Holmdel Doctor Offers Specialty in Glaucoma

By Vince Echavaria
Staff Writer - Independent, Feb., 2004

HOLMDEL — Area glaucoma patients don’t have to travel far for treatment, thanks to ophthalmologist Dr. Surekha Collur’s practice right here in town.

Collur is a board-certified ophthalmologist with a specialty in glaucoma, a disease of the eyes that is one of the major causes of blindness in the United States. She co-owns her North Beers Street practice, located next to Bayshore Community Hospital, with her husband, Dr. Uday Menon.

Collur is one of only about 1,500 female ophthalmologists in the country and also one of the only ophthalmologists with a glaucoma specialty in Monmouth County, Menon said.

Collur, 39, acquired the practice in July from Dr. Anthony Micale, the other ophthalmologist in the office, who started the practice in 1970. Micale started the practice in Matawan and brought it to the North Beers Street office in 1982. The practice also has an office in Tinton Falls.

Micale, who decided that after three decades it was time to sell the practice, said the practice offers comprehensive eye care with a specialty in glaucoma. "Dr. Collur is well received and extremely well trained," Micale said. "She has brought the most modern and latest dimension of ophthalmologic care to this practice, and she’s wonderful to work with."

The practice was created to provide the most up-to-date ophthalmologic care, Micale said, and with glaucoma affecting as much as 2 to 4 percent of the general public, it was important to find a doctor for the area who specializes in the disease. Glaucoma is caused when there is too much pressure in the eye that results in optic nerve damage, which can cause vision loss, he said.

Collur is originally from Hyberabad in southern India; she received her medical degree in 1987 in India. She then studied ophthalmology in Delhi, India, where she completed her medical residency and received her ophthalmology degree in 1991. She came to the United States in 1995 for a fellowship in Brooklyn at the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. It was in New York that she met her husband, with whom she has two sons, Karan, 4, and Arjun, 2. They now live in the Morganville section of Marlboro.

Collur worked part time in an ophthalmology practice in Jersey City in order to take care of her children, but she said now that she has her own practice, it has worked out well for her. "You have control over your life, and you can make your own decisions to bring in a piece of equipment or staff member," she said. "The goal is not to have stress and still work hard."

Menon said many people confuse ophthalmologists with optometrists, eye doctors who prescribe glasses and contact lenses, but can’t perform surgery. Although Collur said some optometrists can prescribe glaucoma medications, patients may need more extensive treatment by an ophthalmologist.

"The field has a medical aspect and a surgical aspect," Collur said. "Eye surgery is almost like an art form, and I feel that every surgery is a performance."

When it is determined that glaucoma patients require surgery, they are sent to either Somerset Eye Institute, Bayshore Community Hospital, or Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, said Maxine Relkin, Collur’s surgical coordinator. Relkin said approximately 10 patients a week have surgery.

Medication and laser surgery are other treatments for glaucoma patients, but Micale said surgery has the highest success rate. The surgeon’s fees for the procedure are about $1,200, Collur said, and includes three months of postsurgical care. Collur, who also performs cataract surgery, said deferred payments are available.

"The benefits of the field are when the patients are able to see," she said. Glaucoma is a silent disease often with no symptoms, so the challenge is to educate patients to take care of themselves and check their eyes, Collur said. People who are most at risk for the disease are African-Americans, the elderly, diabetics and those with a family history of glaucoma, she said.

The practice sees about 40 to 50 patients a day, six days a week. Patients range from newborns to people over 100 years old. "She’s a great doctor because she listens to what you have to say and lets you choose what you want to do," said Gracie Sharp, a patient who received laser treatment.

As an ophthalmologist, Collur has treated many patients, but she said the ones who have stood out the most are the newborn babies who had surgery for congenital glaucoma.

Ophthalmology is a fast-changing field with frequent technological advances, Collur said. Micale also said the advances have been outstanding, but because people are living longer, more people have the disease.

"I want to provide state-of-the-art medical and surgical care to patients at a high quality," Collur said. "I want to increase their awareness and do what I can."

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