Bob Burdette hoped it wasn’t too late. As he rushed to the WVU Eye Institute, the imaginative and prescient in a single nook of his left eye slowly pale away.
“It was like looking at a photograph and watching a corner of it burn off,” Burdette, 79, of Morgantown, defined. Behind the image, he stated, was the “darkest dark” he’d ever seen.
An Eye Institute ophthalmologist, a health care provider that makes a speciality of advanced surgical and medical eye care, noticed him instantly and decided he had a retinal detachment – a critical situation wherein the retina, the light-sensitive tissue in the back of the attention, pulls away from its regular place. Retinal detachment is a medical emergency, and if left untreated, it will probably result in vital imaginative and prescient issues, together with blindness.
Fortunately Burdette, who stated the Eye Institute saved his sight that day, had entry to essentially the most complete ophthalmology group within the state. Its workforce of specialists have intensive coaching in areas like diabetic eye illnesses, corneal surgical procedure, glaucoma, cataracts, retinal surgical procedure, neuro-ophthalmology, pediatric ophthalmology, oculoplastics, and uveitis.
“We see more people with eye disease or people who need more sophisticated vision care, which we can provide here due to our training and our resources,” Thomas Mauger, M.D., govt chair of the WVU Eye Institute and chair of the WVU Division of Ophthalmology and Visible Sciences, stated.
And plenty of sufferers, like Burdette, typically want persevering with care.
Burdette started having hassle along with his eyes after cataract surgical procedure at one other facility prompted retina harm. Afterward, he sought care from eye medical doctors in New York Metropolis and Boston. He moved to Morgantown and instantly appreciated the excessive stage of care he acquired from the WVU Eye Institute.
“The WVU Eye Institute is extremely good,” Burdette stated. “When you start getting into the doctors they have there, you’re getting very talented people.”
Throughout an workplace go to with Mauger, Burdette knowledgeable him that the imaginative and prescient in his proper eye had change into “like looking through wax paper.” Burdette was recognized with Fuchs corneal dystrophy, a situation inflicting fluid buildup, swelling, and cloudy imaginative and prescient within the cornea, the clear tissue on the entrance of the attention.
Mauger carried out a corneal transplant on Burdette, eradicating solely the only layer of his cornea that was affected by the illness and transplanting a brand new layer from a donor.
Burdette’s cornea recovered, however he has since been recognized with moist macular degeneration, a situation wherein blood vessels within the eye leak blood or fluid into the a part of the retina within the middle of the attention. The illness can result in speedy lack of central imaginative and prescient if left untreated. He receives eye injections to sluggish the expansion of blood vessels.
Burdette likes to journey, and regardless of his ongoing imaginative and prescient issues, he appreciates the lengths his medical doctors have gone to protect his imaginative and prescient so he can proceed his worldly adventures.
“The WVU Eye Institute is helping me greatly with maintaining my vision as long as it can, from a retina tear to a cornea transplant, and now with macular degeneration,” Burdette stated. “I know what the final result is going to be. But you know something? I’m satisfied with that. I’ve had all these years to see many things. They’re absolutely dedicated to trying to keep my vision as long as possible.”
“Patients like Bob Burdette make it worthwhile,” Mauger stated. “He’s grateful, even though it’s been difficult. That’s heartening to us to have patients like him who understand their disease and all we’re trying to do to help. He is an inspiration to us.”
Within the hopes of serving to much more sufferers like Burdette, the Eye Institute broke floor in January on a brand new outpatient facility. The brand new $233 million construction not solely will increase the Eye Institute’s measurement but in addition expands its medical, instructional, and analysis efforts.
“We’re working on the new building that will allow us to bring in more providers and care for more people,” Mauger stated. “And at the same time, we’re reaching out across the state in different ways to try and help people where they live by setting up screenings and interventions. It’s a multi-pronged approach.”
Burdette, too, believes sooner or later imaginative and prescient of the Eye Institute, in addition to Mauger’s robust management. He harassed the significance of bringing extra consideration to total eye well being within the state and Appalachian areas.
“I would make this a top priority for West Virginia,” Burdette stated. “We need research, and we need places like the Eye Institute to implement it as they have. They deserve more attention.”
For extra info on the WVU Eye Institute, go to WVUMedicine.org/Eye.
