focus on low vision

Success Stories

by Stephanie K. De Long

Unless you're already involved in caring for patients with low vision, you haven't experienced one of the best parts of working in this specialty—the impact your involvement can have on peoples' lives.

Just imagine if you'd been told that nothing could be done—and then learned that, thanks to a low vision specialist, something could indeed be done to help you regain your independence.

To give you just a taste of how low vision care, and the devices that are usually part of the treatment plan, can impact patients and their families, here are excerpts from interviews with five actual patients who agreed to share their stories with EB.

SPECIALIZED EYEWEAR

Patient: Christopher
Age: 16
Problem: Congenital optic atrophy
Goal: Succeed in school and sports

Christopher was born with congenital optic atrophy, a condition that affects fewer than five percent of all children born with visual impairment.

His parents first noticed their son's vision problems when he was a toddler. Over the next several years, they took him to myriad doctors who couldn't seem to diagnose him—until they brought him to a specialty center in Los Angeles, that is.

"We were on a medical merry-goround," his mother remembers. "We had spent $10,000 trying to get a diagnosis. Then, one hour and $87 later, we had one."

The answer? Christopher now reads regular print using a pair of specialized bifocals that the Center designed for him. The doctor also prescribed high-contrast filters so Christopher, who played baseball, could visualize the ball against grass.

GLARE CONTROL

Name: Maggie
Age: 12
Problem: Unresponsive
Goal: Communicate

Maggie walked into the optometrist's office with her head down and shoulders hunched, and she kept her hands over her eyes.

Maggie's family and teachers were at their wits' end trying to understand why they couldn't get any response from the young girl, who had a mild form of cerebral palsy and was struggling in school.

They'd been to dozens of doctors, and were skeptical when the doctor placed the patient in a pair of glarecontrol lenses. "We just watched her. She shot her head up and started looking around. It was pretty incredible."

HEAD-MOUNTED DEVICE

Name: Kathy B.
Age: 33
Problem: Became blind overnight
Goal: See sons and study

A brain inflammation left a 33-year-old mother of two, Kathy B., completely blind in one eye, and with extremely dim vision in the other.

"I went to bed one night and could see," she recalls. "I woke up the next day, and I was blind."

She had no success with devices until the optometrist fitted her with a head-mounted camera and display system that uses digital technology. With the device, the vision in one eye could be enhanced to 20/50, which meant she could read and was able to get back to work on her PhD. Even more important, she could see her two sons again. "There's no price on that experience," she says.

VIDEO MAGNIFIER

Patient: Leonard L.
Age: 75
Problem: Severe visual loss
Goal: Paint

Leonard never imaged he'd be able to continue his painting when, having already lost all vision in his left eye, he suddenly lost most of the ability to see out of his right eye.

He remembers the day it happened. He was watching TV when the set went black on him. "I blinked a couple of times, and I realized it wasn't the set, but my right eye."

Though operated on immediately, he regained less than 10 percent of the vision in his previously good eye. "It was a totally depressing situation," he recalls. Until, that is, he started using a video magnifier. He's become so successful in his revitalized painting career that he was invited to hold a one-man show in New York.

MULTIPLE SOLUTIONS

Patient: Eileen W.
Age: "70 something"
Problem: Macular degeneration
Goal: Make cookies

When asked what she most wanted to accomplish, macular degeneration patient Eileen W. told the rehabilitation counselor, "I want to be able to make sugar flowers. Making them is my life, and I want my life back."

The low vision doctor, rehabilitation counselor, and rehab teacher worked as a team. The doctor prescribed a pair of +12 reading glasses, a magnifier attached to a lamp, and an electronic reading machine. The rehab teacher taught her the techniques necessary to use each device.

Using her reading machine, she could roll out sugar dough and cut shapes. Wearing her reading glasses, she could shape the flowers. "I got my life back," she said.

These are just a few examples of how the field of low vision can be so rewarding. Don't let your patients settle for "nothing can be done." Vision may not be able to be restored, but some visual independence can. EB