On Sunday, July 4 2021, Eye Consultants of Atlanta’s Dr. Barry Lee made his debut guest appearance on “The Weekly Check-Up” on News/Talk WSB Radio.
During the show, Dr. Lee and host, Dr. Bruce Feinberg, discussed several ophthalmologic health topics, including dry eyes, corneal transplants, advances in cataract surgery, vision correction surgery, glaucoma, keratoconus, uveitis, and macular degeneration.
Dr. Lee answered questions from several callers about keratoconus and macular degeneration. He emphasized how the macula is the part of the retina that controls your central vision, and macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the U.S. He discussed how doctors host conferences exclusively about the macula, as “research has exploded with treatment options for macular degeneration over the past 5 years” for eye health.
Eye Consultants of Atlanta is the provider for the Piedmont Hospital Healthcare System, representing one of the largest Southeastern Ophthalmology practices in the US with inclusion of ophthalmologists and optometrists. He emphasized the importance of seeking care in a high volume center for whatever procedure a patient requires. Dr. Lee said Eye Consultants of Atlanta “is one of the busiest corneal transplant and cataract services in the country.” They routinely see referrals throughout the entire state as well as patients from all our neighboring states.
The average corneal specialist completes around 15-30 corneal transplants a year, but Dr. Lee is able to average 200 – 300 corneal transplants annually. He highlighted how there are “epicenters that specialize in this [corneal transplant surgery], and that’s where you want to go if you need cornea or cataract surgery because that’s where you’re going to have better success.” He continued, “high volume facilities and high volume surgeons have been shown to have better outcomes.”
Dr. Barry Lee received both his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Kentucky. He completed residency training at the University of Kentucky and his fellowship training at the University of California, Davis. He has served as President of the Georgia Society of Ophthalmology, is president-elect of the Cornea Society, and serves or has served on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Eye Bank, the Eye Bank Association of America, the Cornea Society, and the Cornea Clinical Committee of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. He is the recipient of the Senior Achievement Award of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, a member of the exclusive CEDARS/ASPENS organization, and the youngest recipient of the prestigious R. Townley Paton Award for corneal surgeons.
Dr. Lee joined Eye Consultants of Atlanta in 2003 and practices at the Cumberland and Buckhead locations. He also operates and sees patients in a satellite location in Macon, Georgia at the Eye Center of Central Georgia. At Eye Consultants of Atlanta, Dr. Lee specializes in cataract and cornea surgery, external eye diseases, LASIK and lens replacement surgery.
Did you miss Dr. Barry Lee on “The Weekly Check-Up” on Sunday, July 4? See below for the full segment.