Adjusting to a New Reality

As a contractor, Jacob Weaver has used a drill countless times. But one weekend as he was installing new boards on his own deck, a screw flew from the drill straight into his eye. It was one of the scariest moments of his life.

“I immediately went blind in it,” said Jacob.  “I kind of freaked out. I can’t even describe it.”

The pain was also excruciating. “I’ve broken my wrist, hand, and ankle before. It doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as your eye,” said Jacob. “It’s the worst pain.”

Jacob rushed to the emergency room hoping that there was something they could do. “I was hoping for good news, but they told me I probably wouldn’t be able to see out of it again,” said Jacob.

Being confronted with blindness is unnerving no matter what, but especially tough when you were fine one moment and blind in one eye the next. “I had really bad anxiety imagining what life would be like without vision in that eye,” said Jacob.

A New Hope

After visiting the emergency room, Jacob was referred to Dr. J. Stuart Tims at Vistar Eye Center in Roanoke.

“Before I talked to Dr. Tims, I had given up hope of ever seeing out of my eye again,” said Jacob. “But Dr. Tims – he didn’t get my hopes up or anything – but he said he’d do the best he could for me.”

That glimmer of hope meant a lot to Jacob in that moment. “Just knowing that someone was going to try to help me was encouraging,” said Jacob. At the time, Jacob didn’t have insurance, but Dr. Tims was able to get him insurance with the Bradley Clinic in Roanoke.

A Complicated Procedure

“The screw that struck Jacob’s eye had penetrated through the cornea,” said Dr. Tims, “causing a laceration in the surface of the eye coming into contact with the lens of the eye, which caused a traumatic cataract.”

“While it initially appeared that the surface laceration had sealed itself, it became evident that the wound was actually still open and leaking fluid, which significantly raises the risk of eye-damaging infection. The cataract progressed rapidly, turning completely white, as is often the case in these traumatic injuries.”

Dr. Tims did surgery on Jacob’s eye to put a new lens in. “First, I needed to repair the laceration in the cornea,” said Dr. Tims. “This was done by placing microscopic sutures to seal the wound.”

“Then, during the same surgical procedure, the cloudy lens was removed by aspirating it through a small incision. Unlike routine cataract surgery, the support tissue around the lens was damaged, so implanting a new artificial lens was much more difficult. Fortunately for Jacob, I was able to implant a new lens  in his eye. When the surgery was completed, the cornea was sealed to allow for healing, and the cloudy cataract lens had been replaced by a clear artificial lens implant.”

While the improvement was slow and gradual, it was improvement nonetheless.

“The first week or so after the surgery, I could see a little bit. It was blur, kind of like double vision,” said Jacob. “I kept going back each week, and he gave me eye drops to heal everything.”

Over time, Jacob’s vision in his injured eye went from hand motion only to 20/50 and is still improving. “I can even read out of it now,” said Jacob. “It honestly felt like Dr. Tims was a miracle worker.”

If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, Jacob says that you can trust the ophthalmologists at Vistar to do their best for you. “Have faith, especially if you’re going to Vistar,” said Jacob. “They have extremely good doctors. They know exactly what they’re doing.”

Now, with restored vision, Jacob gets to enjoy life working in home renovations in Roanoke and spending quality time with his daughter.