One morning, Kristin Mattson woke up with severe double vision. Her eyes would not uncross. She had no control over the muscles in her eyes.
“At first no one could help me,” says Kristin, who consulted with several doctors. “They gave me an eye patch and told me to wear it as much as possible to see if it would strengthen on its own.”
It didn’t.
For two years, Kristin dealt with severe double vision and headaches. She had to squint just to see.
Kristin, who is in her 30s and lives in Iron Mountain, Michigan, was forced to leave her job in road construction. She even had to adjust the lights in her home to accommodate her poor vision.
“It was very scary,” she says. “I had this feeling like there was no hope or way to fix it.”
Then a physician in Iron Mountain recommended she see Dr. Lee M. Woodward, an ophthalmologist at BayCare Clinic Eye Specialists in Green Bay.
“It was definitely a bright sunshiny day when I heard there was help,” Kristin says.
Woodward treated Kristin for adult strabismus, a condition in which a person’s eyes fail to maintain proper alignment.
“I was excited to see there were actually doctors out there who put the work in and try to make things better for you,” she says. “Dr. Woodward never made me feel like it wasn’t something that was fixable or that he couldn’t handle.”
Woodward, who is fellowship trained in treating adult strabismus, determined surgery was necessary to correct the muscles surrounding Kristin’s eyes.
“He told me to relax, that this is something he’s done many times before,” she says. “He made me feel very at ease and explained to me the steps we were going to go through.”
He performed the surgery in November 2018.
Woodward made a last-minute decision to perform the surgery on only Kristin’s right eye instead of both her eyes, she says.
Her vision returned to normal just a few days after surgery.
“For the first day or two there was some pain, but it was tolerable because I knew on the other side it was going to be worth it,” she says.
Kristin says it was an amazing feeling to be able to see properly again.
She wears prescription contacts but has experienced no other issues with double vision or headaches.
Kristin raves about Woodward’s expertise, saying she’s thrilled and often refers others to Woodward if they want to receive “quality care from someone who cares.”