New Mexico only has two neuro-ophthalmologists, and one of them recently started a practice in Taos.
Scott Forman, 71, moved to Taos a few years ago “with intentions of retiring.” However, he continued practicing neuro-ophthalmology, a medical specialty that focuses on visual problems related to the nervous system. “I just decided I enjoy it too much.” Forman has a long history of experience in the field, having been a professor of ophthalmology, neurology and neuro-surgery at the New York Medical College for 35 years. He also has about 30 publications under his name, including a textbook he co-wrote with two other authors.
Forman began working in Taos in March 2022 in the office of Jane Compton, an optometrist based in Taos since 1985. Despite his subspecialty, Forman has been doing general ophthalmology work. He added that he didn’t want to start his own office because “the toys are expensive,” explaining that it could cost a couple hundred thousand dollars, depending on whether you buy the necessary equipment or lease it.
“I’m doing this because I have a unique subspecialty to offer,” Forman said about his decision to continue his work.
A relatively new medical field, there aren’t many neuro-ophthalmologists in the U.S. According to an article by Ruth Williams, chief medical editor for EyeNet, only eight states have “enough” neuro-ophthalmologists while six states don’t have any at all. In the same article, Williams notes that during the 2020-21 academic year, only 17 out of 30 fellowship positions in the subspecialty were filled.
“It’s a field that is fascinating because we deal with inexplicable problems,” Forman said. “You know, visual loss that’s unexplained or cryptic, difficult to figure out. We deal with brain tumors, multiple sclerosis [and] other degenerative neurological diseases that frequently manifest eye symptoms because 60 percent of the brain has to do with vision or eye movement. We’re very visual beings.”
While describing the kind of conditions neuro-ophthalmologists treat, Forman specified that he treats patients both medically and cosmetically with Botox, which is used to temporarily treat blepharospasms, or uncontrollable eye movements. Forman has been administering Botox injections since 1990, one year after the drug was approved by the FDA for medical use.
“The reasons people may want to be referred to me are for double vision and [if] closing one eye alleviates that,” Forman said. “That means there’s a misalignment in the eyes; they’re not aligned properly so that the brain can’t take the image from each eye and fuse them into one. That’s one reason. Another is if you wake up in the morning and you can’t see out of one eye and you go to your ophthalmologist and they can’t find anything wrong — then you end up in my office.”
The only other neuro-ophthalmologist in New Mexico is Kevin Sitko, who’s based in Albuquerque.
“I’m the only other one, which is surprising because I applied for [health insurer] Humana,” Forman said, “[but they] said they have a neuro-ophthalmologist, they don’t need [another]. Yeah, they have [Sitko], but he’s three hours away! There’s nobody up here except me.”
According to Forman, it’s not convenient for people, especially those with vision impairments, to drive a potentially-long distance for an appointment. This way, there’s at least one more neuro-ophthalmologist in the state for patients to consult, he said. Coming from New York, he continued to add that there were many roadblocks in the way of transitioning his practice to New Mexico.
“I got a license to practice medicine, which took me eight months to get here,” Forman said. “Then, I’m still in the process of signing up with insurance companies because each company vets you in different ways, and I don’t want to refuse anybody. I don’t want to turn anybody down, so I signed up for everything — Medicaid, Medicare, all the insurance companies I [could]. [It] takes a long time.”
Forman has spent a long time with this subspecialty, having been mentored by renowned neuro-ophthalmologist Miles Behrens, who died in 2019.
“We’re all descended from — you know, we have a family history so to speak — William Hoyt, [who] was one of the first neuro-ophthalmologists in the U.S.,” Forman said, “and he trained Miles Behrens, who trained me. There’s a lineage like that for just about everyone. Most of the neuro-ophthalmologists in this country were trained directly or indirectly by [Hoyt].”
“Nothing supersedes when you’re able to help make somebody better,” Forman said. “The feeling that comes with that is something that is unique. And that’s unique to medicine, or helping professions in general. That’s why I do it.”
Jane Compton’s office is located at 710 Paseo del Pueblo Sur and is open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Forman works on Tuesday and Wednesday each week.