With the generous support from an Oregon couple, the LBJ Medical Center has new equipment for the Eye Clinic, and this includes a $40,000 yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) III laser, which will help patients waiting for eye surgery — allowing for surgery to happen sooner.
The Oregon couple, Kathy and Frank Deggendorfer are long time friends of former LBJ physician, Dr. Mitchell Brinks; and, the couple came up with $20,000 for the cost of the YAG laser and LBJ hospital pay the balance.
The Deggendorfers also donated the Reliance 7000 Motorized Eye examination/procedure chair (which carries up to 400lbs) and lays flat so the Ophthalmologist can do eye procedures in the clinic. Cost of this equipment is $8,000.
LBJ officials say the addition of the new equipment will help with safe patient eye care and laser therapies for the people of American Samoa.
For the YAG laser, it allows the ophthalmologist the ability to perform procedures such as a noninvasive method for the treatment of posterior capsular opacification, which is a common long-term complication of cataract surgery.
This Posterior capsular opacification causes glare, decreased vision and other cataract symptoms for the patient. The YAG III laser is special because it is a state-of-the-art high-quality therapeutic and high-precision laser treatment for patients in American Samoa.
Dr. Daniel Lattin of the Eye Clinic said they do about six cataract surgeries a week. “So on average that’s a lot of patients a week and this [laser] is really going to be valuable to us,” he said in an interview at the Eye Clinic last Thursday afternoon. He believes that about a dozen patients are waiting for this laser “so we can treat their after cataract”.
“This is a top of the line laser... and we are really grateful to Mr. and Mrs. Deggendorfer for their support for our clinic,” he said “Our old laser broke down and we’ve been lacking a new laser and we’ve been unable to repair it.”
“The new laser can be used to treat certain types of glaucoma and you can also use it to treat what we call a secondary cataract or an after-cataract — and that tends to form after cataract surgery where somebody, who’s vision was great right after surgery and then several months or years later, the visions starts to get cloudy again — like they cataract again,” he explained.
“After a cataract forms months or years after their initial surgery, some doctors do it routinely a few months after surgery just to prevent that from happening,” he said and that the best advice for people to have their eyes checked is — an annual exam for anyone 60 and older and under the age of 60 at least every couple of years.
“And if you have any change in vision, we want to see you sooner than that,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just something simple as needing reading glasses, but sometimes it’s a cataract that we can treat with surgery.”
Additionally, Diabetes can affect vision so diabetics should have an eye exam annually regardless of their age and for someone without diabetes, “we recommend annually for 60 years and older.”
Two weeks ago, the YAG III laser was installed by the visiting engineer from a company called Zeiss. Last week, a certified Zeiss technician was on island to assist LBJ physicians and ophthalmic technicians with low-level maintenance care and training on proper use of the YAG laser.
Lattin, who is originally from Virginia but moved here from Portland, Oregon, points to the eye examination/procedure chair that can lay almost pretty much flat and it’s all motorized and it’s built to support heavier patients.
He says that when Mrs. Deggendorfer visited the Eye clinic not long ago, she noticed that “we need a new chair for more support so she donated the chair.”