Dr. Megan A. Rowlands, a board-certified ophthalmologist who specializes in the treatment of glaucoma and cataracts, has recently joined the Florida Eye Microsurgical Institute, seeing patients at the Wellington and Boynton Beach offices.
Rowlands completed her undergraduate education at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, followed by a master’s degree in public health from the University of Pennsylvania. Rowlands earned her medical degree from Yale University in 2016 before beginning an ophthalmology residency at the New York University School of Medicine.
“I’m from South Florida, born in Boynton Beach,” Rowlands said. “I went up to the northeast for my schooling, which included my ophthalmology residency at NYU. It was a really great experience at Bellevue Hospital, which serves all of New York City. This gave me a great variety of different types of patients.”
Returning to South Florida, Rowlands completed a glaucoma fellowship at the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in Palm Beach Gardens earlier this year.
Working as a physician is the fulfilment of a lifelong dream, and she is excited to be working in the field of ophthalmology.
“I always knew that I wanted to be a physician, and I wanted to choose a specialty where I was really making a difference,” Rowlands said. “During my medical school rotation, I was really drawn to ophthalmology. Working to protect a patient’s sight is a really powerful field to work in.”
Rowlands is particularly interested in continuing her work diagnosing and treating glaucoma patients.
“With glaucoma, patients can have progressive vision loss,” she said. “I want to do whatever I can do to help patients not lose vision from this disease. I also like that with glaucoma, since it is a chronic disease, you are following patients for years, if not decades, and have the opportunity to develop close relationships with your patients.”
Rowlands added that there have been many advances in the field of glaucoma research and treatment over the past decade.
“For example, there are new eye drops that are available and new surgical procedures, so it is a very exciting time to be involved in this field,” she said.
Yet working with glaucoma patients also has its challenges. “With glaucoma specifically, it is challenging because many patients don’t have symptoms, so they don’t know they are losing vision,” Rowlands said.
Some glaucoma symptoms that people should look out for include loss of vision, eye pain and red eye. A family history of glaucoma, prior trauma to the eye and prolonged steroid use are also reasons for early and regular screenings.
“Per the American Academy of Ophthalmology, if people don’t have any risk factors for eye disease or any eye symptoms, they should have a baseline eye exam starting at age 40,” Rowlands said. “People with risk factors for eye disease, including diabetes, hypertension or a positive family history, should have a baseline eye exam earlier than age 40. If any eye concerns are found at this visit, such as for glaucoma, cataracts, etc., the patient would have further testing and/or be referred to a specialist.”
Rowlands also works in the treatment of cataracts and other eye problems common in older demographics. She is proficient in the latest minimally invasive glaucoma surgery techniques, glaucoma laser procedures and traditional incisional glaucoma surgeries.
The Florida Eye Microsurgical Institute serves patients needing a wide array of ophthalmology services in all age groups.
“One of the things that attracted me to this practice is that there are so many subspecialities that are available at the Florida Eye Microsurgical Institute,” Rowlands said. “I think it is really convenient that you can have several different eye issues be managed at the same office.”
A well-published author, Rowlands has presented numerous lectures on her findings at national meetings. When she isn’t working, she enjoys spending time with her family, cooking and going to the beach. A Boynton Beach native, she currently lives in West Palm Beach with her husband Chegge and newborn son Emory.
The Florida Eye Microsurgical Institute is located in Wellington at 2575 State Road 7 near the Mall at Wellington Green behind Whole Foods Market and TooJay’s. Additional offices are at 1717 Woolbright Road in Boynton Beach and 9980 Central Park Blvd., Suite 204, in Boca Raton.
The Wellington office is open to serve patients Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Phones are live Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., and lunch is from noon to 1 p.m.
For more information, call the Florida Eye Microsurgical Institute at (561) 737-5500, or contact the Wellington office directly at (561) 792-1205. To learn more, visit www.fleyedocs.com.
