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Dr. Herschel is now glasses-free after cataract surgery.
He doubts he will ever see the world from atop Mount Everest, but climbing enthusiast Mark K. Herschel, MD, has seen similar views from the summit of two of the world’s other more notable mountains, and he says it’s fabulous.
“I’ve climbed both Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Rainier,” the 65-year-old ophthalmologist says. “Kilimanjaro is really more of a walk than a climb. It’s not that challenging, but it’s pretty high, about 19,400 feet, so it’s a really spectacular hike.
“Rainer is only 14,000 feet, but climbing that was more challenging than Kilimanjaro because it’s all glacier, so the climb was a lot more technical. Those are the two biggest mountains I’ve climbed, and there’s one more that I’d really like to try.
“I’ve always dreamed of climbing (20,000-foot) Mount Denali in Alaska. That’s a very challenging climb. A lot of people go there to prepare for more dramatic climbs like the ones you do in the Himalayas, so I’d like to try that.”
It’s not just from mountaintops that Dr. Herschel has observed the world below. The son of an America Airlines test pilot, he learned to fly when he was 17, so he’s looked down from the clouds more times than he can remember.
Not long ago, Dr. Herschel’s view of the world, whether it was from 10,000 feet or ground level, became skewed a bit by the development of cataracts, which are a clouding of the eyes’ lenses caused by a natural breakdown of the proteins that make up the lenses.
The condition usually results in blurred vision, an increase in sensitivity to light, a reduction in the vibrancy of colors, an increase in glare, and the appearance of halos or starbursts around lights at night.
Dr. Herschel was bothered mostly by the latter symptoms, but the force behind his decision to undergo cataract surgery, which is the only treatment for cataracts, was his burning desire to get out of wearing glasses for distance and reading vision.
“The convenience of not having to wear glasses was something I had been looking forward to for a while,” he says. “So, when I started having problems with the cataracts, I quickly got to a point where it just made sense for me to move forward with the surgery.”
It also made sense for Dr. Herschel to entrust that surgery to fellow ophthalmologist William J. Mallon, MD, of the Center for Advanced Eye Care in Vero Beach.
Less Stress and Risk
“I’ve known about Dr. Mallon for a very long time, and I have always admired him and his practice, in part because of his use of advanced technology,” Dr. Herschel says. “This is a doctor who has created and is actively developing technologies that other ophthalmologists use in their own practices.
“He is seeking out and implementing new and proven innovations amid an atmosphere of confidence that is exuded by him and his staff, and his staff believes in him and how he takes care of his patients both in surgery and in the clinic.
“Dr. Mallon’s surgical skills are exceptional, and then there is the exceptional efficiency with which he works. Efficiency does several things: it reduces stress on the patient, the staff and the doctor, especially during surgery, and it profoundly reduces risk.
“When Dr. Mallon is in surgery, he has control of the situation, and his staff is very focused. He also works quickly, but it’s not about speed. It’s about having everything set up exactly right every single time so the potential for mistakes is minimized.”
The surgical removal of cataracts is among the most common procedures in medicine. It is typically performed on one eye at a time, with a week or two between procedures that last just minutes.
Each surgery begins with the numbing of the eye with anesthetic drops. The physician then makes a tiny cut in the front of the eye and uses an ultrasonic device to break the lens into small pieces, which are gently vacuumed out. That lens is then replaced with a synthetic intraocular lens, or IOL, that is made of acrylic or silicone.
Like contact lenses, intraocular lenses come in several focusing powers to correct refractive problems. Standard IOLs primarily correct distance vision, but patients who qualify can be fit with multifocal IOLs that improve distance, intermediate and/or reading vision.
Multifocal lenses are designed to reduce or eliminate the need for glasses. There are several IOLs that can achieve that objective, but the most advanced is the light-adjustable lens.
With this option, the patient’s vision can be adjusted up to three times in the weeks following surgery to ensure the best outcome. Each adjustment can be made in less than two minutes using an ultraviolet light that is shined onto the replacement lens.
“The light-adjustable lens is an exceptional technological advance that has truly changed the dynamics of what we do,” Dr. Mallon says. “This lens is allowing us to give patients an exactness to their vision that was never achievable before.
“We always strive to give each patient the best vision possible following surgery, but we could never promise that because it was a lot like tracking a hurricane. There was a cone of uncertainty, and in the end, we could land almost anywhere in that cone.
“But with the light-adjustable lens, I can now tell a patient with certainty that we will be able to get them the best vision they could possibly have at any particular distance, so this lens represents a quantum shift in what it is that we are able to do for our patients.”
Monovision Option
This quantum shift is another reason Dr. Herschel decided to have cataract surgery. He knew that due to the recent technological advances in IOLs, he could easily achieve his goal of becoming glasses-free.
All he needed to do was decide which replacement lens would work best for him, and acting on the advice of Dr. Mallon, he chose to be fit with light-adjustable lenses, one of which would be prescribed for distance vision and the other for near vision, an option called monovision.
Monovision does not work for everyone, but Dr. Herschel experimented with it several years ago by wearing one contact lens set for distance vision and another set for reading vision, and he tolerated it well.
Another reason Dr. Herschel chose the light-adjustable lens was because he has “a little bit” of astigmatism, which is blurry vision caused by an irregular curve to the cornea, the clear window in the front of the eye.
“The light-adjustable lens allows you to correct astigmatism and fine-tune the correction,” he says.
The light-adjustable lens can also be fit in patients who have undergone LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis), LASEK (laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy) or RK (radial keratotomy) surgery. These refractive surgeries alter the shape of the cornea, which may affect the outcomes of many other multifocal IOLs.
Dr. Herschel was fit with light-adjustable lenses last September, and the results were exceptional. He now has 20/15 distance vision and 20/20 reading vision and is glasses-free.
“My reading vision is even better than I thought it would be, and I can see the computer and phone screens without any magnifiers at all now,” he enthuses. “And I only needed one adjustment on each eye to get there.
-Dr. Herschel
“My entire experience was amazing. The day of each surgery almost felt like a spa day. I was nervous, of course, but the quiet confidence of everyone around me made it a great experience. It was so impressive in so many ways.”
Dr. Herschel says he found it invaluable to experience the procedure as a patient.
“I’ve wondered for many years what the surgery would look like from the patient perspective, and the exceptional efficiency with which Dr. Mallon worked is something that I will never forget and will strive to duplicate in my own practice,” he says.
“I could go on, but it’s easy to see why I trusted Dr. Mallon implicitly with my eyesight and surgery and why others should feel exceptionally confident in choosing Dr. Mallon and the Center for Advanced Eye Care for their own cataract surgery.”
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