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Jessica's Story Jessica was failing her vision treatments, and her left eye was in danger of becoming permanently blind. Jessica was seven years old, and from early in life her left eye had nine times the vision problem than her right eye. When this occurs, it is called amblyopia, or lazy eye, and it occurs in 2-4% of all children to some degree. When detected, early treatment with glasses or contacts to even up the eyes, and then maintain patching of the good eye to force the poorer eye to try to see, can lead to vision recovery, but interferes with schooling and home life. Jessica was wearing a contact lens in her left eye to even up the eyes, and patching the better right eye. But lately, she was no longer able to tolerate the contact lens, and her vision was falling below the legal blindness level. It was at this time that her primary eye doctor, William Bescoby, O.D., of Claremont who specializes in children's vision development, phoned Dr. Lingua to see if there was any way to help her with surgery. When adults have the Lasik procedure, they do so to avoid dependence on glasses or contacts. Jessica didn't need Lasik for that. She needed a last chance to save her vision by using Lasik for a different purpose. She needed to have her eyes closely matched so the developing visual system would allow normal development in both eyes without patching. Without patching and contacts, she'd have the chance for normal vision, and the family would have the chance for a normal life. But how could Dr. Lingua walk a 7-year old through laser surgery, wide awake? Fortunately, Jessica's grandmother was interested in the procedure as well, and they decided to go through it together. Dr. Lingua had specialized in children's eye surgery for 15 years before specializing in laser vision correction in 1996. Having a clear understanding of the needs of children and of the Lasik procedure, and having performed over 15,000 procedures before seeing Jessica, he felt uniquely positioned to entertain this new application for her. After explaining the goals to the family extensively, Jessica was prepared for Lasik on her left eye to make it see like the right one. Initially, Jessica was brought into the technician's room, and on that first day, she was introduced to the testing equipment. She returned on another day, and Dr. Lingua talked her through a test of the corneal thickness, requiring him to anesthetize the eye, and touch it for a moment. Again, she passed with flying colors. A third pre-operative visit was scheduled to lie her under the laser and teach Jessica the sounds of the procedure. On the fourth visit, she watched grandma have the surgery, holding her hand through the procedure. Then it was her turn, and she relaxed beautifully, and the Lasik surgery was a success. Jessica now enjoys life without patching, thankful for her chance to deal with her misfortune in a new and definitive manner. Dr. Lingua looks forward to helping other children as new applications of current technology are discovered. You can read the professionals' discussion of this topic in the site on Dr. Lingua's publications. Dr. R. Lingua, Journal of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, Vol 37 No 6, November-December, 2000. In 2004, Jessica's LASIK is five years old!
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