In her long and dedicated career as a registered nurse,
Mary Congdon helped a vast number of patients through all sorts of medical
procedures. Ironically, one surgery that made a vivid impact on Mary all those
years ago became medically necessary for her in recent months. Thankfully, the
removal of cataracts has progressed light-years beyond what her patients had to
endure.
“I can remember people, when I was first in nursing and
cataracts were first being done, who would stay in the hospital for two weeks,
in bed, with sandbags to hold their heads still,” she recalls. “Just to lie in
bed that long would be enough to make you crazy, but that’s the way it was.
“They didn’t have the lenses, or the modern equipment and
techniques, so they had to be very careful. It was extremely easy to have very
severe complications if you moved too soon.”
But these days, as Mary is happy to attest, the procedure
is “an easy thing to go through.”
Steady vision loss
Thinking back, Mary says that clues about her continuing
loss of vision showed themselves most clearly whenever she tried to read. “I
was having progressive difficulty,” she shares. “And I was up to the highest
level of reader glasses and still having trouble, so I figured it was time to
do something.”
Because of her medical background, Mary could take a guess
at the problem, but she also understood how crucial her choice of doctor would
ultimately be. “I knew that I must have had cataracts,” she says, “so I
searched around and found Dr. Ge.”
The first thing she says she remembers noticing about the
doctor was her manner. “She’s very gentle; just very calm. You need that in an
eye surgeon.”
Satisfied, Mary recalls turning her attention to another
detail. “I always look at a doctor’s hands,” she adds. “I worked in an
operating room for years, so hands are important for a surgeon.”
Refined surgical techniques
Q. Jocelyn Ge, MD, PhD, is the medical director of Premier
Eye Clinic in Port Orange, a full-service, patient-oriented facility that
combines compassionate care with advanced technology. “I prefer to know my
patients,” Dr. Ge shares. “I feel this gives better results because no two
patients are the same, and no two eyes are the same.”
When she began the process with Mary, the doctor says her
examination revealed cataracts, as well astigmatism, at the heart of the
blurred vision. “Mary just wanted something to be done to help her see better.
She’s very healthy; an active grandma and very active at church,” Dr. Ge
explains. “She was a very good candidate for a glasses-free option, so we chose
to treat both her cataracts and her astigmatism in one session and give her the
premium ReSTOR lenses.”
To Mary’s delight, those goals can currently be
accomplished in a quick, pain-free manner that literally has nothing but the
end result in common with the procedure she remembers from her early nursing
days, and with even clearer vision. “The surgery has just been refined and
refined,” assures Mary. “All you have to do is set aside a day for surgery, and
the next day for follow-up. It’s easy and there’s no pain associated with it,
simply nothing to be afraid of. It’s wonderful.”
Dry eye syndrome
The one side effect Mary did experience is actually,
according to Dr. Ge, a very common occurrence that can happen on its own. Dry
eye syndrome is one of the most common eye conditions that bring patients to
see an eye specialist. [see sidebar] It commonly causes symptoms like sandy or
gritty feeling in the eye, pain, tired eyes, and tearing.
In Mary’s case, the treatment consisted of
over-the-counter eye lubricants, and punctal occlusion, in which silicone plugs
are inserted into the tear ducts, slowing the drainage of tears from the eyes.
“Since then, I really don’t have any problems,” she says,
“I just put in lubricating drops once or twice a day.”
Instead of eye problems limiting her activities, what she
has now is a caring physician in whom she entrusts her vision, and the freedom
to again enjoy one of her very favorite activities: reading. “I really felt it
was something worth investing in for me,” she says. “I like to read and I like
to see what I’m doing.”
And
what this retired registered nurse is doing, on a daily basis, is once again
caring for others. “I have two grandchildren living with me most of the time,”
she shares. “I take them to school, I pick them up, and I even volunteer at
their school.”
What better way to make use of the gift of vision?
Help for Dry Eyes
Do you suffer from any of the following: a sandy or gritty
sensation in the eye, eye pain, the feeling that something is in the eye,
easily tired eyes, or tearing? If so, Dr. Ge has information to share about dry
eye syndrome and its treatment.
One of the most common eye conditions, affecting all age
groups, dry eye syndrome is particularly prevalent in women and in the elderly.
Causes of dry eye syndrome include medications, environment, hormonal changes,
and inflammatory medical conditions such as lupus, thyroid disease, and
rheumatoid arthritis.
In addition, according to Dr. Ge, eye surgeries like LASIK
and cataract surgery sometimes temporarily intensify the symptoms because of
the necessity of an incision on the surface of the eye. This is temporary
because the eye heals. Because of this effect, however, the doctor says she
often pre-treats dry eye patients in advance of any surgical procedures to
prevent problems after surgery.
An added advantage of pre-treatment of dry eyes is that it
allows for more accurate eye measurements. When the eyes are very dry, Dr. Ge
explains, eye measurements become unstable or inaccurate, which creates the
risk that patients will not be able to achieve the glasses-free benefit of
premium intra-ocular lens implants.
Treatment of dry eye syndrome, she says, begins with
over-the-counter lubricants called artificial tears. If the artificial tears
are not sufficient, treatment proceeds to prescription medication such as
Restasis, which helps the eye to produce more tears. Nutritional supplement
such as fish oil is also beneficial. Another treatment option is an office procedure called punctal occlusion,
which involves closing the tear duct by inserting a synthetic plug at the tear
duct opening, providing immediate results with minimum risk. Moreover, dry eye
syndrome oftentimes is not an isolated condition; the eyelids and eyelashes may
also need to be treated.
Above all, there’s no need to suffer with dry eye
syndrome, Dr. Ge assures. Treatment is abundant, and oftentimes quick, safe and
effective, and the relief is well worth the effort.
FHCN - Brenda Klettke