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Traumatic brain injury, ocular trauma require support of ophthalmologists
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 Richard L. Lindstrom |
This issue’s cover story brings back poignant memories for me.
In late 1979, after completing 2 years of fellowship in cornea, advanced anterior segment microsurgery and glaucoma at the University of Minnesota, the University of Utah and Mary Shiels Hospital in Dallas, I returned to a full-time geographic faculty position at the University of Minnesota full of energy and enthusiasm. One of my faculty assignments included serving as the chief of ophthalmology at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis.
At that time, this very busy VA hospital was the highest-volume surgical center in the entire VA system. While we were caring for a significant number of World War II and Korean War veterans with cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes, ocular surface disease and the like, a significant number of our patients were Vietnam War veterans with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and ocular trauma.
I served as chief of ophthalmology at the Minneapolis VA hospital for 10 years and can attest to the devastating consequences of TBI and severe ocular trauma in the otherwise healthy individual, usually in their late teens or 20s when injured. The challenge of attempting to reconstruct the eye was significant, but the challenge of rehabilitating the man or woman and returning them to a productive, rewarding life was even more daunting. Ten years of working with these veterans who committed their lives and their vision pursuing duty, honor and country made me a lifelong advocate the needed programs to support their rehabilitation.
It seems that as the world develops more sophisticated and modern instruments of war and methods to protect the vital organs such as the heart, lungs and abdomen, the head and eyes have become the most vulnerable target for our enemies in combat. It is possible to render a highly trained combatant totally ineffective and dependent by blinding them, and the thought of blindness invokes terror in most, so the goal of attacking the visual system and brain has therefore becomes a high priority for our enemies.
Improving our knowledge in the areas of TBI and combat-related eye injuries can be expected to continuously improve our ability to protect our military personnel and also rehabilitate them once injured. Every VA hospital has benefited from a decades-long collaboration with nearby academic medical centers, and the now-increasing integration and collaboration with the Department of Defense and its military hospitals and their highly trained physicians and surgeons will further strengthen our ability to protect, reconstruct and rehabilitate the combatant whose eyes and brain come in harm’s way. This is a critically important and morally appropriate endeavor and deserves the support of all ophthalmologists and, for that matter, all Americans.