Laser Vision Correction may give you a newfound appreciation of John 9:25 "...I was blind, but now I see." |
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Meet Dr. Wilson:
As is the case with most of you reading this Web site, I took my vision completely for granted until I started having trouble reading my teacher's writing on the blackboard at school. For me this difficulty began in second grade. Within a few days I learned that I was near-sighted and would need to wear glasses the rest of my life. I was amazed that with glasses I could see leaves on trees across the street. My new vision was wonderful, but my new glasses were a horrible change in my life. They were uncomfortable, inconvenient and easily broken. I was frequenty embarrassed when the other children would make fun of my glasses and call me names simply because I had to wear them.
By age ten my glasses were getting thicker. The name calling |
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began to focus more on my "coke bottles" while I was often referred to as "four eyes". I hated wearing my glasses, but was legally blind without them. One day while laying on the couch in my home I remember rubbing both of my eyes vigorously for several minutes hoping that doing so would cure my visual impairment. But, to my disappointment, there was no improvement. I became resigned to the fact that the frustrations of myopia would be a permanent part of my life.
At thirteen, in an effort to get away from the trials of wearing glasses, I entered into a five year love/hate relationship with torture devices otherwise known as hard contact lenses. Never able to wear them more than 3 hours at a time I would alternate wearing one contact lens at a time in first one eye, then the other. I later tried soft contact lenses intermittently for several years. My vision was unsatisfactory, and I was still unable to wear them consistently through an eight hour day. Finally, I gave up on contact lenses altogether and returned to the spectacles of my youth.
During college years I enjoyed occassionally traveling to the mountains for snow skiing. One time, after taking a jump a bit beyond my abilities, one of my spectacle lenses fell out into the snow. After searching over an hour for the lens I finally gave up. I was still able to ski, but with no depth perception the remainder off the day was really no fun. I longed for the day that I might be able to see well without glasses. What an incredible thing that would be!
Another time I was involved in a mission trip to Guatemala. With several days left on the trip my glasses suddenly broke in half leaving me completely unable to accomplish what I had been sent there to do. Having 1,000 pair of donated glasses I was able to find a pair that was similar enough to what I needed that I could complete my work and get home. After several days of blurry vision and headaches I dreamed of how wonderful it would be if I could have normal vision without requiring the aid of those frustrating, uncomfortable and sometimes undependable appliances we call glasses.
After college, medical school, and an internship in medicine I spent three years training in the techniques of eye surgery at the Eye Foundation Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama. During that training I began to read the early scientific articles about the excimer laser. The excimer was a new classification of laser that showed the potential to gently and accurately reshape living corneal tissue. It could be carefully controlled by a computer permanently altering the shape of the eye's front surface. This had the potential to totally change how we, as eye surgeons, could improve the vision of patients afflicted by near-sightedness, far-sightedness, and astigmatism.
After my private practice began in 1985 I continued to read scientific articles, study medical books, and attend lectures concerning laser vision correction. In 1994 my wife and I were invited to an international symposium on laser vision correction in Lisbon, Portugal. For three days at that meeting I had the priviledge of interacting with the most prominent excimer physicists and the most experienced laser vision surgeons in the world. At the meeting in Lisbon I became convinced that laser vision correction had become precise enough, reliable enough, effective enough, and safe enough to use for my patients who desired to reduce or eliminate their dependence on glasses. It was also clear things had progressed to the point that my wife and I were both ready to have laser vision correction ourselves.
Although the laser machine was manufactured in California, the FDA had not yet approved its use in the United States. On March 12, 1995 my wife and I both had excimer laser vision correction performed on our own eyes by Dr. Don Johnson in Vancouver, B.C. The procedures were remarkably easy to go through. The visual improvement was amazing. We were both thrilled with our results. I was now determined to bring this incredible technology to West Texas.
In the fall of 1995 I testified before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration hearings in Washington, D.C. Along with VISX Corporation I went to Washington to encourage the approval of the excimer laser for use in humans for vision correction. Two weeks later the FDA finally approved the use of the excimer laser for the treatment of myopia.
I began performing laser vision correction for San Angelo patients in January 1996. Since that time I have had the pleasure of helping thousands of eyes to see well without having to depend on glasses or contact lenses. Truly this is a remarkable technology. Through it God has blessed me with the opportunity to live life as a visually normal person. It is my heartfelt desire to extend this blessing to others. What a remarkable experience it is to see with new eyes! |
For a FREE consultation contact:
Renee Howard
Laser Vision Coordinator
325.481.2020
lasik_rhoward@shannonhealth.org
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