The professional admiration is mutual.

“There is nobody in this area that hasn’t heard of or been to Gino’s,” notes Williamson. “All the kids are in the business and mama would do the cooking. [The famous Mama Marino for whom the Baton Rouge Epicurean Society’s yearly lifetime award is named.]  She is the matriarch of the Marino clan and her recipes are the origin of authentic Sicilian cuisine at Gino’s.

“Gino and his family were visionaries in the restaurant business in this area.  The food there is so good, that many famous celebrities have eaten there from all over the world when they come to Baton Rouge.  I frequently bring visiting doctors there who come to watch me do surgery and they are blown away.”

“I noticed not too long ago that Gino was back in glasses again but this time for close vision.  He had certainly reached the age for reading glasses but seemed to need them most of the time in the restaurant,” says Williamson noting that it bothered Marino after he had been able to go without glasses for so many years.

“Running the business, I am always looking at the menus and the wine list as well as the computer and as I got older, especially in the low light of the restaurant, I once again needed glasses in order to see,” Marino recalls. “Chuck saw me in the restaurant one night and told me to come visit him—that there was a new procedure called Crystalens that was tailored just for my problem.”

“This latest lens technology is state of the art and used in present day cataract surgery,” says Williamson, adding that it works well and is for both patients who just want to improve their close vision and those who want to get out of their glasses for close as well as distance.

“I had the new procedure and my vision improved right away. I was amazed at how vibrant colors were,” says Marino. “Now, I am able to see most of the time without glasses and rely on my readers very little.  I am really happy to be out of glasses again. It has really changed my life again and made work a lot easier.”

The Crystalens procedure is a recently developed premium lens cataract procedure, done as an outpatient under local anesthesia, and takes just 5 – 10 minutes.  The Crystalens is different in that it has the ability to flex and focus the patient’s vision to see more clearly from near to far and the full range in-between.  Dr. Williamson has implanted thousands of Crystalens, which was developed by Bausch and Lomb. Last year, Dr. Charles Williamson was one of the top three Crystalens surgeons in the country.

More information is available at
225-927-2020 or williamsoncenters.com.

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