The Center for Eye Care is the continuation of eye care practices in Lewistown since the 1930's. The present practice began in 1980 in a small office and has grown to include:

• A specialized surgical center

• A refractive surgery practice

• Specialized refractive cataract surgery

• Two clinical offices for patient evaluation

We employ a staff of 15 including ophthalmic technicians, registered and licensed practical nurses, and ancillary staff. The practice is run by Dr. Alan D. Gordon, M.D., an ophthalmic surgeon working in the Lewistown area for the last twenty years.

We offer services that are not otherwise available at the local hospital including refractive surgery, glaucoma surgery, modern cataract surgery, plastic surgery of the eyelids, corneal graft and several others.

"I believe in medicine as a calling. Our mission is to provide the best care available in comfortable surroundings and at reasonable prices. Generally hospitals charge outrageous prices and often lack specialized equipment. Quality and cost control are important to us and because of that we own and run a specialized state licensed surgical facility which allows us to control quality and costs. We have our own permanent Excimer laser for LASIK on site. Our practice is unique also in that it has undergone voluntary accreditation by the AAAHC, and the American Board of Eye Surgery." -Dr. Gordon.

What makes our practice stand out:

The Surgical Center

The Mifflin County Community Surgical Center is owned and run by the Center for Eye Care. In 1995, we petitioned the state of Pennsylvania to build a surgical center to address the high costs and quality issues of local hospital care. Many hospitals view ophthalmology as a secondary specialty, and since there are fewer ophthalmologists on staff than say, cardiologists, the equipment and staffing in hospitals can be lacking. The result is a specialized center for ophthalmology with three ophthalmologists and two anesthesiologists on staff. During times when the center is not used for ophthalmic surgery, it also is approved for orthopedics, podiatry and plastic surgery as well as pain management. Although it is a brief one, LASIK is a surgical procedure, and one that has few complications. Unlike at some practices, at the Mifflin County Community Surgical Center has a specialized sterile area for LASIK and another for general ophthalmic surgery.

Our Equipment

Hospitals often view ophthalmology differently than ophthalmologists do. Ophthalmology is an extremely equipment oriented specialty and there are often conflicts between equipment needs between hospital administrators and ophthalmologists. Our surgical center is specialized for ophthalmic surgery. LASIK is performed using a very precise laser called an excimer and using expensive equipment to create a flap, called a microkeratome. The excimer calibration requires a stable environment as far as temperature and humidity. In many practices, the excimer and microkeratome is either transported on a truck or used by multiple surgeons, risking changes in calibration. At the Center, the excimer is at a fixed site, a fully state licensed multispecialty surgical center (not just at a doctor's office) and used primarily by one surgeon, Dr. Gordon. (see website Summit). This helps assure the quality and standardization of the equipment.

Our Credentials & Certifications

At the Center for Eye Care, we perform most surgeries at a state licensed, Medicare and Medicaid approved, AAAHC inspected outpatient surgical center, specialized for ophthalmic surgery and offering a better spectrum and better equipment than the local hospital. The American Board of Eye Surgery is a voluntary certification that, unlike basic board certification which tests only "book learning", evaluates patient outcomes, reviews charts and actually has a peer review of consecutive surgeries. Board certification by the American Board of Eye Surgery is not common (see website), but it helps assure the patient that their doctor has been evaluated clinically by his fellow physicians in that specialty.

Our Charges

Hospitals often charge considerably more for their facilities, because they have to cover overhead on other specialties. At the Center for Eye Care, you are paying for ophthalmic services only. As an example, cataract surgery cost as much as $5,000 at the local hospital and in the neighborhood of $1,000 at our surgical Center.  By owning the surgical center and excimer, we don't have to pay the high costs of hospital care and rental or transport fees for the LASIK excimer, and can offer cataract surgery and LASIK at considerably lower costs of our neighbors.