Sharing Success

Teaming up to help athletes sharpen their skills!

Two pros - one an eye doctor, the other a baseball coach - team up to help players sharpen their skills. By Marilyn Sadler- Growing up in California, he enjoyed the competition of all major sports and went on to coach college basketball. Eventually, though, this transplanted Memphian discovered another calling - one that combines medical science with a desire to help athletes perform at their best. Today Rolando Toyos is a world-renowned ophthalmologist educated at the University of Illinois Medical School. He landed in West Tennessee and ultimately Memphis when he was recruited by a professional head hunter. "I really liked it in this area," he says. "And I opened the Toyos Clinic in 1998." Since then Toyos has performed thousands of Lasik surgeries and other kinds of eye procedures, authored several books, and lectured internationally on surgical techniques and new technologies. He is also team ophthalmologist for the Memphis Grizzlies and Memphis Redbirds and founder and president of the Sports Ophthalmology Society of America. He started the latter in 2004 (with input from a few other team doctors from around the country) to help set standard vision-screening programs, establish guidelines for handling eye conditions, injuries, and liability issues, and help educate players about the importance of vision. It was at one of these lectures that Toyos met and became friends with major league baseball player and coach Jason Phillips. Over a year's time, that friendship led to a DVD - Vision and Baseball - designed to give everyone from pros to little leaguers a better understanding of vision and its role in athletic performance. "Every year I'd explain [to groups] how vision helps build an advantage for the player and the team," recalls Toyos. "Jason would tell me afterwards, 'I wish I'd known all this when I was younger.' So it grew from a lecture to an idea for a DVD." On the DVD, Phillips - who played catcher for the Mets, Dodgers, and Blue Jays and is now a coach with the Seattle Mariners - describes himself as "not the most talented" player but adds that he would listen to advice and try to practice it. Extremely nearsighted, he considered having Lasik surgery, adding that he was skeptical at first about anything that could affect his eyes. "I'd had trouble with contact [lenses] and depended on glasses," he says. After deciding to let Toyos perform the surgery and - literally - seeing the difference afterwards, the two collaborated on the DVD. Among the questions it answers is "What is dynamic visual acuity?" In short, it's how well a player can see the ball and determine its speed, angle, and trajectory - and decide if and how to swing at the pitch. Despite the old saying, "Keep your eye on the ball," Toyos and Phillips explain that you can only do that for the first 40 feet or so of the 60.5-foot distance from the pitcher's mound to the batter's box. "Beyond that point, it's guessing at where the ball will wind up," says Toyos, "but a player can determine a lot in those first 40 feet to help him decide what to do." The DVD offers a series of drills that help both batters and pitchers. One drill involves flipping images - a square, a star, a circle - faster and faster so the eye can be trained to see and identify it. Toyos has little use for time-wasting drills - like putting a ball on a tee and swinging at it. "The ball is never sitting on a tee; it's going to be coming at you and that's how you need to practice." He also questions the importance of muscle memory over vision. "In basketball," he says, "we took some college players and had them try to make free throws with their eyes closed. Their averages were nothing to brag about." Certainly Lasik surgery has drastically improved baseball players' vision. "We over-correct theirs for sharper vision," he says. And because of the 4-second rule - which represents the amount of time a player can go without blinking - he recommends eye drops that can increase the time by 30 percent that a patient can keep his eyes open. "Instead of illegal means, like steroids," says Toyos, "we have ways of helping players through surgery, [eye drops], and knowledge of vision and how it can help you." And he emphasizes that the DVD - available online, at sporting goods stores, and various outlets - can be helpful to those pursuing other sports. "Like girls' softball," he says, "or a guy who wants to improve his tennis game."

On Monday, April 19th, JoEllen Foutz had Custom LASIK surgery with TLC Denver. JoEllen is married to Dr. Paul Foutz, one of TLC Denver's affiliates and a partner with Dr. Oster and Michael Klaich in Grand Junction, CO. Here is JoEllen's story:

"When I was eight years old, it became obvious that I was near-sighted. I began wearing contact lenses. Over the next 20-plus years, I continued to wear contacts and moved from hard lenses to gas permeable lenses, and even tried soft lenses. After I started having children, contacts were no longer a comfortable fit for me. I don't know if it was because my eyes just became too dry or because of hormone changes, but nothing seemed to work for me except glasses. While my husband was in optometry school, we thought about laser vision correction, but we felt that the time was not right. I continued to wear my glasses and to be frustrated with not being able to see very well without them in the night or for swimming. It seems, too, that I needed to have them adjusted often and my nose always had marks on it from where the nose pads rested. My husband and I continued to talk about laser surgery and when would be the best time to have it done. He has worked with TLC Denver and knew that it was the only place we would have the surgery done. So, the opportunity came and we decided to go for it! On the day of my surgery, I was nervous. I could understand why someone would get all the way to surgery day and then decide not to have it done. When we got to TLC, the staff was so friendly and helpful that I started to relax. Everyone was so supportive of me as I went through all the final testing before surgery that I stopped worrying about what was going to take place. Everything was explained to me at least twice before the surgery and the kindness of everyone helped me to relax. During the surgery, I received much encouragement from Dr. Oster and his staff. They truly helped to make the experience a good one for me and helped me to do what I needed to do for the surgery to be successful. In the time I was in the office after the surgery, they continued to give me the support and care that I needed and explained to me the things that I needed to do during the next week as my eyes healed. I am just amazed at the outcome of this whole process-I can see!-and I would heartily recommend to anyone that they go to TLC Denver."

Thanks to JoEllen for taking the time to write such a wonderful letter. Having the spouse of an eye doctor have surgery with TLC is one of the greatest compliments the clinic can receive!

Dear doctors and staff of TLC:

You are all as incredible as my vision is now perfect! I couldn't possibly have hoped for a better outcome from my CustomLASIK surgery in May. I could not imagine that my vision could be better than the correction I had with contact lenses, but it is. I am now seeing with clarity I never experienced with glasses or contacts.

The technology of TLC's CustomLASIK is amazing. I'm convinced that the data collected by the CustomLASIK system contributed greatly to the precision of the surgical procedure and to the results you produced for me.

Of course, technology by itself didn't achieve these results. TLC's doctors and support staff provided exemplary care throughout the entire process. I was especially impressed with your concern about my understanding of the procedures, my comfort, and ultimately, my results. Your commitment to patient care was evident at all times. On the day of my surgery, I was confident and completely comfortable, thanks to the attention you had given me.

I have now had some time to enjoy my corrected vision and the convenience of not wearing contact lenses. I marvel at the clarity of my vision and my improved depth perception. From high in the mountains, I am amazed with the sharpness with which I can see distant peaks and ridges. In seminars, I can read even the smallest detail of a Power Point Presentation. I am extremely pleased with the results that TLC achieved for me.

Since having my procedure, I have recommended CustomLASIK to many friends and business associates, and I have enthusiastically encouraged them to choose TLC in Lakewood to provide the service. You are all the model of professionalism, and I thank you very, very much for what you have done for me.

Sincerely,
Don Richards
Custom LASIK patient, May 2003

After years of struggling with contact lenses, waking up to blurry vision, and spending a lot of time every morning putting in contacts, I decided to improve my life and have LASIK done. I had spoken to many people who had the procedure, and every one of them was happy with the outcome. Therefore, I was confident that I would be also. So far, I am thrilled to be able to read and see without contacts or glasses. It is a wonderful thing. Thank you to everyone at TLC who made it possible!

Annie Lau
CustomLASIK patient, November, 2003