In 2014 after she had her cataract surgery, Diana’s doctor noticed a rise in her IOP (intraocular pressures).
A year later, because of her IOP, she was referred to see Dr. Cruz Colon, a glaucoma sub-specialist at our office who specializes in patients with severe glaucoma.
Like many patients with severe glaucoma, Diana was prescribed 3 different types of glaucoma drops, various times a day, which you can imagine were a complete mess to keep track of.
Dr. Cruz Colon proceeded with the Cyclo G6 procedure and was conservative in his approach because she only had one good eye with vision. This first procedure did not work.
In 2016, Diana’s second procedure was completed, and this did not work either.
In December of 2016, Diana’s eyes suffered a spike of eye pressure. Dr. Cruz who has been dedicated to finding all possible cures for advanced glaucoma, flew to Panama to learn a new procedure called the Xen which had been approved before in Toronto.
In February of this year, we received the wonderful news that the XEN had received FDA approval here in the U.S. and Dr. Cruz was one of the first surgeons in the US to provide the XEN procedure! Click here for our blog post in February!
Shortly after in April, Dr. Cruz proceeded to complete this procedure on Diana. And guess what. Diana now has 20/20 vision.
“My IOP has never been this low. This has impacted EVERYTHING. It’s been so long, I had to get used to never being 20/20 before and after this surgery it was like WHOA. My whole world opened up.”
To give you a general idea, a “normal” IOP range is 12-22 mmHg. Diana had suffered pressures of 35 and 50 mmHg prior to the XEN procedure.
Now, her pressure is at 14 mmHg and has dipped even lower into single digits. She told me “I need people to know about this.”
One thing we failed to mention in the beginning of this story is that Diana lives in Cooper City and travels 70 miles roundtrip to our office to see Dr. Cruz:
“He is well worth the trip. This man never gave up on me. Besides being a great doctor, he is a great human being. He just kept plugging along and looking ahead at what he could do for me.”
We are so touched by these words and could not agree more. Dr. Cruz is a wonderful physician, human but what is so inspiring, is that he is always looking ahead into technology and what is available to help his patients! We could not ask for more from a surgeon who treats one of the hardest eye conditions out there to control, glaucoma.
If you or a loved one have high IOP or have been diagnosed with Glaucoma, please call us for an evaluation with Dr. Cruz Colon or one of our other physicians that can help at 305-598-2020.
