THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, March 26, 1995 TAG: 9503240197
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Dr. Martin Chester Seremet, the city's first physician specializing full-time in glaucoma treatment, has been practicing at Obici Hospital since August. He came from the University of Virginia's Health Sciences Center.
A disease with no known cure, glaucoma is usually caused when a number of different eye diseases produce increased pressure in the eye, according to literature from The Glaucoma Foundation, of New York City. Over time, the pressure causes damage to the optic nerve.
Early detection and treatment can help prevent vision loss, Seremet said.
``If you're over 60 years old, you should be seen by a specialist once a year,'' he said.
Seremet said patients often feel no pain or experience decreased vision, but ``suddenly, they have damage to the optic nerve.'' In one instance, he said, he encountered a patient who ``probably had the disease 10 or 15 years and didn't know it.''
He said blacks are more susceptible to the disease, as are people with a family history of the disease.
Adding to the misery, he said, is the fact that glaucoma patients have a higher incidence of headaches, including migraines.
``Roughly 8 million people in the U.S. have elevated pressure in the eye - intraocular pressure - and are at risk for developing visual damage,'' said Dr. David Steinberger, executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Glaucoma Foundation.
``It's important to note that many people develop glaucoma while maintaining normal intraocular pressure. About 80,000 people are blind in both eyes; an additional 250,000 are blind in one eye due to this disease.''
Over 1 million others, Steinberger said, suffer impaired vision from glaucoma.
During the past decade, Steinberger said, progress has been made in glaucoma treatment.
Seremet's interest in the field came when he was in residency at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. He was inspired by an ophthalmologist.
Seremet, a 42-year-old Massachusetts native, has a B.A. from the University of Louisville and a master's in philosophy from George Washington University. He received his medical degree from that Washington, D.C., school in 1983.
Seremet had a glaucoma fellowship at the University of Virginia's Health Sciences Center in Charlottesville, then served in the Navy in Hampton Roads with Surface Atlantic Fleet.
He was General Medical Officer, Destroyer Squadron 32, later assuming the same position with Cruiser-Destroyer Group 8.
Seremet is among three Hampton Roads physicians specializing in glaucoma treatment but the only one working full-time in Suffolk.
Drs. Frederic J. Gross and Deborah Y. Wilson of Ophthalmic Consultants of Tidewater in Norfolk, are in Suffolk once a month.
Gross visits the office of Dr. David A. Lotz, 140 W. Washington St., the first Thursday of every month. Wilson is there the third Thursday each month. ILLUSTRATION: LEARN MORE
For information about glaucoma and its treatment, call The Glaucoma
Foundation: 1-800-832-EXAM.
by CNB