Beginning September 1, 2021 all of our locations became united under one name, Missouri Eye Consultants. With locations across mid-Missouri and the addition of ophthalmology services, Columbia Eye Consultants Optometry just doesn’t accurately describe who we are anymore. 

The focus of our practice has always been patient centered, multi-disciplinary eye care. Expanding from a single location in Columbia to six locations all around the mid-Missouri area, we wanted to give you a look into each of our locations. The goal of multiple locations is to better serve you with choices, but we don’t function as six individual practices. Our doctors and staff interact and travel between practices so your experience feels cohesive no matter what office you’re in. 

Whether you’re a new patient who hasn’t yet visited any of our offices or a long time patient who always goes to the same location, here’s a little more detail about each of our individual locations. 

Columbia (Keene Street)

Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 7:45am – 5pm
Friday: 7:45am – 4pm

Our original location, the Keene Street office is located next to Women’s and Children’s Hospital and sees the largest volume of patients. Currently Dr. DeRose, Dr. Gamble, Dr. Nichols, Dr. Bernskoetter, Dr. Liepins-Masek, and Dr. Masek all see patients at our Kenne location. 

Columbia (Nifong)

Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 7:45am – 5pm
Friday: 7:45am – 4pm

Our Nifong location is located in the Boone Hospital Nifong Medical Plaza and also where our ophthalmologists see most patients. This location opened in 2016 and gives patients an option on the south side of town. Dr. DeRose, Dr. Gamble, Dr. Nichols, Dr. Bernskoetter, Dr. Liepins-Masek, Dr. Turner, and Dr. Hesemann see patients here. 

Ashland

Hours:
Tuesday: 10am – 7pm
Thursday: 8am – 5pm
Friday: 8am – 1pm

Our Ashland office opened its doors in 2019. We currently see patients here two and half days a week and have continued to add more days as demand increases. Dr. Gamble and Dr. Bernskoetter are the providers currently seeing patients in Ashland. 

Moberly

Hours:
Monday – Tuesday: 8am – 4:30pm
Wednesday: 9am – 7pm
Thursday: 8am – 4:30pm
Friday: 8am – 1pm

Our Moberly location became part of the practice in 2020. Dr. Wilkerson and Dr. Moore are our main doctors in Moberly. Dr. Hesemann also sees patients here for cataract evaluations and post ops. The moberly office is open until 7pm on Wednesdays to accommodate patients who cannot come in during regular business hours. 

California

Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 8:30am – 5pm
Friday: 8:30 – 4pm

Our California office also joined the practice in 2020. Dr. Vanderfeltz, Dr. Byrd, and Dr. Moore see patients at the California office. Dr. Vanderfeltz started the California location over 40 years ago and it just recently merged to be a part of this practice.  Fun fact – Dr. Nichols and Dr. Vanderfeltz have known each other their entire optometry careers where they have served on multiple optometry boards together.

Montgomery City 

Hours:
Monday – Thursday: 8am – 5pm

Our Montgomery City location was our first addition outside of Columbia. Dr. Liepins-Masek and Dr. Masek see patients at the Montgomery City location – and yes! They’re husband and wife. 

Welcome Dr. Anitra Turner, MD!

Dr. Anitra Turner is the second ophthalmologist to join the practice and brings her expertise as both a cataract surgeon and glaucoma specialist. 

She grew up near Houston, Texas and completed her undergraduate studies at Princeton followed by obtaining her medical degree from Duke. She then went on to complete her ophthalmology residency at UCLA Jules Stein Eye Institute followed by her glaucoma fellowship at Washington University in St. Louis. 

Dr. Turner currently practices at the Harry S. Truman VA in Columbia, Missouri, where she will continue to see patients alongside her time here in private practice. She has been published in multiple medical journals as well as co-authoring chapters of ophthalmology textbooks. 

Outside of work she enjoys spending time with her husband and two young sons, traveling, and trying new things in the kitchen. A little known fact about Dr. Turner is that she loves James Bond!

We are thrilled to introduce Dr. Turner as part of the practice and cannot wait for you to meet her!

Meet our newest optometrist, Dr. Jacob Moore!

Dr. Moore grew up in Farmington, Missouri and completed both his undergraduate degree in biology and optometry degree at the University of Missouri St. Louis. During his time at UMSL Dr. Moore met his fiancé, Lauren, who is currently studying plant biology as a graduate student at Mizzou. The two will be married next year. 

Outside of optometry Dr. Moore likes spending time with family, hiking, running, and watching the St. Louis Blues, Cardinals, and Mizzou athletics. A little known fact about him is that he recently built his home computer from scratch! “I have always been interested in knowing how things work by taking them apart and putting them back together – at least they usually go back together,” said Dr. Moore. 

Dr. Moore sees all types of patients, but has a special interest in disease management and myopia control. He is currently seeing patients at the California, Moberly, and Nifong locations. 

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Moore!

Does your near vision seem a little worse than it used to be? Do you find yourself holding reading material a bit further away than you remember needing to in the past? You’re likely struggling with presbyopia – the gradual loss of your eyes’ ability to focus on nearby objects. 

This natural consequence of aging begins in your early forties and continues to progress until about age sixty-five when it plateaus. So what causes it? It all has to do with the lens of your eye. The lens helps to focus light onto your retina so you can see clearly. The lens of your eye starts off as a clear, soft, flexible structure that can easily change shape allowing you to focus on objects both up close and far away. After age forty the lens becomes more rigid and cannot change shape as easily resulting in more difficulty with near vision. 

There is currently no way to prevent or reverse this natural part of aging, but the symptoms can be treated with eyeglasses, contacts, and surgery. 

• Reading Glasses. Glasses strictly for near work are one solution. Some lucky people can get away with the over the counter reading glasses you see at the drugstore. Try this if you’ve never worn glasses before and your only issue now is blurriness up close. They also might work for you if you’re a contact lens wearer who’s still seeing well far away, but near is starting to become a problem through your contacts. Try the over the counter cheaters on top of your contact lenses. If you do not fall into one of these two categories or you’ve tried over the counter glasses and they’re not working for you you probably need a pair of custom made reading glasses, which your optometrist can easily help you with. 

 

• Bifocals or Progressive Glasses. Bifocals are glasses that have multiple prescriptions in them. Unlike reading glasses which can be worn only for near and must be removed to see in the distance, bifocals you can keep on all the time. Bifocals without a visible line are called progressive glasses and have the added benefit of not only distance and near vision, but also an intermediate section which is good for that computer/dashboard distance.

 

• Contacts. You’ve got a couple of different options if you want to use contacts to address that blurriness up close. The first option is monovision contact lenses. In this modality one eye is corrected to see best at distance, the other eye to see best at near. With both eyes open you see well at both distances. The second option is a multifocal contact lens. Multifocals have both distance and near prescription in both eyes and give you good vision at both distances. The key word here in both scenarios is good, not great. Fitting both distance and near prescription into a contact lens is not as easy as it is in glasses, so vision out of glasses is usually superior to vision out of contacts when we’re talking needing to address both distance and near vision, but hey, it’s a trade off to not have to wear glasses.

 

• Surgery. Surgery is another option to consider and the specifics should be discussed with your optometrist.

 

In the near future there will be a potentially revolutionary option to treat presbyopia: an eye drop. A drop that is currently in phase 3 studies will soon be another option to deal with up close blurriness. 

Deciding which option is right for you will depend on your preferences and lifestyle. There’s no one size fits all choice and many people rely on a combination of options. Our doctors at Missouri Eye Consultants can help you weigh the pros and cons of each option and come up with a custom made solution for you.