犹他州狮子眼库庆祝捐赠视力50周年

A Grateful Patient Honors Her Physician

By the time 珍妮丝埃文斯 met Moran’s Mark Mifflin, MD, in 2013, she had a long history of eye problems.

Doctors diagnosed Evans with 圆锥形角膜, a potentially blinding corneal disease, at age 11. 现年70岁的她已经做了4次角膜移植手术（其中3次在右眼）。.

Keratoconus affects one in every 2,000 Americans and is the most common reason for a cornea transplant. 的 disease causes the cornea, 明确的, dome-shaped window in front of the eye, to slowly thin and develop a cone shape over time. Because the cornea focuses light into the eye, the condition causes light rays to go out of focus, blurring and distorting 愿景. It makes daily activities, such as reading or driving, difficult.

米夫林解释说：“圆锥角膜需要患者具有适应性和弹性. “它通常开始于青少年晚期或20岁出头，但症状在10到20年内缓慢发展. 大发娱乐通常可以用眼镜或特殊的隐形眼镜矫正病人的视力, and the cornea will stabilize. 仍然, in about 10% to 20% of people, 角膜最终会变得疤痕累累或不能忍受隐形眼镜. If either of these problems occur, we may need to do a transplant.”

很长一段 & Winding Road to Good Vision

Evans’ keratoconus diagnosis did not come as a surprise. 她的父亲和她一半的兄弟姐妹也有某种形式的疾病.

埃文斯戴眼镜看不见东西，他已经戴了近60年的硬性隐形眼镜. Before her diagnosis, Evans loved playing softball and basketball. She had to stop playing sports as her sight deteriorated.

她在大学期间剪辑新闻影片，后来在盐湖城的KSL-TV新闻频道担任广播新闻制作人. 到21岁, fuzzy 愿景 in her right eye made reading impossible, and she had her first cornea transplant.

Six years later, 她的左眼需要角膜移植，不得不拒绝CBS新闻的工作邀请. 然而，电视台等她的眼睛痊愈后，聘请她担任芝加哥分社的制片人. She then worked in the Washington, D.C., bureau before returning to KSL.

Cornea transplants can fail for various reasons, including rejection of the donor cornea or other complications. By 2009, Evans had a second cornea transplant in her right eye. By 2013, she needed a third and final one in that eye.

“我喜欢博士。. Mifflin right away,” she says. “因为这是我第三次用那只眼睛，我问他，‘我能打几次球?’ He was so kind and direct. Without missing a beat, he told me he has one patient who’s had six. I felt confident with him; he really eased my anxiety. You’re awake when they do the surgery, so I could tell he was a solid leader working with a great team.”

Mifflin has helped Evans manage her 愿景 since that time. 当 National Keratoconus Foundation (NKCF) solicited nominations for 2022 honors, 埃文斯利用她近年来的经验和深深的感激提名米夫林. Her story led the NKCF to name him its 2022 Top Doc.

Today, Evans wears rigid scleral contact lenses, lives independently, can drive, and enjoys cooking and reading.

As director of Moran’s Cornea and Refractive Di愿景, chief of surgical services, and associate medical director of the ULEB, 米夫林对角膜组织捐赠的重要性有着独特的看法.

“如果没有通过眼库捐赠的组织，大发娱乐就无法恢复像贾尼斯这样的病人的视力,他说. “对于患有角膜疾病的患者来说，这是一项改变他们一生的手术，这些患者的生命几乎跨越了几十年. I have greatly appreciated my long association with patients, 家庭, and with the donors who make it possible to keep on trying and, 在大多数情况下, 成功.”