Saving Lives

Most of the time, we ophthalmologists are concerned with saving vision. Sometimes we are more focused on improving vision. Occasionally, we get the opportunity to do a little more. I recall a patient who was sent to me as a dry eye evaluation. Being a cornea specialist, I get plenty of dry eye evaluations, so I thought it was pretty routine. When I looked at the patient, my mindset switched. First of all, she was sent as a dry eye evaluation for just one eye. Usually, dry eye affects both eyes (though sometimes not equally). She also had a droopy eyelid. Usually, very droopy eyelids are protective AGAINST dry eye since more of the eye stays covered so tears can’t evaporate. Her eye looked like it was protruding out of her eye socket a bit, and, when I asked her to move her eye around, the dry eye didn’t move as well as the other eye. A droopy eye that doesn’t move and looks like it is pushed forward a little is an eye that might have an eye socket problem. We got a CAT scan and found the reason for her dry eye; her entire lacrimal gland had been overtaken by cancer! The cancer turned out to be adenoid cystic carcinoma, which can be a deadly cancer. It’s great that we caught it when we did so the cancer could be treated!