Carolina L Mercado, MD

Ocular Surface Tumors, High-Risk Corneal Transplantation, Corneal Infectious Diseases, Ocular Surface and Anterior Segment Reconstruction, Dry Eye Disease, Corneal Collagen Crosslinking for Keratoconus and Corneal Ectasia

• Enhancing treatment and surgical options for patients with various ocular conditions, including Ocular surface tumors, surface lesions, and cornea transplantation.
• Advancing diagnostic techniques for ocular lesions using high-resolution anterior segment optical coherence tomography (HR-OCT) and validating the use of topical 5-fluorouracil 1% (5-FU) as an effective treatment for ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN).
• Developing methods to improve corneal endothelial cell survival after transplant.

Publications

Carolina Mercado, M.D., is an assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology. She received her medical degree and completed a clinical internship at the Universidad del Norte in Colombia. She then completed a three-year international research fellowship at Bascom Palmer on cornea and external eye diseases with Carol Karp, M.D., before returning to Colombia to complete a residency in ophthalmology at the Escuela Superior de Oftalmología, Instituto Barraquer de América. Following her residency, she returned to Bascom Palmer and completed two additional fellowships. The first in cornea and external diseases with Guillermo Amescua, M.D., and the second in medical retina with Jaclyn Kovach, M.D. Mercado received the Gillingham Pan-American Fellowship from the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology, which is offered to qualified Latin American candidates who have been accepted into an accredited training program in the United States or Canada. She has extensive experience as a researcher in ophthalmology, focused on enhancing treatment and surgical options for various ocular conditions, including ocular surface tumors, surface lesions, and corneal transplantation. Working closely with Karp, Mercado has helped advance diagnostic techniques for ocular lesions using high-resolution anterior segment optical coherence tomography and validating the use of topical 5-fluorouracil 1% as an effective treatment for ocular surface squamous neoplasia. She has also contributed to developing techniques to enhance corneal endothelial cell survival after transplantation. She is available for consultations on corneal and external diseases at Bascom Palmer Naples or through virtual visits.