In order to be treated at Dr. Sharma's clinic, your doctor must refer you to Dr. Sanjay Sharma at the retina clinic at Hotel Dieu Hospital (HDH) in Kingston. They can do so by faxing a referral note to (613) 666-6228. At the HDH, you will have a thorough assessment with Dr. Sanjay Sharma and his outstanding team of residents and fellows.
As part of your initial assessment you will potentially receive a series of state-of-the-art diagnostic tests that will assist in confirming your diagnosis and planning your treatment. Because of the complexity of these tests and the fact that Dr. Sharma deals with a number of emergencies from across the province, please be prepared for a 2-4 hour wait. If you are a diabetic please bring a snack. If you require eye injections to treat your condition, you will be asked if you would like to be treated in Kingston or at one of our part-time clinic locations in Belleville, Brockville, Port Hope, or the Perth/Smiths Falls area.
But it all starts with your doctor (your family doctor, your optometrist or your ophthalmologist). If they think you may have symptoms that indicate a disease of the retina, you can ask them to refer you to Dr. Sharma's retina clinic in Kingston. You can download a referral form with the information your doctor needs here and have them fax it to (613) 666-6228.
If you are a doctor, you can fax a referral form to us at (613) 666-6228. Here is an easy to use form that you can use.
If you think you have a problem with your eyesight, please visit your doctor immediately (your family doctor, your optometrist or your ophthalmologist). If you think it is urgent, go to the nearest emergency medical facility. Once you have been seen by a doctor about your symptoms, they will refer you to a specialist if they think it is warranted. If your doctor says that you need to see a retina specialist then you can request that they refer you to Dr. Sharma.
At this time, our satellite clinics in Belleville, Brockville and Perth/Smiths Falls are set up specifically to provide ongoing intravitreal injections to those that need them at the location most convenient to them. Dr. Sharma's clinic in the Hotel Dieu Hospital is a full service retina clinic that provides diagnosis and other treatments beyond just intravitreal injections.
An intravitreal injection is an injection into the side of your eye using a very small needle. The goal is to deliver medicine to your retina at the back of your eye. Eye injections that use a variety of medications have revolutionized how we treat macular conditions such as macular degeneration, diabetes-related eye disease and vein occlusion.
No, we put a local, topical anaesthetic onto the surface of your eye before we inject. Most patients will feel is some pressure in the area when an injection is performed. Nobody likes the idea of anything sharp coming near their eye, so we do everything to make the experience as bearable as possible.
If you would like to learn more about macular degeneration, diabetes eye problems or vein occlusion, please click here.