Page 405 - Total War on PTSD

When I was deciding on a career path, a wise man asked me two questions: “What interests you?” and “What do you have fun doing?” My answers were, “Blindness and math puzzles”. After considering those unrelated answers, his response was, “Why don’t you consider being an eye doctor?” Before following through with his advice, I spent two years observing many types of ophthalmologists and optometrists, deciding on which path would be the most fun to spend the next few decades. I realized that ophthalmologists repaired damaged eyeballs, and restored eyesight, and optometrists solved math puzzles allowing healthy eyeballs to process signals more efficiently. Both professions helped the patient, but one did it through structural repair and the other through functional skill development. The two professions work as a team, but one was more math based, so off I went to optometry school.
During school, optometry students were taught that the majority of light signals entering the eye were used for eyesight, and a minority of signals traveled “elsewhere”. We spent four years after college learning how to put lenses on eyes to sharpen central eyesight and how to develop visual processing skills. At that time (1981), Illinois optometrists were not taught how to prescribe for peripheral retinal dysfunctions, nor were we allowed to dilate eyes or prescribe medication. Now, 35 years later, optometry has evolved from simple eyeglass prescribing to diagnosis and treatments of severe eye health conditions. In some states, minor eye surgery is allowed. A few years out of school and after seeing thousands of patients, it seemed as though the retinal signals that traveled “elsewhere” became more and more important in prescription choices. Patients would say that they saw clearly, but weren’t comfortable. Since the retina is made of brain tissue and is considered (along with the rest of the brain and spinal cord) part of the central nervous system, it made sense to learn more about brain function in order to understand the effects of eyeglass prescriptions better. Joining the Society for Neuroscience and the Society for Brain Mapping achieved that goal. The lectures and posters presented at annual scientific meetings were filled with up-to-date research on retinal functions. Yet,
405 of 1042