Importance of eye exam hits home to MVO employee

Jan 08, 2012

Lyndsey is one of our hard working optometric assistants at our NW Calgary office. At her young age she never expected to hear that she would need urgent eye surgery. We performed an eye exam using advanced digital imaging of her retinas and picked up a problem that needed further care. Here’s her account of the experience:

“It could happen to anyone!

I am young, healthy and I have a mild eyeglass prescription. During a routine eye exam with Dr. Michele the optomap photos showed a problem in my right eye – a small hole in my retina, the tissue that lines the inside of the eye. I was surprised to hear this! I hadn’t noticed any change in my vision, no pain, no symptoms at all. With further testing Dr. Michele determined that this would need treatment and referred me to an eye surgeon. I was seen the very next day and the retinal hole was repaired with a laser procedure. I was told that this problem, if left untreated, could have worsened and led to detachment of my retina with possible permanent vision loss.

I am happy to report that my vision is back to 20/20. I feel very fortunate to live in a time where such amazing technology exists – Dr. Michele said that without the optomap retinal exam my problem would not have been detected. While I am relatively new at Mountain View Optometry Dr. Michele has told me that similar problems have been picked up in healthy patients even younger than me! I don’t know why everyone would not make sure they are getting the best care possible – make sure your doctor is proactive with your eyes, you only have 2 of them. Early detection is critical! You never know, it could save your vision, too.”

Thanks, Lyndsey for sharing your experience. We’re happy it turned out so well.

For more information on the optomap retinal exam click here.
-Dr. W

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