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SPRINGVILLE — The quick action of a Utah surgeon, and the expertise of the doctors who treated him, saved his sight after he suddenly fell victim last week to a rare, inoperable condition.
Sept. 27 started out as a typical Friday morning for Dr. Charles Gasser, but in a split second the Utah County surgeon's life changed.
"I was walking the dogs," Gasser said. "I bent over to put the little pug on the leash, and everything went gray on the left side."
Within 30 seconds, the gray had turned to black, and Gasser couldn't see anything out of his left eye. Being a doctor, he knew something was seriously wrong.
A call to a local ophthalmologist led Gasser to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center where he met Dr. James Stewart.
"Partway through (the exam), he got real serious real fast," Gasser said.
A quick examination, and some time Stewart spent comparing notes with his partner, revealed Gasser was suffering from something Stewart never thought he would see.
"The name of it is acute retinal central artery occlusion," Stewart said. "Basically, there is no blood flow to the retina."
The rare condition isn't something that could be fixed with surgery. But because Gasser sought immediate medical care, there was something that could help: the hospital's hyperbaric chamber.
"The intent (of the hyperbaric chamber) is to force extra oxygen into the system, under pressure, so you get oxygen to the tissue that it needs," Stewart said.
Within minutes, Gasser began to see again. While his vision is far from being back completely — Gasser still has blind spot in the center of his vision — it's more than he or his doctors expected.
"I'll be absolutely honest, I didn't expect that," Gasser said, fighting back his emotions. "I'm absolutely, incredibly grateful for what I have, what's come back."
"Vision is valuable to everybody," Stewart said. "But when you think about a surgeon, saving his vision is a tremendously important thing."
As of Tuesday, Gasser's treatment is ongoing. He's scheduled to go into the hyperbaric chamber two more times, and he's hopeful it will restore his sight fully. He said he plans to start seeing his own patients again as early as next week.
