Eyeing The Market

Although Dr. L.D. Ian Roe left Sebring about 20 years ago, he still had a vested interest in the community. He owned a house here and had thoughts of returning some day.

The ophthalmologist has done just that.

Roe is one of four ophthalmologists who have set up practices in Sebring in the past few months. While Roe is by himself, the other three are with Florida Retina Consultants. They will be visiting different days of the week.

"I kept it (the house) with a view to always maybe coming back here, and decided this was the time," Roe said. "People are nice up here. I went to Indiana University, so I am very familiar with the Midwest even though I was born here in Florida. I spent a lot of time in the Midwest in Bloomington, Ind., and Indianapolis. A lot of those people are down here. It's very easy to relate to people living here in this area."

Roe, who worked with Dr. Fred Keiber locally for a couple of years in the late 1980s, said his niche is that he is a fellowship-trained glaucoma specialist.

"After medical school, and doing an internship and then a three-year ophthalmology resident, I did one more year as a glaucoma fellow," he said.

Roe said he decided to specialize in something fairly common. According to the doctor, 2 percent of the population over the age of 40 has glaucoma "whether they know it or not. The percentage goes up as people get older.

"The challenge of treating glaucoma patients is there is no obvious perception of the disease in their own minds," he said. "They can't appreciate that they are losing their vision until it's too late."

Roe said he has dealt a lot with children and is "happy to see children." He noted that he worked in Puerto Rico and was involved with the Lions Eye Bank. Many of the patients he treated there were children.

Roe earned two bachelor's degrees at Indiana. He also went to optometry school for four years.

The doctor started an optometry practice in Phoenix, Ariz., and later decided to go to medical school.

"I was thinking about it, and I had a couple of people who kind of encouraged me to think about doing medicine," he said. "As kind of the test to myself, I signed up for an organic chemistry course there at the local college. I did pretty well in it, so it kind of gave me the confidence to think about 'well maybe I will do this.' I applied, and I got in."

He attended medical school in Grenada for two years, a half-year in St. Vincent and a year in Winchester, England. He spent his final year in Baltimore.

Roe said he completed his ophthalmology training at Manhattan Eye, Ear & Throat Hospital, which he said is one of the "top ophthalmology programs" in the country.

"If people are looking for the personal touch from the physician rather than technician, consider coming here," Roe said.

His office is located in the Heartland Professional Plaza in Sebring. His telephone number is 382-7300.

Florida Retina Consultants

Based in Lakeland, Florida Retina Consultants specializes in vitreoretinal diseases and surgery.The business opened in 2003.

According to its Web site, the doctors also specialize in the treatment of retinal detachment, proliferative vitreoretinopathy, macular holes, diabetic retinopathy, age-related macular degeneration, epiretinal membranes, retinopathy of prematurity and other macular and vitreous problems.

"It's a good market for the type of patients we see," said Steve Carlton, office manager for Florida Retina Consultants, about the decision to open an office in Highlands County.

The Sebring office is located in front of Fairmount Cinema Square. The address is 3670 U.S. 27 N.

Doctors visit the Sebring office Tuesdays from noon to 5 p.m. and Fridays from 8 a.m. to noon. A third day will be added to the schedule in April.

Dr. Scott Friedman is the founder of Florida Retina Consultants and has been serving patients in Central Florida for more than 15 years. He is fellowship trained in retina and vitreous and is board certified in ophthalmology.

His education and training includes a bachelor of arts with honors, University of Missouri, Columbia; doctor of medicine with honors, University of Missouri-Columbia; Residency-Ophthalmology, University of Missouri-Columbia; Fellowship-Retina and Vitreous, Northwestern University Medical School.

Friedman is the former assistant professor and head of Retina Division-Ophthalmology Department at the University of Florida and Shands Hospital in Gainesville. He is currently assistant clinical professor of the Ophthalmology Department at University of South Florida in Tampa.

Dr. Jaime Membreno is a third generation board certified ophthalmologist. Membreno received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Virginia and a doctorof medicine from Temple University School of Medicine. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Temple University Department of Ophthalmology and a fellowship in Medical and Surgical Retina at Yale University School of Medicine.

Dr. Membreno is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and is a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, fellow of the American College of Surgeonsand fellow of the American Society of Retina Specialists.

Dr. Oren Plous has specialized in retina and macula at Florida Retina Consultants since October 2006

Certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology, Plous did a one-year internship in transitional medicine at St. Joseph Mercy Medical Center, a three-year residency in ophthalmology at the Kresge Eye Institute at Wayne State University and a two-year year fellowship in vitreoretinal surgery at the University of Kentucky.