For 40 years, the ophthalmologists and specialists at Florida Retina Institute have been providing comprehensive care for adults and children with vitreoretinal diseases.

Your child’s eyes are precious. So when there’s a retinal problem with them, you want to make sure they’re in trusted hands.

“The most important thing is to make sure that managing pediatric eye disease is a common part of your eye doctors’ practice,” says Dr. Elias C. Mavrofrides, an ophthalmologist at the Florida Retina Institute who has advanced training in vitreoretinal diseases.

Dr. Mavrofrides and his colleagues at Florida Retina Institute are specialists in adult and pediatric conditions that affect the retina, which is the layer of tissue that lines the back of the eye and transmits images to the brain. Founded in 1979 by Dr. James A. Staman, the institute is renowned for its excellence in vitreoretinal diseases and surgery.

Pediatric retina, that is disorders affecting the retina portion of children’s eyes, does not always present with obvious symptoms.

“One of the biggest challenges is children often won’t complain of symptoms,” says Dr. Mavrofrides. “And many times, things cannot be picked up at screening eye exams at school or screening eye exams at the pediatrician’s office.”

Some indications that a child may have a retinal abnormality include behavior such as consistently turning his or her head to one side in order to see or read, poor vision at night, difficulty reading even with prescription glasses, abnormal sensitivity to light, and involuntary and repetitive movement of the eye.

Many of the adult retinal conditions that the doctors at Florida Retina Institute treat are related to aging but pediatric retinal conditions are often congenital such as retinopathy of prematurity, a disorder where babies born prematurely have blood vessels of the retina that do not develop properly. Some pediatric retinal conditions are not present at birth but then progress over time causing vision impairment such as uveitis, a condition in which the child develops inflammation in the eyes.

Treating pediatric eye conditions differs from treatments for adults.

“Vascular conditions of the retina in adults are common and are often treated with injections or laser treatments,” says Dr. Mavrofrides. “Even though they don’t hurt, we can’t easily put a child through an eye injection in the office. So in those scenarios we have to find other ways to treat them.”

Depending on the disorder, children may be prescribed systemic medications, eye drops, or they may need to have injections or laser treatments done under anesthesia—something that not all ophthalmologists are equipped to handle.

Using state-of-the-art diagnostic testing equipment, lasers, surgical tools and more, Florida Retina Institute is able to provide comprehensive patient care from diagnosis to treatment at 19 different locations in Central Florida, North Florida and Southeast Georgia.

“There are some doctors who are specifically pediatric ophthalmologists and focus on general pediatric conditions almost exclusively,” Dr. Mavrofrides says. “And then there are specialists like ourselves who deal with a lot of adult retinal conditions, but also specialize in managing pediatric retinal problems too.”

In addition to treating pediatric retinal conditions, Florida Retina Institute diagnoses and treats adults with disorders such as retinal detachment, diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, retinal vein occlusion and more. The institute also takes part in various clinical trials so as to be on the leading edge of care for retina conditions.

“We treat some of the most complicated patients that have retina problems that you would find anywhere in the United States,” Dr. Mavrofrides says. “Many retina specialists restrict their practice to only adults. Fortunately, we have doctors who have amazing training and have expertise in more complicated situations like managing a pediatric patient with a retinal condition or adult patients with more complex retinal problems.”

Florida Retina Institute
Multiple locations in Central Florida
Including Orlando, Kissimmee, Lake Mary and Clermont
407-849-9621 | FloridaRetinaInstitute.com

This article originally appeared in Orlando Family Magazine’s March 2020 issue.