Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous
20-year-old Lindsay Schwartz was born with Persistent Hyperplastic Primary Vitreous (PHPV) and knows how fortunate she is to be able to see today.
What ia PHPV?
Did you know that the space at the back of the eye, behind the lens, is normally filled with a clear jelly called the vitreous? Well babies that are born with PHPV have a hazy, scarred vitreous. Unfortunately, this scarred vitreous is often stuck to the back of the lens and areas of the retina, which can damage those parts of the eye and lead to other deteriorating eye conditions like glaucoma.
Lindsay mentioned above has no lens on her left eye and yet she can see. How is this possible? She has been seeing an eye doctor since she was 1 month old & even at age 20 continues to go about three times a year for checkups on the glaucoma that developed from the PHPV. Lindsay is so thankful for her vision she wants do give back to the doctors who have saved her eye sight. Notice what she says:
“I’ve always been looking for a way to give back to the ophthalmology community and say thank you for the help they’ve given me my whole life.”
There are a lot of people that say they want to “give back”. But notice what Lindsay is did. She got involved with Unite For Sight, a nonprofit organization that helps communities all around the world to improve eye health and eliminate preventable blindness. Her goal is to volunteer this summer, and go to Chennai, India.
What can one person do? Well, Lindsay will work in an eye camp doing eye exams, assisting with prescriptions and scheduling eye surgeries. Listen to what she has to say:
“I want to know what it’s like to be an eye patient there and feel what it’s like to offer services and be on the other end of it,” she said. In fact her goal is to become an optamologist one day.
If you would like to learn more about Lindsay or contribute to her airfare for the trip you can read the rest of this press release here. To learn more about how to improve eyesight please continue reading this blog.
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Tags: eye-didease, Persistent-Hyperplastic-Primary-Vitreous, PHPV