Page 138 - South Mississippi Living - November, 2018

GOLDEN YEARS quick and painless A PERSONAL STORY:
story by Ed Lepoma photo by Neil Ladner ATARACT SURGERY
If you’ve been putting off cataract surgery, don’t hesitate. The procedure is less than 15 minutes and it’s painless.
I turned 76 last August, and was told more than a year ago I had cataracts on both eyes, along with age-related macular degeneration. In 2004, I suffered a central retinal vein occlusion in my left eye which left me without central vision.
As you age, biochemical changes occur in the lens of
the eye and certain proteins clump together forming cloudy areas known as cataracts. In my case, I could no longer drive at night and suffered from glare driving with sunglasses during the day.
I scheduled an initial examination with Dr. George Thurber, a board-certified ophthalmologist. He then referred me to Dr. Avit “Frere” Gremillion, a retina specialist, who cleared me for surgery.
Before surgery, my eye was measured to set the focusing power of my introcular lens (IOL) which would replace
my natural cloudy lens. Since 1994, Dr. Thurber, a former chemical engineer, has performed 600 to 800 cataract procedures each year. “I’ll do this until the day I die. I hear
‘thank you’ every day for restoring people’s vision. It’s very satisfying,” he says.
Surgery on my right eye took place September 6, before which I was told to get off aspirin or any blood-thinning medicine and was given three different eye drops to use three or four times a day. I was told no liquids or food after midnight, and to have a designated driver to take me home after surgery.
A cheerful staff greeted me at 6 in the morning. They put me in a bed and placed a heart and pulse monitor on me, then a nurse administered a mild anesthesia through an
IV — not enough to put me out, but strong enough to ward off any pain. I was rolled into the operating room where Dr. Thurber was waiting. Preparation before surgery took about an hour.
Surgery on the left eye was performed September 13. After each surgery Dr. Thurber checked my eye the next morning to track my progress. I’m still on a regimen of eye drops, but the doctor says vision in the right eye is almost normal and he is determined most of the vision in my left eye will be restored.
YOUR VISION OUR FOCUS
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