Special to the Recorder
With THE PLAYERS Championship starting Thursday, let’s visit one of the most visually-intense sports: golf!
Though you may debate that every sport depends on vision, it is golf that heavily depends not only on sight but also vision.
And now that I have completely confused you, lets understand more.
So, sight is how small of a target you can see at a particular distance. If you are 20/20, then you can identify a letter that is 8.87 millimeters high at 20 feet. Vision is deciphering the cues from sight and interpreting that to our advantage for the task at hand, at that moment. The symbiosis of these two then allows golfers to not only see but also align their bodies, balance their stance and visualize their shot before impact itself. Herein lies the key to a successful drive or a meaningful putt.
After I completed Deane Beman’s eye surgery, he taught me that I must start with becoming a great putter first and then the drive will eventually come. (Don’t tell him, but I have yet to find time to start golfing.)
The vision demands and environmental exposure related to golf-associated eye concerns can be classified into the following categories for ease of understanding and future surgical correction:
Having operated on numerous professional golfers over nearly three decades, I can project that when all of the above-mentioned faculties are in synch and normalcy along with eye-hand coordination, we can expect perfect execution for what the mind has planned in this mentally intuitive sport. This is true for novice as well as professional golfers alike.
Below is a brief look at some of the procedures that can be done for golfers’ eyes to improve their game.
Beyond 20/20 vision
Recently introduced Bladeless, Flapless, No-Cut NextGen Lasik techniques can help most golfers safely see even beyond 20/20 in most cases.
Golfers who may wear contact lenses or glasses may have nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness (hyperopia) or astigmatism (football-shaped cornea). With technology today, we can diagnose and measure to the minutest level of vision involvement and then correct these using computer-driven, micron-precision lasers.
Presbyopia in golfers as they advance in age (beyond 40 years) requires reading glasses because the natural lens inside the eye stops zooming (no more “tele” and “wide” zooming like a camera does) and hence they need to keep their score cards at further distance with their arms outstretched to read or record. This condition called Presbyopia can be addressed with new generation lens and laser techniques.
For those golfers in their early and late 60s, the vision gets cloudy and dim due to cataracts. A cataract is a cloudy transformation of our crystal clear, natural lens.
This cataract can be removed using modern laser techniques and be replaced by an artificial lens implant that can in most allow them to see without glasses at distance and near. Such lens implants can be monofocal; multifocal like ReStor, Symfony or Tecnis; or accommodative like Crystalens.
Additionally, cataract surgery can now be planned as two stages. Following cataract surgery, patients can undergo NextGen Lasik surgery to correct any residual astigmatism to thus completely fix the optics of the eyes for a glasses-free vision experience for life.
Even patients who have undergone previous cataract surgery and did not have a choice of these advanced, multifocal/progressive lens implants at that time can now avail of New Generation Lasik surgery to help them get rid of glasses altogether.
Red ‘golfer’s eyes
Pterygium is a red, unsightly lesion on the white of the eyes that is rampant among golfers. Pterygium — a yellow-red lesion on the white of the eye (pinguecula) that can start as a cosmetic blemish and become an unsightly wedge-shaped growth that, if left untreated, may eventually cover the cornea of the eye and adversely affect vision — are usually the result of exposure to sun, a professional hazard for golfers.
A lot of golfers have pterygiums, and we usually counsel them to wear sunglasses with ultraviolet protection to prevent further damage, but when they are advanced, they require surgery.
Using a “No-Stitch” human placenta technique (SPARKLE ™) with glue allows us to strive for cosmetic (bright sparkling, white eye) elegance along with visual perfection.
These surgeries can further be raised by using 3D technology that uses a 3D IMAX-like screen. This technology is used instead of the smaller microscope traditionally used for eye surgery to deliver and execute for a golfer’s armamentarium of vision and appearance, so much of which aligns with fashionable outfits we see on the golf course.
Dry eyes
Out in the sun with continuous exposure to allergens, tear evaporation and repeated challenges to their ocular surface induces dry eyes in golfers that can be corrected with today’s technological advances.
MOISTTM Ocular Surface Therapy using a full range of dry-eye techniques and technologies including LipiFlow and MGP and Lacrimal Plugs can now help numerous golfers suffering from dry eyes.
With technology today, most golfers can enjoy their sport and yet maintain or attain vision without glasses or contact lenses and in many cases beyond 20/20 giving them an obvious advantage. Additionally, unsightly and red eyes can now be corrected using No-Stitch techniques to sparkling white eyes
Protection and prevention are still key, but golfers are encouraged to visit with their eye doctors to evaluate for any of the above-mentioned conditions, as chances are, there is a successful option.
Handicaps in golf may be seasonal, but vision should not be. To have excellent vision and sight overcomes many handicaps to level the par on the greens.
Each year, patients from around the world travel to Jacksonville’s Gulani Vision Institute to have their vision corrected by ophthalmologist Arun Gulani, MD. A Ponte Vedra Beach resident, Dr. Gulani has been a leader in LASIK, cataract and astigmatism surgery, has invented Lasik complication corrective techniques and is often called upon to train other surgeons in the latest groundbreaking technologies.
