Recent Stories: Special Initiatives: Ophthalmology

Six-year-old Kira Rogers doesn't know much about the Minnesota Lions, but the Lions' 50-year partnership with the University was intended to help children just like her.

A month after Kira was born, her mother, Michele, noticed something wrong with Kira's right eye. "Her eyelid looked red. The next day it looked puffier. Each day it looked a little puffier," she says.

In 1991, Arne Divine began losing his sight because of ischemic optic neuropathy (ION), caused by an obstruction of the blood flowing to his optic nerve. The condition ultimately robbed him of nearly half of his vision and has had a profound impact on his life.

"You lose your independence when you have impaired vision," says Divine, who is 80 years old.

Blindness is second only to cancer when it comes to health conditions people fear most, according to a Gallup poll.

So it may come as a surprise that funding for eye research was practically nonexistent until the organization Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) was founded in 1960. Before that,ophthalmology was a second-tier medical specialty in the United States. Eye care was relegated to the division of surgery in most medical schools, and few basic scientists conducted research on eyes and vision.

Research by Linda McLoon, Ph.D., has shown that retinal ganglion cells previously thought to be beyond rescue might be repairable.

Many types of eye injuries can cause irreversible damage and vision loss. For example, when the eye's retina and optic nerve are deprived of oxygen, the consensus among clinicians is that nothing can be done to restore the patient's vision if lost.

Resident education in the Department of Ophthalmology made a huge leap forward in March with the opening of a new microsurgery practice lab.

The lab is now equipped with four stations, each outfitted with an operating microscope that is wired to its own video monitor. Each resident also receives a set of microsurgical instruments to use at practice sessions throughout his or her training.

Treatments that are effective in 90 percent of patients are greeted with great acclaim, as they should be. But what happens when you're in the remaining 10 percent who can't be helped?

Welcome to Linda Block's world. Block has keratoconus, a degenerative disease of the cornea that can cause blurring, distorted vision, and sensitivity to light. In its early stages, the condition can be treated with glasses or special contact lenses. But in more severe cases, like Block's, a corneal transplant may be needed to fix the problem.

Suzanne Mundhenke's first few years of life were ripe with drama.

She was born 12 weeks premature. Under her right eye, she had a large growth called a capillary hemangioma--a fast-growing noncancerous tumor, also known as a strawberry hemangioma. Very soon it began to grow over her eye, obstructing her vision and affecting the eye's development.

Chuck Semrow joined the Department of Ophthalmology's team in December as a senior development officer with the Minnesota Medical Foundation (MMF), which raises money for healthrelated research, education, and service at the University of Minnesota.