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The Peter Attia Drive

#198 - Eye health—everything you need to know | Steven Dell, M.D.

The Peter Attia Drive

Peter Attia, MD

Health & Fitness, Medicine, Fitness

4.77.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 March 2022

⏱️ 164 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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Episode Description:

Steven Dell is an ophthalmologist, current Medical Director of Dell Laser Consultants, and a leader in refractive eye surgery with over 20 patents to his name. In this episode, Steven explains the anatomy and functional mechanics of the eye and how they relate to common variations in vision. He discusses changes in vision that occur with aging, the fundamentals of different types of vision loss, and provides an in-depth look into the various treatments and procedures available for corrective eye surgery. Additionally, Steven explains how one might protect the eyes and prevent vision loss—a topic particularly important for children in light of the epidemic of myopia.

We discuss:

  • Why Steven chose ophthalmology, and the crossovers to other medical disciplines [3:45];
  • Anatomy of the eye, common types of vision loss, and age-related vision changes [14:15];
  • Eye drops that can potentially improve vision [27:30];
  • The explanation for different eye colors [33:15];
  • Physiology of the eye and its connections to the brain [34:45];
  • Understanding human vision through an evolutionary lens [41:00];
  • Enhancing vision beyond 20/20 [47:00];
  • Astigmatism: definition, cause, and high prevalence [51:30];
  • Nearsightedness (myopia): causes, epidemic in children, and prevention strategies [54:15];
  • Cataracts: impact of aging and how they can be repaired [1:05:00];
  • Lens implants that can correct and improve vision [1:19:30];
  • Effects of eye trauma [1:26:45];
  • Corneal abrasion from ‘dry eye’: causes, treatment, and prevention strategies [1:29:00];
  • Sunglasses for eye protection [1:35:00];
  • Solutions to correct nearsightedness [1:42:00];
  • Laser eye surgery—photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) [1:45:45];
  • Laser eye surgery—LASIK [2:02:00];
  • Laser eye surgery—small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) [2:11:45];
  • Glaucoma: definition, causes, symptoms, and care [2:13:45];
  • Tips for preserving eye health [2:20:00];
  • Screen time and eye health [2:24:15];
  • Contact lenses: good hygiene and considerations [2:27:45];
  • A bonus benefit from repairing cataracts [2:29:00];
  • Questions about corrective eye surgery [2:31:30];
  • How an eye exam can be a window into metabolic illness [2:33:45]; and
  • More.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everyone, welcome to the Drive Podcast.

0:13.0

I'm your host, Peter Atia.

0:14.8

This podcast, my website, and my weekly newsletter, I'll focus on the goal of translating

0:18.7

the science of longevity into something accessible for everyone.

0:22.4

Our goal is to provide the best content in health and wellness, full stop, and we've assembled

0:27.0

a great team of analysts to make this happen.

0:29.4

If you enjoy this podcast, we've created a membership program that brings you far more

0:33.2

in-depth content if you want to take your knowledge of this space to the next level.

0:37.3

At the end of this episode, I'll explain what those benefits are, or if you want to learn

0:41.0

more now, head over to peteratiamd.com forward slash subscribe.

0:46.3

Now without further delay, here's today's episode.

0:49.0

I guess this week is Stephen Dell.

0:53.2

Stephen is an internationally recognized leader in refractive eye surgery, specializing in

0:58.5

lactic surgery, cataract surgery and refractive lens exchange.

1:02.8

He's also the chief medical editor of the journal Cataracts and refractive surgery today.

1:08.0

He's the emeritus chair and president emeritus of the American European Congress of Optimologic

1:14.0

Surgery.

1:15.0

He's a principal investigator on a variety of FDA clinical trials in the field of eye surgery.

1:19.6

He is the inventor of several surgical instruments and devices and holds over 20 US and international

1:25.3

patents in the field of eye surgery.

1:26.9

He is also the author of numerous textbook chapters and peer-reviewed journal articles.

1:31.7

This episode we talk about all things related to the eye and I'm pretty open in the outside

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