For decades I was what I classified as “debilitating near sighted.” I was about nine years old before we knew my vision was as bad as it was. We lived in Colorado at the time. It wasn’t until after I got my first pair of glasses that I realized the world wasn’t blobs of color, but clear, delineated objects with borders and edges. In high school, I started wearing contacts. My prescription had continued to deteriorate to the point of feeling pain on my ears and nose due to the weight of the heavy lenses. The contacts worked great for almost a decade until my first flare up of giant papillary conjunctivitis. This lead to weeks of drops and wearing glasses. As I progressed through school, I chose to be an athletic trainer, not really the best career for someone with my level of dysfunction. There is a lot of lifting, sweating, and being outside. All was well for several years, sprinkled with more flare ups of GPC. Finally in December of 2014, I knew it was back again. After months of no contacts at all and several rounds of steroid treatments, there was no resolution. At the urging if my boyfriend’s father, I came to Dr. Wang. I was immediately impressed with the courtesy and knowledge of both him and his staff. Their evaluation methods were thorough and explanations of what I could expect were provided. By the time I had scheduled my surgery, I had become acutely aware of how severe my limitations were. Feeling for something on the counter I couldn’t see. Pressing my face to the mirror (literally) to apply eye make-up. By the day of surgery, I could hardly wait. I just knew my life would never the same. So many years of frustration and annoyance would just be gone. I cried when I say up from the surgery. It was blurry on the edges but I could see. People had facial features, the clock had numbers. Now less than 24 hours after the surgery, I see better than I ever did in contacts and it’s still improving. I’ll never be able to truly express my gratitude, appreciation, and admiration for the people at WVI for changing my life, for giving me the one thing that I’ve truly needed! Thank you!
