Carmen Rivera at her follow-up appointment with Jessica Lee, MD.
Carmen Rivera of Isabela, Puerto Rico, was seeing black dots in her left eye and having trouble focusing when she visited a doctor who diagnosed her with a retinal detachment and scheduled her for emergency surgery on Tuesday, September 19. As Hurricane Maria approached Puerto Rico, however, the surgery was postponed, and when the island, including the hospital where she was scheduled for surgery, was left without electricity, she faced a serious health crisis. Without immediate treatment, Ms. Rivera risked losing her central vision.
“My doctor in Puerto Rico suggested I get off the island as soon as possible to have the surgery,” recalls Ms. Rivera, whose children stepped in to help—first by driving long distances to get cellular service, and finally by reaching relatives in the Bronx who arranged for her trip to New York City. “By the time I arrived here on October 2, my vision got worse and I couldn’t see anything out of my left eye,” says Ms. Rivera.
Family members brought her to New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai, where retina specialist Jessica Lee, MD, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, performed sight-saving emergency surgery on Monday, October 9. Ms. Rivera underwent retinal detachment repair surgery, which involved placing a gas bubble into the eye to keep the retina in place. “She is recovering nicely,” Dr. Lee says a few weeks after the surgery, noting that it can take about two months for the gas bubble in the eye to dissolve, at which time vision can further improve. At a follow-up visit on Tuesday, December 5, Dr. Lee reports, “Her retina is completely attached and she is doing well.”
“There are no words to describe how grateful I am that everything fell into place so that I could be in New York City and have the surgery. I am so thankful for the excellent care I received,” says Ms. Rivera. “Regaining my vision has been amazing. If I weren’t here, I would still be waiting for the surgery.”
Leadership, faculty, and staff from the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary remain eager to help other patients from Puerto Rico. They recently partnered with Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, the Puerto Rican Society of Ophthalmology, and ophthalmologists throughout the United States to launch “Eye Care: Puerto Rico,” a program that facilitates access to eye care to evacuees in need of emergency care.