Eyes are peeled: on February 11, 2010 a press conference will be held for world renowned eye surgeon Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada. Dr. Boxer Wachler will discuss his breakthrough C3-R procedure that restored the vision of U.S. Olympic bobsled pilot, Steve Holcomb, and administer one last eye exam before Holcomb goes for the gold.

 

Unbeknownst to fans and his team, Holcomb had been battling a degenerative eye disease known as keratoconus, which cause the eye’s cornea to bulge outward. Glasses and contact lenses had failed to repair Holcomb’s sight, leaving his vision of winning the Olympic gold in 4-men bobsled blurred.

 

“I was so nearsighted, I was ready to quit,” says Holcomb. “I had to get right up to the eye chart just to make out the big E at the top.”

 

Fortunately, Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler had just developed the C3-R procedure, a relatively new procedure that could restore Holcomb’s vision. by administering drops to strengthen the cornea.  After administering the eye drops to strengthen the cornea, Dr. Brian restored his vision by embedding a lens (Visian ICL) behind the iris of each eye.  Luckily, Holcomb proved to be the perfect candidate for this groundbreaking procedure. With the support of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the U.S. Bobsled Federation, Dr. Brian was able to perform the surgery, restoring Holcomb’s vision from worse than 20/500 to a miraculous 20/20.

 

“I am honored to have helped Steve finally achieve his dream of competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics and bring Gold back to the U.S.,” says Dr. Brian, “and I look forward to watching him and his team make history.”

 

The C3-R procedure, performed march of 2008, took only 30 minutes to complete – a near blink of the eye – and allowed Holcomb and his team to then go on and win the world championship last year, a U.S. bobsled first in 50 years.

 

“I can now focus on what’s important out there,” adds Holcomb. “It’s a new world.”

 

Now, for the first time in the U.S. since 1948, the U.S. Olympic bobsled team is ready to bring home the gold.

Tags: C3-R, Keratoconus, Keratoconus Inserts, Visian ICL

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 2:51 pm and is filed under C3R/CXL, Crosslinking, Keratoconus, Keratoconus Inserts, Visian ICL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.