Aurora Health Center
 Aurora
physician clears path for patient to see again
Jeffrey Fritz had known about the cataracts in his eyes for about three
years, but since he was only in his 50s, he wasn't all that concerned about them
– until recently.
“I have a family history of cataracts at an early age so I knew it was
something that would eventually need to be addressed,” Jeff explains.
That point came one day not long ago.
“My wife and I were at the store. While Teresa was checking out, I decided to
wait for her in the car. Trouble was, when I went out to the parking lot, I
couldn't distinguish one car from the next! It was as if someone had smeared
thick Vaseline over my glasses. My wife came out and saw the panic on my face. I
told her, I need to see the eye doctor. Now.”
Cataracts common after age 65
“Cataracts are a gradual clouding of the natural lens of the eye, most often
seen with aging,” says
Scott
Moretti, MD, an ophthalmologist at the
Aurora Health Centers in Hartford and
West Bend. “Approximately 95 percent of people over the age of 65 have a
cataract to some degree. Many of them are not at the stage where surgical
treatment is needed, and there is no consequence to waiting if the symptoms
aren't significantly affecting your vision and quality of life.”
In Jeff's case, however, cataracts in both eyes quickly grew to an advanced
stage as a side effect of medication for other medical problems. His eye doctor
at the time recommended surgery, but the day before the scheduled procedure, the
office called to cancel it.
“I'm a big man,” says Jeff, who is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs
approximately 500 pounds. “They said the surgery couldn't be done because they
didn't have the right equipment to handle someone my size.”
Frustrated, Jeff put the issue aside until six months later, when he saw his
primary care doctor.
“He told me that I needed to change eye doctors and he recommended Dr. Scott
Moretti. He said if anyone can make it happen, it's Dr. Moretti. “
At my first appointment, Dr. Moretti told me that he would take care of
everything,” Jeff continues “He and his staff were incredible. They scheduled my
surgery at
Aurora Medical Center in Washington County and coordinated borrowing a
special operating table from
Aurora St. Luke's Medical Center to accommodate my size. They went above and
beyond the call of duty and never made me feel bad about it.”
Cataracts highly treatable
“You do what needs to be done for your patients,” says Dr. Moretti. “This was
a relatively young man whose activities of daily living were significantly
affected by cataracts, a highly treatable condition. He couldn't even read the
big “E” on the eye chart. Surgery can completely reverse that.”
Surgical treatment for cataracts is usually performed with local anesthesia
as an outpatient procedure. It involves the removal of the natural eye lens by
liquefying it with ultrasound and implanting a permanent artificial lens.
Cataract surgery restores vision in 98 percent of all cases.
“To me it was like a miracle,” says Jeff, who had both eyes operated on by
Dr. Moretti at Aurora Medical Center in Washington County. “Within 24 hours, I
went from seeing blobs and blurs to having almost 20-20 vision without glasses.
For the first time in a long time I was seeing leaves on trees, flowers and
amazing detail in everything.”
A former book binder by profession, Jeff has hundreds of books in his home
that he has been unable to open for several years.
“Now I'm back to reading again, and relishing every word,” he says. “You
don't realize how bad your vision is until you get it back. I will never be able
to thank Dr. Moretti and his staff enough for what they did for me.”
All people over the age of 40 should have a vision check every two years. If
you have symptoms of a cataract, talk to an ophthalmologist. A thorough
evaluation and diagnosis is the first step to helping you see clearly again.
Aurora physician clears path for patient to see again
Symptoms of cataracts
According to Dr. Moretti, symptoms of cataracts include:
- Cloudy or blurry vision
- Problems with light
- A halo around lights
- Colors seem faded
- Poor night vision
Learn more about cataracts
For an appointment with Dr. Moretti at the Aurora Health Center in Hartford,
call 262-670-4000. For the Aurora Health Center in West Bend, call 262-338-1123.
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