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WBM Top Doctors
www.wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com WBM
Neurology
The specialty of neurology is one
that is heavily diagnostic — a
lot of detective work goes into
discovering and treating disorders of the
brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and
muscles. “In fact, we are experts in diag-nosis,”
explains Dr. Brian Averell, a neu-rologist
with Wilmington Health. “We
spend time and effort making sure our
diagnosis is correct, and then carefully
select what the patient needs next, ana-lyzing
more as we go.” That could mean
further treatment with a neurologist or a
referral to a different physician.
Dr. Averell explains that conditions
such as migraines, epilepsy, muscular
sclerosis and dementia are some of the
more common ailments a neurologist
might diagnose and treat. He adds that
new developments on the horizon are
making it possible to treat more and
more of these diseases with medication.
For example, people suffering from
dementia are seeing symptom relief from
new drugs on the market. “It’s exciting
news to patients who have had limited
options until now,” says Dr. Averell.
People often mistake a neurological
disorder for a circulatory or orthopedic
condition. “Numbness, tingling, weak-ness,
or dysfunction of the extremities or
face are usually symptoms of a neurologi-cal
issue,” he says. “People think, ‘Hey,
my feet are numb, it must be circula-tory.’
But it is often the sign of a nerve
problem.”
Fellowship in Neurology
Alsina, George
Port City Neurosurgery & Spine
338-2773
UCLA/OliveView, 1997
Brown, Adam
Coastal Neurosurgical Associates & Spine
799-2262
Barrow Neurological Institute, 1995
Knox, Angelina
Knox Clinic Pediatrics
763-3349
Dorothea Dix Hospital, 1968
Oster, Timothy
New Hanover Regional Medical Center
343-7000
University of Colorado SOM, 2008
Torres, Sandra
Coastal Neurology
254-9914
Medical College of Pennsylvania, 1990
Wiese, Kathleen
Wilmington Health
341-3383
University of Illinois—St. Francis Medical
Center, 2007
Obstetrics OB/GYN
An OB/GYN is strictly focused on women’s
health. An obstetrician cares for women before
and during pregnancy and up to six weeks post-partum,
and also monitors the baby during that time. A
gynecologist takes care of women’s health issues when
she’s not pregnant. “We start seeing women at about
age 21, or when they
become sexually active
or have menstrual
issues, whichever
comes first,” says Dr.
Sara Collins, a gyne-cologist
with Coastline
Gynecology.
“A woman goes
through many major
physical, emotional
and medical changes
through her lifetime
— puberty, the repro-ductive
years, peri-menopause
and meno-pause
— and her gyne-cologist
can be with her
through every stage,”
Dr. Collins says, adding that with so many baby boomers
in the population right now, the majority of her clients
are going through perimenopause. “It consumes a lot of
what I do. And it can be the most significant of transi-tions,
in terms of changes to a woman’s body and life.”
In terms of disease prevention, annual pap tests are
Reese Walton. Photo by Allison Breiner Potter.