One of the things I like most in my career is helping people with seemingly impossible situations. One such case occurred about 2 years ago when a 50-year-old man, “John,” walked into my Bronx practice, New York Eye Surgery Center. John had only one eye, and that eye had severe glaucoma and a dense cataract.

The danger in a case like this is the cataract can be removed but vision won’t always be improved due to the glaucoma still being present. I warned John of this, and he agreed to have both cataract and glaucoma surgery, knowing that the combined surgery may not improve his vision. The one thing we had going for us was his 30-mm axial length and the knowledge that the surgery would improve his high myopia.

We moved forward with the man’s “impossible” cataract surgery, and he ended up being very, very lucky. John’s vision improved, his glaucoma was brought under control and he saw better than he had in years. John was extremely grateful and left my practice with a new lease on life.

A CHANCE ENCOUNTER

A few months later I saw John again for a follow-up appointment, which went very well. John caught me by surprise, though, when he told me about a person he met at a bus stop, “Sam.” Like John, Sam only had one eye and had a lot of trouble seeing.

“I told him to come see you,” John said, “after I told him about the miracle you did for me.”

I thanked John for the referral while also clarifying that Sam may not be quite so fortunate and that I may not be able to duplicate the same results.

SAM’S TURN

Three weeks later, Sam showed up at my clinic hoping I could restore his vision the same way I did for John. I had Sam brought into the exam room, wondering to myself how I was going to get lightning to strike twice.

Sam was younger than John, in his 30s, but amazingly had the same four features as John — monocular, high myopia, dense cataract and severe uncontrolled glaucoma.

After the examination, we scheduled an operation for Sam. I had the same conversation with him about low chances of success but that the severity of his glaucoma meant surgery was worth a try.

And, through the grace of God, we had another miraculous result. Sam’s glaucoma was under control, his cataracts were gone and he was able to see more clearly for the first time in years.

“IMPROBABLE” SUCCESS

I don’t take any credit for these successes — you have to be extremely lucky to have the level of glaucoma that John and Sam did but not lose your central vision.

I’m not sure that either of them knew how truly improbable their success was, let alone that one would even find the other to recommend the surgery, but I was glad to be able to be there and see lightning strike twice. OM