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Fuchs Dystrophy
April 3, 2008 |
When Gill Doggett’s’ poor vision got in the way of his golf game he knew
something serious was wrong with his eyes. “I had reached a point where I was
going to give the game up because I didn’t want to just go out there as a blind
guy. So I went to my local eye doctor up in the Boston area and I wanted to have
Lasik surgery so I could see better and he said you’re not a candidate for
Lasik’s you have Fuchs and I said what is Fuchs?” Helen Martin was also recently
diagnosed with Fuchs Dystrophy. At the time of her diagnosis she had already
lost 70 percent of her vision and much of her active lifestyle. “It’s like
taking away some of your independence. It was just getting grayer and grayer;
you just kept having a cloud when you looked.” While neither Helen nor Gill knew
exactly what Fuchs Dystrophy was, they knew it was slowly destroying one of
their most precious senses. Dr. Mark Gorovoy is an optical surgeon who often
treats patients with Fuchs. He says, “Fuchs Dystrophy which is a very common
condition in the United States it’s just a gradual, hereditary but it’s a
gradual decline in the function of the cornea so it swells up.” Gill says, “It’s
scary you know that I could have actually gone blind with this disease so I’m
glad I caught it when I did. I didn’t have to go through any of the painful
stages with Fuchs.” Fuchs Dystrophy affects the cornea which is basically the
window to the eye. In order to see well your cornea must be clear and correctly
shaped. |
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