Coronavirus & Eye Care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler

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Today's show is about Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. Let's see what we can learn today. And at the end of this interview, I'm going to do a summary recap of what we went over. So stay tuned for that. Here's some info on Dr. Brian. Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler is America's TV eye doctor and is known as the surgeon's surgeon, since so many other surgeons come to Dr. Brian for surgery on their own eyes, including eye surgeons, brain surgeons, orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons, and breast cancer surgeons to just name a few. He shares some important facts with us about the Coronavirus and eye care. He also has some brilliant suggestions on businesses staying afloat during these times. Entrepreneurs and small business owners, please listen to the advice Dr. Brian is going to present. All right, here we go. 

Welcome to the Tony DUrso Show, Dr. Brian. So great to have you with us today.

Dr. Brian:  It's a pleasure.

Tony:  Dr. Brian, as I've mentioned in the intro, we've known each other for about 20 years now and I very much appreciate our friendship, and here we are coming together talking about the Coronavirus and eye care during a very interesting time. I'm so glad that you were able to make adjustments in your schedule to speak with us about this. I believe this is some very important news for the audience. And just so we do things in a proper sequence so the audience gets to know who you are, I'd like to follow your journey to success a little bit. Let's kind of go back just a little bit. Dr. Brian, how did it all start for you? What's your backstory?

Dr. Brian: Well, it all started for me when I got married and I went from Brian Wachler to Brian Boxer Wachler because I took my wife's last name.

Tony:  You know I didn't know that. That's very interesting.

Dr. Brian:  Yeah. So that's why I now go by Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. So I'm one of the few men who has a maiden name. 

Tony:  It's very interesting as a juxtaposition to that. I've been with my wife about 28 years now, and I like the fact that she keeps her maiden name. It just seems to work and I just enjoy that. So she does not carry my name and I like it.

Dr. Brian: Yeah, yeah. 

Tony:  Go figure. 

Dr. Brian:  Actually, now my wife goes by Boxer Wachler too, and our kids are Boxer Wachlers, so there's only four of us.

Tony:  At least it's consistent. 

Dr. Brian:  Yeah. 

Tony:  As I probably have mentioned here in the intro, I met you some 20 years ago at the Jules Stein Eye Institute in UCLA.

Dr. Brian:  That's where I started my career. Exactly.

Tony:  And back then, you were taking care of very unique cases and troubled cases across the country. Perhaps you could start there and tell us a little bit about yourself from there. 

Dr. Brian:  Well first of all, I grew up there in Southern California, Santa Monica and went to UCLA for college and then went to Dartmouth Medical School after spending a year in Scotland on a Rotary scholarship, which was great, and then came back after medical school and then did a fellowship in cornea and refractive surgery, which is essentially vision correction surgery like LASIK. And then I got recruited right out of my fellowship for essentially the dream job of anybody just finishing their training to be the director of the Laser Refractive Center at UCLA there. And I was there for about five years and that's when I started not only doing LASIK, envision correction procedures, but I was also trained and doing cornea transplants for a condition called keratoconus. 

And that's really where my career took this huge trajectory change because I developed these procedures to treat keratoconus non-invasively compared to cornea transplant, and eventually I pioneered a procedure called Intacs®, which are these micro little inserts. So Tony if you can imagine something really tiny on the tip of your finger that shaped like a little smile, a piece of plastic, that's what these Intacs® look like. So we developed a way to insert them underneath the cornea to flatten the cornea, because the problem with keratoconus is the cornea bulges out uncontrollably. So the Intacs® would help flatten, and then what I had figured out after I moved from UCLA - I left five years later - and started my own practice here in Beverly Hills, the Boxer Wachler Vision Institute. That's where pioneered the second important treatment for keratoconus, which is called now Holcomb C3-R cross-linking that strengthens the cornea non-invasively. And so, there's been a number of things I've done in ophthalmology and eye surgery, but I would say those are two very important advances to help people avoid getting a cornea transplant who have keratoconus, and in fact improve their vision and improve their ability to see better at nighttime, less glare and halos and lead a normal life, which is what it's all about for me with people with keratoconus.

Tony:  And you know, I'm still appreciative of 20 years later what you've done for me. My eyesight is still very, very good and I owe that to your care and your expertise. So I just wanted to thank you again for that. 

Dr. Brian: You're welcome. 

Tony:  Now on my show, we talk about vision for entrepreneurs and business owners because it all starts with a vision for someone that wants to create something, accomplish something and go out there and succeed. So kind of a little double play on words because we're talking about the vision from that point of view, but we're also talking about the physical eye vision. So what I like to know is, let's talk about when you came about that, let's call it that idea, that vision of your future what you saw yourself, how did that come about?

Dr. Brian:  I always knew I wanted to be a doctor and help people, and I was always really good with my hands. Like when I was a kid, I loved building models, those models you buy at the hobby store and the old days and glue them and paint them and put the decals on. So I was always really good with my hands. And I love doing jigsaw puzzles too. So I knew being a surgeon was also going to be part of my path. But I've always even as a young boy, even through high school and college been really creative which I recognize I do recognize it's not a typical person going into a discipline like medicine. That's more science space. So I have also this real, I guess, amplification of creativity in my brain, doing things like even making movies, and I did stand-up comedy when I was in high school, so I had that other side of me. And then what I've found as a doctor, as an ophthalmologist is I would look at things a little differently than probably the average. And that's how I would be able to sort of see myself coming up with solutions, where other people didn't see them or couldn't come up with them. So visualization is also part of that process too, and I'm sure you've talked about that in the past the importance of being able to visualize where you want to see yourself and be, and that's sort of how everything came together for me.

Tony:  And Dr. Brian, what's your purpose for what you do? What's the passion behind this?

Dr. Brian:  You know, one of my all-time idols has been Benjamin Franklin, and he to me had such a huge impact on so many levels for society that is still felt today to this day all these years later. And so part of it is trying to emulate what he's done and how he's helped society, but also personally, myself personally believing that the purpose of life is to do good. And I remember I figured this out and I wanted to try to prove it. I mean, we always assume it but I wanted to actually try to prove in almost like a Socratic method, how can I prove that the purpose of life is to do good and so I had written an essay. It was actually published a few years ago in the Huffington Post website, that if we look at our body, the human body like we have a lot of defense to kill cancer cells, to kill bacteria, to kill viruses, our immune system. And if we think that those are all bad influences, and the purpose of the tissues in the cells and the organs is to be healthy, and to do good and function properly, then that's the way I used the body as an analogy to help support the assertion that the purpose of life is to do good. And I do believe that and I really try to live my life as best as I can, believing that, feeling that, and doing things through that lens. 

Tony:  That's a great purpose. I love it. We're talking about Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler and you can find him at boxerwachler.com. I'm going to spell that - B-O-X-E-R-W-A-C-H-L-E-R.com. This is the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead the chat continues about Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. But first, it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment. 

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All right, we're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about the Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. At the end of this interview. I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler is elected by his peers as one of the best eye surgeons worldwide out of 210,730 eye surgeons in the world. He earned the reputation as the Doctor's Doctor for being the choice of many doctors for their own vision correction, as well as being consulted upon by many doctors for assistance and advice for their own patients. All right, and now back to the chat with Dr. Brian. 

Dr. Brian, let's get into your vision path and discuss this. Right now we're in the middle of, I want to call it quite a bit of extreme concern, hysteria some people call it, stores closing, all sorts of things going on. Can you help educate us from your point of view on some of the basics on the Coronavirus and some of the things that we should be doing?

Dr. Brian:  So we have to remember, and I'm really happy that we're doing this interview, Tony, because what we're now going to talk about is so important for thousands, if not millions, of people to hear, because fears are being stoked, like a fire in the fireplace, and it's causing people to do irrational things, to have irrational-based fears right now. And we have to remember number one is that the Coronavirus... First of all, that family of viruses is not new. Coronavirus as a family has been around. It is a respiratory infection just like the flu and spreads literally no different than the flu and the common cold. So what does that mean? That means that we have to and we know the importance of practicing really good hygiene, like we wash our hands with soap and water or hand sanitizer that has over 60% alcohol in it. Also, we know that you don't touch your mouth, your nose and your eyes because those are ways that the virus gets spread. Because typically somebody has the flu and they cough, now the virus is on their hands. They open a door, you come along maybe an hour or two later, you open the same door. Now you've touched the handle. You've got the virus on your finger, but you're not sick. But you forget, don't remember, maybe don't even care about practicing hygiene. You grab a snack because you're hungry. You've just touched it; that's how you get it in your mouth. Boom! That's how you get the flu. 

This spreads no different, and that's a really important point for people to just remember that this spreads no differently than the flu. So now everybody I would say is really dialed in to good hygiene. I mean, I actually call this hygiene IQ because this awareness and such high hygiene IQ in the country, if not the world, has never been higher than it is right now. And that's also part of why I think, especially like here in the United States, the risk of infection of getting the flu or the Coronavirus has never been lower than it is right now, because the hygiene IQ, literally Tony, it's like Einstein-level hygiene IQ, and that's the reality. So that should really help people take a deep breath and calm down and remember also the chances of somebody who is healthy getting the virus and becoming severely ill and dying is extremely low. Extremely low.

Tony:  Dr. Brian one thing I've run into on this virus is that it predominantly lives in the colder region of the body, specifically the nasal cavity, which is the coldest because that's where the outside air comes in, and that this virus does not withstand heat very well. In fact, it dies in heat, I believe over 135 degrees Fahrenheit. So in warmer weather, this virus won't live.

Dr. Brian:  And that's pretty typical. We see that with the flu, don't we, Tony? 

Tony:  Yes, we do. 

Dr. Brian:  That you don't have flu outbreaks in the summer or the spring. I mean, well, sometimes it lingers in the spring, but certainly not in the summer. So, yeah, I mean, right now we're in winter. This is when you know, the world is bearing the brunt of it right now. I had published a book a couple of years ago called Perceptual Intelligence because I was a psychology major in college. It was really a fun way for me to get back to my psychology background, and the premise of perceptual intelligence is that it's the ability for people to be able to separate reality from fantasy. And you could take the same event - let's just take the Coronavirus - you have even among doctors. I had dinner with doctors last week of all these different specialists in the Los Angeles. When I walked in, and everybody's a physician so everybody's gone through a lot of training and they're smart. I walk in, about half the group wouldn't shake my hand and would do the elbow bump, and the other half would shake hands, because they're paranoid about the Coronavirus. 

And again, the reality is if you wash your hands, if you touch somebody who had the virus on their hands and you wash your hands, you're not going to get the virus. You've killed it. But when you inject emotions, even if somebody is highly intelligent, you inject emotions, it overrides, like the override switch on decision making. And that's what I'm trying to help people do is just to take that deep breath, understand when their emotions are overtaking them versus rational, fact-based thought. Now this might give also people a perspective, like in Los Angeles right now, there are 94 cases of Coronavirus. One person unfortunately has sadly died and of course my heart goes out to anybody who's ill, or having health problems or heaven forbid passing away. My heart does go out for people in that situation. But in a city of 18 million people, the Quad area of Los Angeles is 18 million people. One person has passed away so one at this point, 1 in 18 million chance of you dying in Los Angeles area from Coronavirus. The chance of you dying and getting killed from an animal attack is 1 in 1.4 million. So you have a higher chance of dying from an animal attack than you do from Coronavirus

Tony:  Or other things such as traffic accidents and so forth. 

Dr. Brian:  Yes. 

Tony:  But it is not as serious as people make it sound. It's just the panic. I believe it's panic because of a lack of education.

Dr. Brian:  Well, and you watch the media and of course the government is being extremely, in my opinion, conservative with their recommendations. The CDC says there should be no more than 10 people together in a gathering. This is being really, really super conservative, and the mayor of Los Angeles a couple of days ago closed all restaurants, all bars, gyms, entertainment venues like movie theaters and theaters and bowling alleys, and only restaurants or bars can have takeout. And I personally think this is an overreaction because the amount of damage that's coming from the economic fallout, it's going to be disastrous. There are going to be so many companies, these small businesses going under and going bankrupt, and we know small businesses once they go under, they're usually not coming back. And so we think there's a homeless crisis right now in Los Angeles? 

Tony:  Oh, yeah. 

Dr. Brian:  Unfortunately, just wait. 

Tony:  We haven't seen anything yet on that.

Dr. Brian: And so you can imagine, I mean, the people are strapped. They have families that have children, and they live paycheck to paycheck and a lot of those industries, all those businesses, and now the Mayor has done this, and again, I think it's a little bit extreme and the economic damage and the fallout and the complications of the economic devastation that's going to be coming here is going to far outweigh the damage from the Coronavirus itself.

Tony:  So, Dr. Brian I really like the title of that book, Perceptual Intelligence, and if we go to BoxerWachler.com, can we actually find that book or learn more about it or even pick up a copy?

Dr. Brian:  Oh, sure. Yeah, you can just go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It's not a self-published book. This is a mainstream book carried by a publisher and it's available at all bookstores. Right now obviously, the easiest place to get it because of social distancing is online like Amazon, Barnes and Noble and your favorite place you like to buy books online.

Tony:  Okay, I just wanted to make sure about that. All right. What else can we do? We understand some of the basic facts now that we've just discussed earlier. What else can you suggest people do to get through this because all I see is hard times ahead, and I hate to be the harbinger of this but this is not an easy situation to pull out of. 

Dr. Brian:  I can't change of course, the government's policy, but what I can really hope to do is help people support those businesses to reduce the chance that they're going to go under. So for example, my family and I, every day we are ordering takeout. I mean, we have food at home, but we're ordering takeout every day from a different restaurant to make sure we support them and help keep them going, or the chances that they can keep going. So I encourage everybody who's listening, order takeout. I'm calling it the takeout challenge. Order takeout once a day from somewhere, and if you can do two meals a day, even better. My staff, I just bought everybody lunch today in the office. Takeout from a restaurant, and now the staff are going to be doing takeout for lunch as well. Go shopping. I mean, stores if they haven't self-closed, they are open. Go out and go shopping. Try to live your life right now as normally as you can, because that's going to help support the businesses and those employees in the businesses so they can still have a job. They can still have a paycheck.

Tony:  I like that. Those are good points. And just a little switch back to the eye care and the vision part. Just want to make it very clear.  You open the door, it's on your fingers, and I rub my eyes. Is there any danger there? I'll let you comment on that.

Dr. Brian:  It can, actually. The flu is spread that way as well. Yeah. So that's why we say of course from my point of view as an eye doctor is never rub your eyes, never touch your eyes. But yes, absolutely. You can get the flu, you can get the coronavirus, you can even get the common cold if you have the virus on your finger, you rub your eye, the mucous membrane, the white part of your eye, you will very possibly transmit it to yourself that way. It's not just by mouth and not just by nose. 

Tony:  Those are very good points. I didn't know that.

Dr. Brian:   A lot of people don't know that Yeah, exactly. A lot of people don't know that but that's why you have to practice this hygiene.

Tony:  This is the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead the chat continues about Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. But first, it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment.

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All right, we're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about the Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. At the end of this interview, I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. All right. And now back to the chat with Dr. Brian.

Dr. Brian:  I just want to give some advice for anybody who's listening who works in the restaurant industry. First of all, my heart really goes out to you, because I know that this is really tough and for anyone else that's being affected economically, any other business for that matter. But I can make some recommendations if you work in the restaurant industry. Please talk to your manager or owner and alert them to do this. This is really important what I'm about to say. They should contact, if they're listed on OpenTable or Resy, these two very popular apps, ask those two apps to contact every person who's ever made a reservation in your restaurant, assuming your restaurant is doing takeout. If not, you must be doing it. I mean, this is the only way you're going to survive at this point. You need to make it happen, even if you never did it in the past. But those owners or managers should contact OpenTable and Resy and ask them to message every person who's ever made a reservation at your restaurant, and let them know that you are open for takeout, because that is essential right now, because not a lot of people are going to be thinking about it. So they have all your contacts, they have all the customer information so that's an easy way. 

And if anybody here listening works for OpenTable or Resy or affiliated somehow, my recommendation would be to proactively contact all the restaurants that are listed with you in your app, verify who's doing takeout, and message all those customers whoever made reservations at those restaurants that these restaurants are doing takeout in your area. So it's critical for the apps Open Table and Resy to survive too because if they lose a huge percentage of restaurants, that's their business. Those are their customers. So this works both ways for the apps as well as the restaurants. This is really essential.

Tony:  That is brilliant. Thank you for that advice. And yes, we should definitely push that. That will help stimulate the economy and keep these businesses open. So I highly encourage everyone do as Dr. Brian says. Contact OpenTable and Resy and let them know you're open for business, and to let your base know because they have access to it. 

Dr. Brian:  Yeah

Tony:  I like that.

Dr. Brian:  Since this is really a business podcast, this makes the point that every single business should be collecting, figuring out a way to collect the names, contact information of your customers. 99% of restaurants - I'm just going to use them as an example - don't do that and you miss out a huge marketing opportunity. Let's forget about the Coronavirus right now. If you don't have the contact information of your customers, how can you really directly market to them? It's the most cost effective way to market to your current customers and most restaurants don't think of trying to figure out a way to collect that information, but every business really should be doing that. 

If you're a dry cleaner, you should be doing that. Usually you'll have it anyway. I guess you have to let people know that their dry cleaning is ready, so that probably wasn't the best example but if you run a franchise for a fast food chain, you should do that. I mean, everybody should be collecting the information on who their customers are, just going forward. 

So my other recommendation for another group that's hit by this moratorium are gyms, at least in Los Angeles. All gyms are closed and there's a spinning studio in Santa Monica called Revolution Fitness and the owner is Stephanie Moore, and she became very creative because nobody is allowed to come to gyms anymore at this point. So she's rented out all of her spin bikes to people at home. She can still generate revenue and people can still work out, but now they have their spin bikes at home that they've rented. So that's just one example. If you own a gym or know somebody who does, please share this idea of renting your gym equipment to people at home, and then also to figure out a way to do virtual classes as well. The schools are using software for multiple people to be on at one time, like the students with the teachers, because of all the remote learning that has to happen because of all the school closures too. So like Benjamin Franklin basically said, necessity is the mother of invention, and this is the time to start inventing because of necessity. 

Tony:  Those are great points. And Dr. Brian, you are a foremost authority on eye care and I would be remiss if I didn't ask you a little bit about eye care, and just what we would need to generally do to take care of our eyes, separate from a virus situation. So perhaps you could give us some advice on that.

Dr. Brian:  I always advise people first of all, go in for your exam, your regular eye exam, even if you've had vision correction like LASIK every year, because you need to have that checked. There's things that can be silently happening, like maybe you started glaucoma, or some other problems that you would never know because it's painless, and you would never notice it in the very beginning. So you want to go for your annual eye exam every year with your eye care professional. And some other basic advice - wear sunglasses outside. Absolutely protect your eyes from the sun, because over time, the sun can start to cause changes to the whites of your eyes, making them red. If you have more pigment in your skin, you are darker skinned, you can start getting brown spots or freckles on the whites of your eyes. Of course, I'll mention we developed a procedure that I called WhiterEyes®, The WhiterEyes® Procedure that can treat the discoloration on the whites of the eyes. So we have people come for that a lot, but if you can prevent it, you should and sunglasses are really important and if you're a parent, make your kids wear sunglasses even as young as a year old. They should be wearing sunglasses because that damage to the white starts in youth, and sun cause other problems with the eyes as well like cataracts, macular degeneration, skin cancer around the skin on the eyelids. So it's always good to wear the wraparound sunglasses. 

By the way, if somebody wants to test their car, I should mention this, Tony, two studies published a few years ago, where we found that the side windows of cars have generally really bad UV protection, even if it came with a factory tint. So we developed a card where you can check your side windows. So if people want to get a free card, a UV tester, just contact our office. I'm sure You will give the information at the end of this discussion on how they can contact us but you can ask for a free UV tester card. Check your cars and if you find it's not proper UV protection, you can have one of these outfits put a window film that does block the UV on your side windows. I will say the windshields are all good by law. It's the side windows where we see a big issue.

Tony:  Well, thank you for that ad. Do you want them to phone in? Or is there a place to go on your website BoxerWachler.com to request that. Let's go ahead and give them that information now.

Dr. Brian:  Okay, so the phone number for the office is 310-860-1900. To get the UV card if you just want to go online and just opt in for it, it's BoxerWachler.com B-O-X-E-R-W-A-C-H-L-E-R.com/UV, U like uncle, V like Victor, and that's the page that you can opt in for the card.

Tony:  Thank you very much for sharing that. And Dr. Brian, what are you looking to accomplish in the next few years? You've done so much in the past 20 years I've known you. So I'd like to know what does the future look like?

Dr. Brian:  What the future looks like still taking great care of people, helping them with the ways that we figured out to where a lot of people aren't able to, you know, physicians I should say, haven't incorporated these techniques that we've been doing like for keratoconus. We now do four different procedures for people with keratoconus. It's almost like there's stage one which is stabilizing the disease with the Holcomb C3-R® Non-Invasive Cross-Linking, and improving the vision with Intacs, and then another procedure called CK, which is not for Calvin Klein, but stands for Conductive Keratoplasty, and then the second stage when people have a higher prescription with keratoconus, and this also applies for people who are not LASIK candidates that have a high prescription too. It's called the Visian ICL®. It's like an implantable lens. It's 10 minutes, one-day recovery. Virtually all of our procedures is recovery by the next day. So that's our keratoconus menu if you will. 

And then for people that just need reading glasses, we developed a procedure called Fortified CK where we use a procedure that has a probe applying little heat spots for people who need reading glasses. So this works exceedingly well, it's not really invasive, because there's no cutting or removing tissue, and I even did it on my wife last year, in fact, for her reading, because she started to get to the point where her arms were not long enough. And I really like that procedure a lot because it's again, so easy to help people read better. And of course, people say oh my gosh, you actually did a procedure on your wife. What was that like? And I said, Well, obviously I needed to have a high confidence level in this procedure because she's really critical and I have to come home to her every day. 

And then we've combined the Cross-Linking with LASIK, so we call it four to five LASIK for stigmatism, as well as nearsightedness and farsightedness, and then we also do advanced cataract surgery for people who get cataracts and need the lens replacement, we do that as well. And the last thing we really pioneered as well is in Dry Eye treatment. There's a condition called blepharitis, specifically Meibomian gland dysfunction, where the eyelid glands get clogged and inflamed. And so we pioneered a treatment using testosterone cream that you apply and I have actually had the same condition that I'm talking about. I have this blepharitis as well. And so we clean out the glands with a little device here in the office and people apply of a grain of rice amount of testosterone to the skin on the eyelids that keeps the glands 95% of the time working well and not being inflamed and resolving those dry eye complaints. And that's it. That was a huge breakthrough, Tony, because Meibomian gland blepharitis is a chronic condition normally. I mean, we've had, for example, women who usually get it come in after suffering for 20 years, going to all these different eye doctors, just getting Band Aid treatments but our testosterone is based on Harvard Medical School research that found that these oil glands in the eyelids - you're not going to believe this - have testosterone receptors. And as we get older, we don't make enough testosterone and guess what happens? The glands don't get enough. They start getting inflamed. That's this chronic problem that can last for decades.

Tony:  Dr. Brian, is that what creates the sty in the eye?

Dr. Brian:  Exactly. A gland that balloons out is a sty That's exactly what a sty is too.

Tony:  So it's just a little bit of testosterone. Well, that's amazing. And this is administered at your office, or what could somebody order it and apply it at home?

Dr. Brian:  Well, it comes from a compounded pharmacy that we use, so we have to see people to evaluate them in order to prescribe it. That's why I have people even fly in from ... well, people flying in from out of town for all the different procedures because of the way we do this. But people also come in like that same way from out of town even for dry eye treatments because we now know how to do this. We pioneered it and then they just keep on the cream. I've been doing this cream myself now I'd say for like 14 years, and it's kept my dry eyes resolved. Don't even feel my eyes anymore. It's been like that for 14 years. 

Tony:  Absolutely amazing. You never cease to amaze me.

Dr. Brian:  Well, we're just trying to help people and I just don't get bogged down by what other people are thinking and doing, and just follow the path I know is the right path to help people. Sometimes it got me in trouble. Really it has, because when you buck the system sometimes, the system and the people who represent the system don't like that. Like when I was pioneering for keratoconus, the Holcomb C3-R® Non-Invasive Cross-Linking, it's a vitamin solution with a light that strengthens the cornea. I figured out how to do it non-invasively and I had all these cornea transplant surgeons, a number them colleagues of mine starting to attack me because I was preventing people from needing corneal transplants. And so sometimes, like I said, it's not always the most popular position. The pioneers are usually not the ones who get the glamour but they go out and come back from the covered wagon with arrows in their back.

Tony:  This is the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Just ahead, the chat continues about Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. But first, it's time for us to take a short break. See you back here in just a moment.

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Tony:  All right, we're back on the Tony DUrso Show where you can learn from the wisdom and success of others to help you move on your vision path. Let's see what we can learn today. Today's show is about the Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. At the end of this interview, I'll give you a summary of what I got out of this and I'll share some pointers with you. Stay tuned for that. Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler wrote Perceptual Intelligence: The Brain's Secret to Seeing Past Illusion, Misperception, and Self-Deception. You can get it anywhere where books are sold. And now back to the chat with Dr. Brian.

Dr. Brian:  I gave a TEDx talk actually. I was asked to give a TEDx talk about my journey and with keratoconus, things I developed and so people can find that on YouTube if you search my name and TEDx, but it was really Stephen Holcomb, the US bobsledder who I treated his keratoconus and when he came back out of retirement and won the gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010. I mean, that really turned it around for me in my career at that point because of how so many people in the ophthalmology medical establishment weren't happy with me. 

Tony:  Excellent 

Dr. Brian: Because that was preventing cornea transplants. So that was a really amazing experience to help Steven win that gold medal at the Olympics in Vancouver in bobsled.

Tony:  That's extraordinary. Dr. Brian, are there any personal habits that contribute to the vision success of you, your life, your business?

Dr. Brian:  I exercise a lot. I think it's really important to keep physically fit, lead a healthy, healthy lifestyle. I personally don't drink alcohol and I don't really drink much caffeine, although, when we're on family vacation, my sister in law gives me a hard time because I'm always bumming sips of coffee off of her on my vacation. I don't smoke. I like to spend time with my family. I've got two twin daughters who are almost 14. I've been married like yourself for many years now. We got married in 1993. So I think keeping sight on the family, importance of family despite what you're doing professionally is also important to have that balance.

Tony:  Thank you for that. And we've talked about a couple of good resources, but I always ask at the very end, are there any great resources that you would like to share with our audience success squad?

Dr. Brian:  I don't know if you've ever talked about Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich.

Tony:  Yes, it's come up quite a bit. It's amazing stuff and I love Masterminds myself because you can really get incredible help from doing that. What would you like to add to that, please?

Dr. Brian:  Well, I think that it lays out a blueprint for a lot of peoples' success, and particularly the visualization component. I talked about it. There's a chapter about that also in the Perceptual Intelligence book about visualizing. A lot of people in sports use it, a lot of successful people in business use it as well. And I think that visualization process also helps contribute to people achieving the goals, whatever goals they want to achieve. 

Tony:  Thank you so much. Once again, we talked about Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler and you can find him at boxerwachler.com B-O-X-E-R-W-A-C-H-L-E-R.com Dr. Brian, thank you so much for spending some time with us. You shared a lot of great information. I can't wait for my audience to get this. Definitely going to help them out.

Dr. Brian:  Thank you, Tony. And I just want to finish with the Coronavirus, because the country is in the throes of this right now is just keep in mind what we talked about, how this spreads. It's the good hygiene practice and right now, the country has never had a higher level of hygiene IQ as I call it than now, and we're going to see the benefits of that for years, if not decades in the future because I predict there's going to be a lot less flu next year because we have such high hygiene IQ right now. So just remember the facts and try not to get caught up with the emotion and the hype that you're seeing in the media as well. 

Tony:  Once again, thank you so much, Dr. Brian.

Hey, success squad. Thanks for hanging out with me while I featured an elite entrepreneur who took his vision to reality. I hope this was inspiring for you as it was for me to do this interview. I learned so much. The insights are so valuable. So how did you like it? We talked about the Coronavirus and eye care with Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler. As the Doctor's Doctor for many doctors who choose Dr. Brian, you can tell from his early roots how well he regards people and how he tries to do good in his life, which he considers is the purpose of life. I am impressed at the outset of how Benjamin Franklin had such a good impression on him. He's been one of my favorites, too. 

Those are such simple methods to prevent the virus, the cold and the flu that it's a wonder more people don't do them. But now it is a different world and much more awareness has been brought to this. I know we will see a lot more changes in the future ahead. Everyone's hygiene IQ has greatly increased due to the recent events. I believe Dr. Brian on this completely. The risk of getting the Coronavirus has never been lower due to the increased awareness it has the world over. 

I like his book Perceptual Intelligence. It's the ability for people to be able to separate reality from fantasy. It's so true how emotion overrides what we believe should be the best way to do something. It seems to throw a switch and takes control on decision making. Can you control your emotions and make logical decisions, no matter what's going on around you? I'm certain that if we practice on that, that we will all be more successful in our life, career and businesses. Of that, there can be no doubt. Get Dr. Brian's book on Perceptual Intelligence and learn more about this and how you can rise above emotional control. The book is available anywhere books are sold. 

His solution on helping businesses in your area is brilliant. His family orders take out every day to help local restaurants. The take out challenge - I highly advise you to adopt this if you have the means to do so. If this is within your means, I urge you to show your compassion and help your local businesses stay afloat. If a dozen of you ordered takeout in your area every day, that would keep things going a lot better, would it not? Ponder this and see what you can do to help them. God made us all equal. Please help your fellow man as best you can. 

Again, great recommendations if you work at a restaurant is to contact Open Table and Resy and message every person who has ever made a reservation at your restaurant. Great advice. And if you work for those apps, follow Dr. Brian's suggestion and proactively contact the restaurants listed with you in your app and help see those doing takeout get their past customers contacted as well. And for all businesses that are open or intend to stay open during this current crisis, do you have the email address of your customers? Or can you get it somehow and message them? Great advice. Also, if your place of business is temporarily closed and you own a gym or have any equipment that you can rent out for people to use at their home. Brilliant advice. There's so much more I got out of this interview. What did you get? I'd love to know how you use this information to help you in your business or career. Reach out to me. 

Okay guys, now grab hold of your vision. Decide you're either going to start something great or take it to the next level. You have to decide first. It always starts with a vision, and you can get my vision map to help you along the process. The free eBook is at Tony D-U-R-S-O.com. And yes, this will help you in the current crisis absolutely. Now, I created my empire in just a few years. That's all it took. I had the vision map as my guide. I wrote it up so you can do it too. And once again, check out my shows on Spotify, all designed to help you get to the next level in your business or career. Let's help you move on your journey to success. And if you have iTunes or access to any Apple device, look up my name Tony D-U-R-S-O and subscribe to my show. A kind review there will get you tremendous appreciation back in return. Thanks and remember - just take action. Success awaits those who persevere and remain steadfast despite the odds Sow good seeds, do good deeds and join me on the next episode of the Tony DUrso Show.

We hope you've enjoyed this week's edition of the Tony DUrso Show with his key influencers. Be sure to tune in again next Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time, 2 p.m. Pacific Time on The Voice America Influencers channel