Fellowship-trained and board-certified cornea specialist Dr. Kirsten Wagner has joined Sansum Clinic’s Ophthalmology Department.
Dr. Wagner earned her medical degree from Georgetown University School of Medicine where she went on to complete her ophthalmology residency, earning chief resident status at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital and the Washington National Eye Center.
Dr. Wagner completed a cornea and external eye disease fellowship at Wake Forest Baptist Health University Medical Center in North Carolina. The additional year of surgical training allowed her to specialize in medical and surgical care of corneal diseases.
Dr. Wagner is certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology. Some of the surgeries she performs include full and partial thickness corneal transplants, refractive surgery such as LASIK and other laser vision correction, and complex cataract surgery.
Dr. Wagner has a particular interest in international medicine and has done extensive volunteer work in Central and South America.
Cornea specialists have additional training to detect and diagnose particular vision problems that are more complex than common eye conditions. Patients with eye issues that involve the cornea, such as corneal ulcers/infections, corneal scarring, corneal dystrophies, and more complicated corneal conditions, as well as other common eye problems like cataracts, can benefit from Dr. Wagner’s expertise, knowledge and surgical capability.
Operating on the cornea or cataract surgery can bring vision back into focus and even help patients be less dependent on glasses. Subspecialty training in corneal diseases is important since the cornea is a particularly vulnerable area of the eye, providing most of its focusing ability.
Sansum Clinic’s Elings Eye Center, 4151 Foothill Road, Santa Barbara, provides a multi-disciplinary spectrum of ophthalmology services for patients of all ages.
For more on the Foothill Eye Center, visit https://www.sansumclinic.org/locations/location/details/foothill-eye-center-building-b. Or call the Ophthalmology Department, 805-681-7500.