Newsroom
Offices in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Norman, Ada, Elk City, Muskogee and throughout Oklahoma
Published: The Norman
Transcript, May 8, 2005
For Moore woman, May 3rd
brings new significance
33-year-old among a few in state
to undergo new cataract surgery
By Carol Hartzog
Special to the Norman Transcript
Dixie Szymanski of the Moore area struggled with her
vision all her life, wearing eyeglasses since she
was 1 years old. Cataracts in both eyes, eye
infections and allergies made the situation worse.
But those inconveniences paled in comparison to what
happened May 3, 1999.
The metro-area tornado that ripped through Moore not
only demolished her home, but her left eye was
knocked back into her head, and her face and neck
were crushed. The bones around her left eye socket
were broken, as was her jaw and neck. A head gash
required 100 staples to close.
She had complete memory loss for a few days, wore a
neck brace for three months, and even had her eye
sewn shut to heal. The surgeons literally had to
pick her eye up and put in five titanium plates
behind the eye socket and in the jaw.
With some double vision and halos, she hasn’t been
able to read street signs and night-driving was
starting to be hazardous. She thought Lasik vision correction might be
helpful to correct her problems. But the cataracts
prevented that option.
Thirteen surgeries later, she has one more to go.
On this the sixth year since the May 3 tornado –
Tuesday – Szymanski will replace her lens with an
artificial lens. The procedure is new to Oklahoma –
the 35th state with two physicians performing the
crystalens ® procedure, just approved by the FDA last
year.
crystalens ® 'a dream come true'
Szymanski is a perfect candidate for the new
cataract replacement lens surgery for people who
develop cataracts and who want to be able to see
clearly, near, intermediate and far without
corrective lenses, said Dr. Brad Britton, founder of
BVA in Edmond.
With the procedure, patients need no bifocals,
contacts or reading glasses. And for this
33-year-old with a husband and two small children,
that possibility is “a dream come true.”
"I hate glasses. My contacts weren't working (with
my allergies), with limited peripheral vision is a
hassles, and when it’s hot, they are slipping on
you," said Szymanski, whose twin sister has worn
glasses since she was 5 months old. She has an
appointment later this month to see what can be done
for her.
"They gave me hope that maybe, someday, I could see
20/20," she said.
May 3rd will be bittersweet for Szymanski. She will
have a hopefully life-changing surgical procedure
and the tornado experience has made her appreciate
life much more than before. She doesn’t fret over
the little things like she used to.
But that day in 1999 was not only traumatic for her,
but for two of her three sisters. They too lost
houses in the tornado. One sister lived just a few
houses down from her, and the other lived in
Newcastle. All three homes were destroyed.
The Szymanskis chose to build about a mile north of
their home on Southwest 138th, but they remain in
the Moore School District. One sister rebuilt on the
same Newcastle spot while the other built near May
Avenue.
Physicians first in state to perform surgery
Szymanski is one of only 45 people in the state to
have cataract accommodating lens replacement
surgery, or crystalens ®. It's the most innovative
technological advance in eye surgery since Lasik was
introduced in 1995, said Britton. He was one of
three ophthalmologists statewide to first perform
the Lasik surgery.
Now Dr. Britton and Dr. Brad Taylor are the first in
the state to perform the crystalens® procedure.
There are people who can't see their computer
screens, for example, without a corrective lens,
Britton said. It impacts those facing bifocals, who
don't want to hassle with glasses and contact
lenses. Traditional cataract surgery leaves you
still having to wear glasses.
The procedure actually removes the lens, and
replaces it with an artificial lens, which moves as
the muscle contracts.
Over the years, the evolution of cataract treatment
has gone through many phases -- from having to wear
very thick glasses to lens implants, but patients
still had to wear glasses or lens, said Dr. Larry
Henry with BVA. Cataract treatment then evolved into
mono-vision lenses, where one lens allows you to see
up close and another at a distance. Not everyone can
adjust to that, physicians say.
Procedure a godsend for cataract patients
Lasik surgery is for younger people who wear glasses
and contacts to see clearly in the distance. This
impacts about half the population, but only 2
percent utilize the procedure.
The crystalens ® procedure is for the older
population, age 45 to 65, who get cataracts. That's
something we will all experience some day, but it
depends to what degree.
"It's a godsend for cataract patients, just in time
for the baby boomer generation to start coming of
age – an affluent generation wanting to remain as
active and viable as possible," said Dr. Britton.
"They want to be able to do whatever it takes to not
have to wear bifocals."
Unfortunately, Medicare patients cannot receive the
benefits of this surgery as yet, so thus, the cut
off of age 65, Dr. Britton said. Medicare won't even
allow its beneficiaries to pay for it out of pocket.
But medical leaders say they hope that will change
any day, as the issue is at the top of the list of
Medicare's concerns.
"The ones most excited about this technology are
those who have been farsighted all their lives. They
want to not have to keep up with their glasses," he
said. "crystalens® is for patients who were going to
cataract surgery anyhow, but the traditional
cataract surgery gave them the distance sight, but
they still had to have reading glasses."
"If you're going to have cataract surgery, this is
the type of implant I would want in my eye. Most
likely my parents will have it done before their
65th birthday."
crystalens ® is a cataract replacement lens that works
naturally with the eyes’ muscles to give you the
quality of vision enjoyed when you were younger.
crystalens ® “hinges” are designed to allow the lens
to move, or accommodate to focus on objects near,
far and all distances in-between seamlessly. Unlike
old-style fixed focal lenses, which didn’t move,
crystalens® has the ability to move, thus focusing as
your eye’s natural lens did when you were younger.
And the best part about the new implants is the more
you read, the more your vision improves, as the
muscles that move the lens strengthen after years of
atrophy.
BVA Advanced Eye Care includes eight
ophthalmologists and four optometrists. Its mission
is to serve the rural areas, with hubs in Edmond,
Ada, Tulsa and Elk City, and satellites in Clinton,
Hobart and 30 other places in state, including
Woodward, Shattuck and Fairview.
In July, BVA will be opening an office in Norman with Dr. Josh Powell hanging up his shingle.
|
For more information about Lasik, cataracts, eyelids or other procedures, please call or e-mail us today.
See Better. Live Better.
(405) 752-2733
(888) 323-3937
|
