

And the other thing is avoiding smoking.

I'm sure that's a common theme, but that's the one thing that makes macro degeneration, which is such a common problem.

That's the one thing we know we can do to.

Is that really common?

It is, It's very common, especially among people as they become older. It's an unfortunately there's not a cure. We have better treatments nowadays, but there's still not a cure. So things you can do to reduce your risk, which is the main one is smoking, and then there is some evidence that a Mediterranean diet and a high dose antioxidan vitamin also help.

And what are the signs of a healthy eye?

One thing that's fortunate is most of the time, not all the time, if you're seeing clearly, that's obvious a very good sign. Now, sometimes, like with diabetes, sometimes it's pretty advanced before you actually can get visual loss. Also, something called glaucoma can develop without you realizing it because it affects your peripheral vision.

So even though your vision.

Is good, it is still good important to get your eyes checked, especially as we get more mature, so.

They really do reflect your general health very much. So vision and eye pressure tend to get worse with age. I've read. Are there any signs of symptoms people shouldn't ignore or assume that are part of aging.

Well, the vision really shouldn't drop dramatically at any or suddenly at any point. So the sort of normal things that happen with aging, you know, the kadarct slowly developing, the eyes getting a little dry, or even the slow

And is there an age where you need to start annual exams?

So it really depends on the person in your family history, but in general, it is good to get a screening exam when as a child before you start school, definitely, because a lot of times children don't necessarily show that they can't see until they get.

To school, so it's good to do that mostly for their learning.

And then when you get a little bit older, you'll notice you'll start eating reading glasses, usually in the forties, so it's probably good to make sure that's all it is. And then once you get into your fifties, it's good to go more often.

But if you have a very.

Normal healthy exams that you go in at forty hor eyes perfectly healthy of no family risk factors, you don't necessarily need to go annually. For a lot of people, every three years would be okay, but you want to make sure that you don't have many risk factors.

And I've been noticing lots of little kids with eyeglasses these days. I think more than when I was in school as a child. Absolutely so is that because there is better detection?

Actually, that's such a huge thing, and I'm so glad you mentioned that because we actually have and some people literally are calling this a myopia epidemic, and myopia just.

Means being nearsighted.

But actually it's likely due to the increase in screen times, especially being held very close, the children spending so much time looking at these screens inside that actually, over the last ten to twenty years there's been worldwide and worse in some areas of Asia, but worldwide there's been a huge increase really, so that now about fifty percent of children are actually myopic, and it's predicted to get worse and worse over the next decades.

And if kids are looking at screens, should they be looking at screens in a dark room? Is that worse than looking at screens in a light room? Because I've been having arguments with my grandchildren. The boy is it's on his screen a lot. He watches sports, and so it's a small screen and he's in one hand he has a book where he's reading, and the other hand he has the screen watching a soccer game. What's the best way to watch a small screen if you're going to right.

So it's a combination of the size of the screen, so the smaller and closer or worse, and then also the lighting. So actually, if you can make them make him go outside and watch it outside, it actually is better.

Because then that's what I say, it's actually true. There's some data.

I know it sounds like a weird not scientific, was actually some great scientific data showing that spending time outside during the time that I was developing, so from birth up until about age seven to thirteen, you actually can reduce the amount of nearsightedness with more time spent outside. There are actually some public health interventions that are geared towards that.

So I was trying to wonder why I was myopic as a young child. But we didn't have screens. We didn't have screens, we didn't even have a television. So I read all the time, and I read in the semi dark because I was turn out your lights, and so I would read with a flashlight and probably very close hours and hours reading all the time with a flashlight in bed, yes, and I think that might have contributed to it. But I think also I think my mother was also my out.

There's a combination.

There's definitely a genetic tendency, and again this is part of the reason why Asian countries are such an increased incidence, but it also is related to near work. And then the other interesting thing. In some of the different countries where they have a lot of near sighted children, they've done studies looking at urban versus rural areas and it's amazing.

In ophthalmology, I see.

So many kids with glasses and it's hard to see them. They look like little old people in glasses.

And it's not just the glasses, because I think sometimes we think of that just cosmetic, and that's true. If it's a mild prescription like yours, it's a very mild prescription, so then it's perfectly healthy of a perfectly healthy eye. But when you get this would call pathologic myopia or

So it's not just a cosmetic thing.

So suggest to parents to reduce the amount of screen time, right.

I try, Yeah, I do try.

No, it's really yeah, it is, and for adults as well, for it doesn't affect your being nearsighted's so much once you're adult. But actually dry eye, which is such a huge problem. I think it's actually the most commonly diagnosed eye problem in the US, and I think probably worldwide. And actually screen time is directly contributes to dry eye symptoms as well, especially to periods. So do take breaks

So people pay attention to your kids and pay attention to screen time and be diligent about it because it really will have long term effects.

Yep.

And go outside and go outside. Yeah. Well, luckily, my grandchildren go outside all the time. They're out there all the time, and they don't mind either of being outside with their screens or inside. They just they're adaptable, but they have to watch out. Now, people get confused, what's the difference between an optometrist, an ophthalmologist, and an oculist.

So that's a great question.

So I think sometimes people do get confused with optalmalists versus optomics, and I work with both. I'm an ophthalmologist and I mostly do surgery. I don't do regular routine exams or glass or contacts myself. But the way I think of it is an ophalmologist is a medical doctor. So I went to medical school, did a residency just

What's an oculist? Is that a doctor? So no, that's I think an is that somebody who make cyeglasses.

I was gonna say, so optician is you? I think ocus is the old fashioned term for optician.

So the optician, remember hearing that from childhood, the oculus.

The oculus, So I think that's what they used to call an optician. Who is the person who actually makes class and that's a lost art. Now there are some really elegant crafts people who can really fine tune lenses. Now a lot of the lenses are made mechanically, not by hand, necessarily.

So so you just you describe the training that Aphalmologies goes through. That's a long training program.

Yeah, it's actually gotten quite competitive to I'm the program director at NYU and we have six lots and we get over seven hundred applicants every year, so it's become quite popular.

Wow wow, But so what is the whole industry of eye care? It's a vast industry. I was trying to remember since the time I was twelve when I got my first little pair of pink rimmed glasses. I remember they were little cat eyes and I wore those and I kind of liked I like having I have them. I's still oh my gosh, But I remember then I

Actually, I'm so glad you mentioned that because it's such a huge problem, and worldwide there are millions of children who basically would see perfectly if they had glasses. So luckily there are some good outreach programs here.

There's one that I.

Recently met the founder called ReSpectacle, which I thought was a really neat concept. And basically what you can do is you can donate your old glasses. You send them into this website and they keep a database of all the prescriptions and the type of glasses, and then anyone who wants to who needs glasses can go on there just type in their prescription and they'll make recommendations of similar ones that they have in sock and send them the strat yep.

Oh, just remember that everyone ReSpectacle. It's like hearing aids and now taking hearing aids. And I remember donating my mother's hearings when she passed away.

Because it's people's person changes, even the frames change. And then some of the different optical shops I know, Warby Parker is one of the ones that kind of pioneered this, but some other optical shops have started doing this as well, where when you buy a pair of glasses, they'll donate a pair as well to a child in need, which is there's some great programs out there.

Are very important, and oh gosh, that is such good news. So let's talk about these trifocal lenses again. Back to my eyes and the ability for me to have this wonderful vision that I have now or is that something that everyone could have?

So I'm so glad you asked that, because I love the trifocal lenses that I tell people, like if I was getting catac starch brow, that's what I would get.

My assistant, by the way, Matt, he just told me today that his eyeglasses are trifocal eyeglasses and they drive him crazy. They're eyeglasses and he can't read, he can't see distance, he can't drive at night, all the things that he's suffering. But he's wearing this one pair of glasses that supposedly does everything. Does that really work well?

So it's a lot harder with glasses. And I was also talking to one of your other colleagues about progressives, where a lot of times it's hard to actually progressive eyeglasses where you have far, medium, and close all in one frame and it basically gradually transitions. And that's actually probably the most popular type of lens now among people once they get into their forties or fifties or older.

But it's very shard like through the top of the lens.

One thing exactly distance in the middle in theory computer and bottoms in theory reading. But it's very hard to find the right spot to look through and when you look down it can actually affect your depth perception when you're walking up and downstairs, whereas with a lens implant, because of the way they're designed, you actually don't have to look at a specific diress. It's just based on

They're not unfortunately not an option. I was every lucky.

I was just lucky that my eyes were Yeah, my eyes were good. I think that if people who have healthy eyes but at least investigate that option, it would be something. But you told me that insurance doesn't cover them, right.

Unfortunately, they are more expensive lenses, so they're not an option for everyone. But I have had patients tell me, well, I did the calculation, and this is how much I paid for the specific lens, and then this is how much I used to spend on my glasses, and after that point I'll come out ahead.

So right, So obviously it depends on.

The Really, after one year my eyes, I have a little bit of dry eyes and you've taken care of that, but generally just so comfortable and no more worrying that I fell asleep with my contacts in or that I left my glasses somewhere. It's really a great relief to be able to have these lenses implanted. Yeah, who is the surgery for. It's you've just said for people with healthy guys.

So cataract surgery is really for anyone who has the cataractors developing counteracts. But in terms of the trifocal lens that you really need a healthy eye. But fortunately, even for people who have other eye issues, there are a lot of different lens options out there now, and I think that's that one really gives you the best chance of not needing any glasses and having that full range of vision. But even someone who has something like a macad degenerator.

You're in Asia, are you too young for trifocals or I usually.

Don't recommend having counteract surgery until you at least are starting to develop the contact and having some visual changes from that, because if you have a normal, healthy lens, and say you're in your forties, even if you start needing reading glasses, that's a pretty big surgery to go through if your eyes otherwise healthy and just needing reading glasses.

So usually it's rare.

To have that surgery before age fifty athough un certain circumstances, we.

Do so like all fifty year olds, pay attention.

Exactly see when you start having your vision travel, at least go get checked.

I would think that it would work for everybody, but it doesn't.

Well if people.

Have other eye issues, and then the other thing is, now your surgery went very well, but that lens Basically, the surgery has to go perfectly and you have to, as we say, hit the target exactly because it's a very specific lens. So if you don't think you're going to be able to get a successful surgery, or the measurements aren't accurate or reliable, then that might not be well.

You need an expert like you, you.

Who does a who does a lot of those surgeries.

So, and the recovery was very simple. Sure, yeah, two days it was fine. You're a very healthy person, so I know I'm lucky. So what do you say to patients who come to you and have are very fearful about operating on their eyes? Because I was, people say, oh, did you have lasik? What is lasik surgery?

So, lasik surgery is a surgery to it's a laser eye surgery. I also do that as well, and that's designed to reduce the need of glasses for someone who doesn't have cataracts. So, say you're in your twenties or thirties when you wore glasses all the time, but you just want to get rid of the glasses or contacts, use a laser to basically reshape the cornea, almost like using a laser to etch a permanent.

Contact you that round perfect eye again exactly, And that's that is very delicate and very you have to be an expert at that is a surgeon.

Right, That's awesome, very spaci.

I know my sister had that and she's thrilled. She's thrilled with it.

Yeah, so that's a great option.

I tell people when you're in your twenties thirties, lasik is a great option, and then when you get into your fifty sixties, the counteract surge is great options. We still don't have something perfect for that sort of in the forties, which actually is where I am in the forties range yet.

But we're working on it so well.

Could that be?

So? There are some surgeons that were developed basically putting an implant into the cornea to try to reduce the need for reading glasses, but none of them have quite panned out because the quality of vision hasn't been there yet.

But that doesn't mean it won't be. It's just not there yet.

Can you describe the eyeball? I just I went through this with my beautiful dog, Crembreulet recently. She had to have her eyeball removed because she wounded it. She must have run into a tree. And I looked at all the photography and all the drawings of the eye to see what the doctor was talking about. But can you describe it? Here? You have a beautiful eye, it is, so what's the dark center?

So the very dark center is actually the pupil, which is not an actual object, it's.

Just an area where in the space the window.

Well, so you have the cornea first, which is the clear front covering of that. And that's one of my areas interestince I transplant that and actually it's interesting. The corny was actually the first successful solid organ transplant ever performed in nineteen oh six Edward zerm. But it's pretty amazing because it's a vascar. There's no blood vest it's clear covering of your eye, yep. Because there's no blood vessels. It's actually the easiest organ to transplant because the rejection

And then have you ever operated on an odd colored eye?

Well, one thing that I should say is the sort of public safety thing, and I think this is advertised somewhere, especially for people go online to do a lot of social media. There was a trend of wild God, I think it's hopefully abated, but I'm not one hundred percent sure where people were going to other countries and having

I saw some of these I saw.

I Unfortunately, I had two of these patients who went overseas for the surge, but then came back to the US when they had complications, and very sad.

Actually, I had a.

Thirty something year old, beautiful young lady who'd gone overseas and had this done.

I had to do a bilatal corner.

Was she going from to what color she was engined?

She was middle Eastern, had dark colored eyes, and she went to blue eyes, but it didn't didn't go so well. So lucky hair surgeries went well. Her countaract and cornial transplant. She did well from a vision point of view, but it was sad.

Back to brown, but a little bit cloudy because of all the scarring.

Gee yes. For Halloween, I always insert colored contact lenses that you can buy these every color of contact lens. So one year I did yellow, they look so weird and beautiful. One year of jagged purple and they look really good like the tailor violet eyes, and I've done white eyes. The white are the scariest.

Yeah, some of them are very disturbing looking. Actually, another public safety announcement, careful. You'll be careful where you purchase those lenses because if you go to an optical shop or you have an optomics or an optician who provides those for you, there are a lot of beautiful, safe ones out there.

Okay, I've got them from I think Faushion.

Okay, yeah, that's great because that's a great company. But you do have to be careful because especially around Halloween time, a lot of drug stores or costume supply stores and.

The internet will sell it.

And a lot of them are really not very they're not sterile, they're not.

Safe for the eye.

And every year we see a lot of really pretty significant cornial ulcers and it actually forget it.

People do not wear you can.

Get they just get them from a from a legitimate optical shop. Don't get them online costume shop. I'd like to get dressed up for Halloween, so just be careful where you get them.

There.

Okay. So then you have your iris, yes.

And then we have the vitreous, which is the gel of the eye that kind of gives you the form part of the eye, and that's where people get floaters. I know, floaters are something that a lot of people probably have and I'm sure some of the people out there thinking, oh, she's gonna tell me how to fix my floaters and it's going to be great. But unfortunately

But what could you do it?

Well, I guess there's not necessarily anything you could do since we don't have a treatment right now, but at least.

To be aware, yeah you're going to fit Alzheimer.

That you're the higher risk maybe and maybe a venture we have a treatment.

Come in and you can look at me and make sure.

I think there's lots of evidence that you're doing just fine.

Goodness, So that's it.

That's the eye, not the Yeah, it's very simple, but very beautiful. Where do you transplant from from donor donor. It's actually pretty amazing. In the US, we have a great I banking system, so for people who are organ donors, that's one of the most utilized organs that can be used.

I never thought of it that way because my sister who passed away gave her eyes. So somebody has her eyes. Yes, well they have her.

Right the corny is the only part of the eye that can be transmit It's pretty amazing. And sometimes, you know, you see the stories about the donors and the recipients, and I always ask my patients, I said, do you want to know who gave the cornia? Because sometimes it's a sad story and they can write letters to the family and things saying thank you. And especially when I have a child who gets the cornea as the recipient, a lot of times I think it's really nice.

To And so why would you have to have your corny replaced? Is it so there are there or something not?

Usually so there are some congenital reasons for children and then an adult. There's something called Fuchs corneal dystrophy, which is basically genetic conditions. It's actually pretty common where you lose the inner cells of your corny over time as you get older.

But it's really neat.

Now instead of having to replace the whole cornea for that, we can literally just replace the inner layer of cells with a donor layer of cells.

And now there's some new things going on that just.

Got approved in you inject the cells.

So actually, it's funny you asked that you're ahead of your time and a lot. Yeah. Yeah, Shaguru Kinoshita in Japan actually just got approved in Japan a cell injection therapy and he's been working on that for decades and he finally got approved in Japan and now we'll see if if that gets approved in the US.

But I think we're getting pretty close.

Wow.

So it's amazing. It's amazing.

Our eyes one of the most worked on organs.

Actually, a cataracts ARET is most common surgery performed in the US.

It is.

It is probably because it's so successful and as you mentioned, people care so much about their vision. That's something that people are likely to have operated on eyes you want to see and I think our outcomes are just really good.

It's so amazing. I'm so thrilled about this. So what are some of the risks to eye health from weight loss drugs. I've been hearing that there are some problems.

So that's such a good question because it's such a hot topic right now. I mean, the drugs have been such an incredible thing for so many people. A lot of my patients are on it and really have had a great result. Initially, there was quite a worry because there are a few cases of what's called naion, which is almost like a mini stroke to the eye that can happen. It usually happens overnight and people notice it when they wake up in the morning with basically half

To being very good.

That's a great thing overall, but sometimes it can actually that that sudden change can actually cause some changes in the blood vessels of the eye and actually can make the diabetic retinopathy worse if you already have that.

So that's something you want to be aware.

If you start those medications, especially if you have diabetes, to make sure you have your retin a check before you start the medication, that have someone who can follow that because's usually treatable, but you want to be aware of that.

The other thing that concerns us is sudden exposure with the demise of the protective layers of the atmosphere because of global warming and stuff. How important is it to wear sunglasses.

Well, it is, and it is important, and part of the reason isn't so much what people think for the inside of the eyes, also for the eyelids, because the eyelids are actually one of the most common sights of skin cancer because that skin is so delicate, and people don't always realize that those are the main reasons for that.

Sunglasses.

Yeah, and your new fancy lens actually have a UV filter built into them.

A lot of the and you know what, notice that you didn't tell me that. Oh sorry, but I noticed that because I don't feel like I have to put sunglasses on them all the time.

A lot of the newer, higher end lenses have that.

Welt into it, So that is brilliant. So if you aren't wearing sunglasses, should you wear a hat?

Do you want to do something to protect again, especially the delicate skin around the lids and then the white part of the eye.

And what about you said, smoking is like one of the worst things for eyesight, Yes, and for lungs and for everything else. It's really damaging to your eyesight.

Yeah, especially for a mac of the degeneration. And then thyroid eye disease, which you may see there's a lot of advertising now about five rid eye disease. When you see people their eyes come out, they look like it're almost like popping out. Smoking is the biggest respector for that as well, and that affects younger people.

A lot of the time.

So is Lasik less popular now because this is the laser treatment for irregular eye shapes right.

Right, for being nearsight or foresight?

Is it less popular now?

Well, it's interesting. I think it's reached a steady state.

I think what happened is when Lasik first came out, so it's FT approved in nineteen ninety nine, there were.

You know that's very not so long A yeah, I guess.

FT approved in nineteen ninety nine, And I think what happened is so many people were excited, so there's this huge boom, right, I mean, everyone who didn't like glasses or contact was getting the Lasik surgery, so there was that huge wave. And I think now it's happened is it's more of a steady state where most people want Lasik. I've already had Lasik, but there are still new people every year who are getting to the age or just

Now I wanted to talk about diet because people always say, oh, eat carrots, they're good for your eyes kerotene? What about foods? Which foods are really good for your eyesight?

So the only evidence we really have is the Mediterranean diet, which I'm sure you're much more familiar with the exact details than I am. And then one thing that's it's concerning about. Actually, this is something that I don't think we really think about in this country, is actually a vitamin A. So usually and it's only we thought of it only as a developing world issue where people have a vitamin A deficiency. But recently I've seen a few cases in some very severe where people have come in.

At allain A most readily found.

So you've got your carrot, your leafy greens, so most of your vegetables, but even you can take a supplement if you're in someone who doesn't get that. But I've seen a couple of children now again the one who is very severe. Who with these restrictive diets who come in with problems?

Now, who ever restrict vegetables from a child? Yes, it was, it happens.

I don't think they're getting the home cooked meals from you.

Well, we have covered so much territory in such a short period of time, and you were so eloquent about it. This is really an amazing amount of information to digest. Is there a book? Have you written a book about the eye? Yet?

I've written, have several chapters and articles. I don't have my own particular book.

Can we reference those somewhere?

Absolutely?

So where do we look? We look under Christina, doctor Christina Prescott.

I think you just type in my name in n YU and then a page will come up with a little bit about me, and then have some reference with some articles and things that I've written. And also if you know you need tripical lenses or are other issues, then has a number to call.

Okay, So this is at NYU Lango and doctor Christina Prescott p R. E. S C O T T. We do have a lot of research that you have contributed to and written, so that's very useful. I am so interested in the eye. I am so interested in good eyesight, and I am so interested in seeing the world, so we have to protect our eyes. And thank you for all this information. I'm really happy to have talked to you. This is fantastic and thank you, and our listeners will really benefit tremendously from this.

Well, thank you so much. I'm just gonna say that I have to ad make I've done so many eyes surcher. I don't usually get nervous, but I was a little nervous doing Martha's eye surgery.

But I was so happy it went well.

I think she's an amazing woman who's been up personal hero of mine for a while.

So thank you, but don't be nervous with that. I wasn't nervous. I wasn't that all nervous. I was just so happy with the result, and thank you so much.

Cher,