Peter J. Polack MD FACS LASIK Cataract Cornea Specialist Ocala FL

04/29/2026

Question: Should I pop a stye on my eye?

Dr. Po**ck responds: Generally speaking, no.

The layman's term 'stye' is usually more than a single type of lesion. In medical parlance, a stye is known as a hordeolum. To make things more complicated, there are internal hordeola (plural for hordeolum) and external hordeola.

External vs Internal Hordeolum

The external hordeolum is what most people think of a stye. It is a blocked, sometimes inflamed, sometimes painful oil gland on the outside of the lid margin. Often it is associated with an eye lash. Causes are many but are ultimately related to something irritating the gland to the point where the opening swells shut and the contents produced have nowhere to go. They're more common in children because they rub their eyes more and often with dirty hands. But some adults never seem to outgrow them. Treatment: warm compresses - as warm as tolerable and as often as possible.

An internal hordeolum is the same process as above but involving the larger meibomian oil glands which are located deeper in the lid. These can get quite large and can become quite painful. In most cases the natural course is similar to the external hordeolum: warm compresses do the trick and it will either shrink gradually or come to a head and open and drain spontaneously. Massaging with the fingertips following the warm compresses can encourage the process.

In most cases, neither of these is a true 'infection' (although they can lead to one - see below) so it is best to let Mother Nature heal things. Most over-the-counter preparations do little and antibiotic drops or ointment cannot really pe*****te inside the gland so are a waste of money.

To Pop or Not to Pop

When either of these lesions is acutely inflamed - but more so the internal hordeolum - there is always the chance that this is the early stage of a more serious problem, namely an infection. In this case, popping the 'stye' yourself runs the risk of actually spreading the infection to other glands that weren't involved or other parts of the lid. This is known as a preseptal cellulitis and has to be treated with antibiotic pills.

Worse yet, if the infection spreads from there into the deeper tissues behind the eyelid, this is known as an orbital cellulitis and constitutes a medical emergency. Untreated, especially in children, the infection can threaten the vision.

In some situations, the hordeolum has come to a head and is either 'pointing' on the outside of the lid where it is readily visible or on the underside of the lid. The eye doctor may opt to pick the top off with a sterile needle to relieve the pressure and allow the heat and massage to release the contents. But this is done under a microscope to be certain other structures are not being disturbed.

Chalazion

After the acute phase of the hordeolum has passes, often what will be left is a chalazion, a hard nodule that can be felt or even seen if it is large enough. There is no tenderness but it can be aggravating and in rare cases can actually cause slight blurring. The chalazion can be treated with an I&D (incision and drainage) minor surgery procedure: the lid is numbed, a chalazion clamp is placed on the lid and the lid is flipped over or everted, a sharp scalpel is used to perform a small incision and usually the contents - lipogranulomatous material - pop out easily, but sometimes needs a little help, the eye is pressure-patched for a couple of hours and antibiotic ointment is prescribed for several days.

Beware of Chronic 'Styes'

Lastly, if you have a 'stye' that is not getting better or that has been present for more than a few weeks, it is important to have it checked by an eye doctor. In rare cases, what looks like a simple stye may actually be a serious condition known as sebaceous cell carcinoma, a rare but potentially deadly cancer that can masquerade as a number of benign-looking but chronic lid lesions.

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Schedule a consult with Ocala Eye at (352) 290-7180 if you are experiencing an eye issue as described above.

04/28/2026

Should I pop a stye on my eye?

Dr. Po**ck says: Generally, no.

What most people call a stye is usually a hordeolum—a blocked oil gland in the eyelid. There are two types:
🔹 External hordeolum:
Forms along the lash line. Often looks like a small, tender bump. Caused by irritation or blockage of an oil gland—commonly from rubbing your eyes.
🔹 Internal hordeolum:
Deeper inside the eyelid and often more painful. Can get larger and take longer to resolve.

Best treatment?
👉 Warm compresses (as warm as you can tolerate) several times a day
👉 Gentle massage after warming can help it drain naturally
Most styes are not true infections, and over-the-counter drops or ointments usually don’t help much.

🚫 Why you shouldn’t pop it:
Popping a stye yourself can:
• Spread bacteria to nearby glands
• Lead to preseptal cellulitis (eyelid infection)
• In rare cases, cause orbital cellulitis—a serious emergency that can threaten vision
Eye doctors can safely drain a stye—but only under sterile conditions and magnification.

👀 What happens if it doesn’t go away?
Sometimes a stye turns into a chalazion—a firm, painless lump. If it lingers, your eye doctor can remove it with a quick in-office procedure.

⚠️ When to seek care:
• Increasing redness or swelling
• Pain spreading beyond the eyelid
• Vision changes
• Fever

Bottom line:
Let your body do its job—use warm compresses and hands off. If it worsens or sticks around, see your eye doctor.

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Schedule a consult with Ocala Eye at (352) 290-7180 if you are experiencing an eye issue as described above.

04/12/2026

Question: Eyes going out of focus with no apparent cause. Why could this be?

Dr. Po**ck responds: Without knowing your age, your medical history or examining you, it is not possible to tell you with certainty what the problem is.

However, both eyes going out of focus at the same time can be due to dry eye, which can occur if you have been concentrating on a visual task such as reading, driving, computer or watching television. These result in a decreased blink rate resulting in dryness of the ocular surface. Blinking more often or using artificial tears can clear up the vision.

Another cause, associated with near vision tasks such as reading or computer, is over-accommodation of the lens of the eye. This is more likely in younger people under the age of 40. After 40, we are not able to accommodate (focus at near) as well, so this problem is less common. The solution is taking frequent breaks from the near work by looking up and focusing on something in the distance. In severe cases, such as occurs with studying excessively during school exams, the muscles which perform accommodation can get ‘stuck’, known as accommodative spasm. The treatment for this is strong dilating drops known as cycloplegics which temporarily paralyze these muscles, breaking the accommodative spasm.

There are other causes which are much less common such as a neurological condition or trauma. But in medicine we like to follow Occam’s Razor: the most likely thing is the most likely thing.

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Schedule a consult with Dr. Po**ck at (352) 290-7180

👀

04/09/2026

Are LASIK eye surgeries safe? How safe?

"As a LASIK surgeon and also a LASIK patient I can tell you that for the right candidate, LASIK is a great procedure. But it is not for everyone.

When LASIK first came out almost 20 years ago, many surgeons were pushing the envelope to see how much correction they could achieve. Over time, however, it was noted that too much flattening of the cornea or too much removal of tissue could leave to undesirable consequences, from poor quality of night vision to more serious complications such as thinning of the cornea known as ectasia.

So as time went by, the percentage of patients considered 'good candidates' actually decreased, at least in the minds of most reputable surgeons. As a result most LASIK surgeons start drawing the line around -8.00 diopters. Any more than that and there might be too much removal of tissue. This number may be even less if the patient's cornea is thinner than average.

Historically, surgeons would look at how thick the flap would be, how much tissue would be removed, and then calculate the residual thickness of the cornea underneath the flap. If this was at least 250 microns, then you were probably safe. However, even with this 'tried and true' rule, there were still patients who had problems.

A recent meta-analysis has now recommended staying within a certain percentage of tissue removed, rather than an absolute number. This might be more conservative. But there is unfortunately no perfect way of predicting who might have a problem.

The best thing to do then is to be conservative. That may mean for patients higher than -8.00, they might want to consider another option: surface ablation such as PRK (but high corrections require treatment with Mitomycin C to reduce the chance of scarring), phakic IOL such as ICL or refractive lens exchange with a pseudophakic IOL (but these are more invasive and have potentially higher risks associated with them.

Finally, the last option is not to have surgery at all."

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Schedule a LASIK evaluation with Dr. Po**ck at (352) 290-7180

04/02/2026

Question: Is working at a computer in the dark bad for your eyes?

Dr Po**ck Responds: Doing this by itself is not 'harming' your eyes. Having said that, the reason that working in the dark causes problems is because a flickering light source causes the pupils to have to constrict and dilate many times quickly, over and over again. There are muscles involved in this process and, like any other muscle, overuse can be symptomatic - eyestrain, headaches, etc. This will also partly depend on the type of monitor you have, the refresh rate, the resolution, etc.

So, even with some low ambient lighting in the room nearby, like a lamp, computer use can be less of an problem.

Computer use alone, whether in adequate light or not, is also associated with dry eye syndrome because of a decrease in the blinking rate - also seen with such things as driving, reading a book, or watching tv - and also incomplete blinking - more common in the use of digital devices more so than a book. We are seeing more dry eye syndrome in younger people and this is probably a contributing factor.

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Call Ocala Eye at (352) 290-7180 to schedule your next eye consultation!

EyeHealth

03/31/2026

"Will my eyesight get worse if I don't wear prescription glasses?"

Dr. Po**ck responds: If you are an adult, No. For children, Maybe. Changes in vision (we are talking about distance vision here since near vision normally decreases due to aging) over time is dependent on a few different factors:
- your genetic predisposition (did your parents wear glasses and at what age)
- your occupational activities (the more near work you do, the worse your vision can potentially get especially if you are predisposed to be myopic or near-sighted)
- use of glasses or contacts which are too strong can potentially make your vision worse over time especially if you are myopic (this is called 'over-minusing' and can overstimulate accommodation which in turn can worsen myopia according to some studies)
- recent studies have shown a link between lack of sunlight exposure and worsening of myopia (so kick the kids out of the house to go play outside!)
- young children who need to wear prescription eyeglasses definitely need to wear their prescription eyeglasses otherwise they can fail to develop normal vision. If this is not corrected before the age of 12, the abnormal vision could be permanent (also known as amblyopia or 'lazy eye').
So to answer your question, assuming you are an adult, NOT using your prescription eyeglasses will not make your vision get worse than it would get naturally anyway (you just won't see very well).

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Schedule your LASIK/RLE/Premium Cataract consultation with Dr. Po**ck at (352) 290-7180

**ck

03/27/2026

Has anyone ever gone blind due to LASIK surgery?

Dr. Po**ck responds: I am a LASIK surgeon and I have also undergone the procedure myself (update: about 25 years ago - and yes, I can still see just fine), so I can give you the perspective from both the surgeon and the patient: it is a very safe procedure.

One must also define 'blindness':
To the layperson - legal blindness or 20/200 or worse vision but the eye can still see and in many instances can be repaired and can regain vision again
To the ophthalmologist - blindness means the eye has lost the ability to see and cannot be repaired. So when an eye doctor is talking about blindness, it is pretty darn serious and also very rare.

There are two kinds of complications:
1) Intraoperative - almost impossible to cause blindness
2) Postoperative - rare chance of blindness

1) Intraoperative occur DURING the procedure

There are two parts to the LASIK procedure:
A) Flap creation
B) Refractive procedure

A) Flap creation - if there is something that might go terribly wrong DURING the procedure, it would more likely be related to the flap creation. This is where a flap is cut (traditionally with a blade but more recently with a laser) in the cornea and the tissue peeled back. When LASIK was first developed in the early 1990s, the device that cut the flap - the microkeratome - had to be assembled by the surgeon at the time of the surgery. One critical piece separated the blade from the rest of the device (think about a wood plane for shaving a plank of wood). Unfortunately there were a couple of cases reported where this spacer was either put in wrong or not put in at all. The result was that rather than cut a thin flap, the device actually sliced into the eye. Those cases required emergency surgery to repair the laceration. To my recollection, however, these did not result in blindness (but significantly affected the vision). Fortunately the modern microkeratomes come pre-built or only need the blade inserted so it is impossible for them to do this.

Now the flap is more commonly being performed with a different kind of laser (femtosecond laser). It performs microperforations which are then bluntly dissected by the surgeon. If the surgeon does not like the appearance or the appearance or depth of the laser ablation s/he can abort the second part of the procedure and the eye will return to its original shape. If the surgeon uses poor judgement and attempts to lift a poorly ablated flap, there could be problems with the vision after.

B) Refractive procedure - after the flap is lifted (if things have gone well so far) another kind of laser (Excimer laser) is used to remove a small amount of corneal tissue. The amount of tissue depends on the degree of correction desired. The lasers use sophisticated software to do this while the surgeon watches through the microscope. Most lasers have tracking mechanism to follow small eye movements. Larger eye movements result in the laser shutting off temporarily. In earlier versions that did not have eye trackers, the treatment could be decentered resulting in blurry vision, sometimes requiring another treatment to correct it. So there is very little chance for this step to cause major problems.

2) Postoperative complications occur AFTER surgery. If there is something that could potentially lead to blindness after LASIK - and any other eye surgery - it would most likely happen after surgery, not during.
Infection - this is the most serious. Patients are on antibiotic drops for about one week after surgery and are advised to refrain from swimming, yard work, working with animals, etc. (in other words, common sense: you just had eye surgery so cool it for a week or so). Most infections of the eye actually come from your own body. A serious infection could cause severe damage to the cornea, in rare cases requiring a corneal transplant. But as serious as this is, it would not necessarily result in blindness. The infection would have to pe*****te into the eye - endophthalmitis - in order to cause actual blindness.
Traumatic loss of the flap - getting poked in the eye with a tree branch or a motor vehicle accident - these are the kinds of things that could rip off a flap. But I have seen some pretty bad eye injuries and the flaps at worst were just dislocated and could be repositioned back into place. Worst case scenario, the flap is ripped off and lost. The surface of the eye would heal over and then the patient could either wear a contact lens to see or have a PRK laser procedure to get corrected again.
Diffuse Lamellar Keratitis or 'Sands of Sahara Syndrome' - this is an inflammatory condition affecting the interface (space underneath the flap) caused by different factors such as chemicals or detergents used on surgical instruments. It is less common now as the known factors have been eliminated from use. But it could result in damage to the flap especially if it is not detected early by the surgeon and treated promptly.
[I have just listed the more likely causes and not included one-in-a-million things such as the surgery center getting hit by a meteor during your procedure]

So now you can go get your LASIK procedure and not worry so much. Make sure the surgeon is experienced and it is being performed in a reputable place. Don't price-shop for the cheapest deal - these are your eyes we are talking about here.

There has been an increase in the incidence of contact lens-related corneal infections over the past few years. Of particular concern is an organism called Acanthamoeba which can be very difficult to treat. Some of the patients with this infection require corneal transplants to save their vision. This is to illustrate that anything you do to the eye has risks, even contact lenses.

Outbreak of rare eye infection in contact lens wearers - https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/21/health/contact-lenses-eye-infection-outbreak-uk-intl/index.html

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Schedule your LASIK evaluation with Dr. Po**ck at (352) 290-7180

**ck

03/23/2026

Ask The Eye Doc: Laser eye surgeries, how reliable are they?

Dr. Po**ck responds - I am a LASIK surgeon and also had the procedure myself in 2000 and still have 20/20 uncorrected distance vision.

The issue of ‘success’ depends on the definition and on the point of view. You can have a successful surgery but still not be happy with results - “20/20 Unhappy”. You can have a procedure where the surgeon was not happy with his/her results but the patient was happy and considered the procedure successful - significant undercorrection of a myope but patient liked the outcome.

The ‘reliability’ of the procedure approaches 100% but that does not necessarily mean the patient will be satisfied with the outcome. We are usually most concerned with the safety profile of a particular procedure and here is an illustration of the safety profile of LASIK:

I was recently at a meeting where there were several cornea specialists like myself. Not only do we all perform LASIK but we also deal with any complications of eye surgery as well as other diseases of the cornea.

A question was asked of the audience: in your career, how many of you have had a single patient who had a significant loss of vision due to LASIK? Zero hands went up.

Next question: how many of you have had a patient who had significant loss of vision due to contact lenses? Everyone’s hands went up. When asked for specifics, most of us reported that we have had dozens of patients who had significant visual loss due to complications related to contact lens use, several requiring corneal transplants.

Anything you do to your eye - whether it is wearing contact lenses or having LASIK - has potential risks. But it is important to put things in the proper context.

If you are considering LASIK, do your research, seek a consultation with a reputable practice and laser center, and don’t just get talked into a procedure.

This answer is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Schedule your LASIK evaluation with Dr. Po**ck at (352) 290-7180

**ck

03/16/2026

Question: Is Lasik a recommended procedure for someone who currently does not need glasses but may need them in the future due to aging?

Dr Po**ck responds - No. You do not have a procedure unless you need the procedure. You would not have cardiac bypass surgery now if you don’t need it on the possibility that you would develop cardiac disease when you are older.

LASIK is a laser vision correction procedure performed so that the patient does not have to wear glasses or contact lenses for distance vision (it does not correct near vision or presbyopia, which is age-related).

It works better for near-sightedness (myopia) than it does for far-sightedness (hyperopia) but is FDA approved for both, as well as for astigmatism.

If you don’t have these conditions by the time you are 25 then you normally will not develop them when you get older, until you start to develop cataracts in your 60s or 70s. And then the treatment would be cataract surgery not LASIK.

If you don’t need glasses or contacts now and had LASIK, then you would need to wear glasses (this is assuming you could actually find a surgeon that you could talk into performing surgery on eyes that don’t need surgery).

Schedule your LASIK evaluation with Dr. Po**ck at (352) 290-7180

10/31/2025

Encouraging children to spend more time outdoors may be a simple and cost-effective way to improve their vision as well as general health. A new analysis of recent eye health studies found that spending more time outdoors is related to lower risk of nearsightedness in childr

10/29/2025