WASHTENAW COUNTY, MI — Seeing things clearly was a struggle for Luke Gerlinger for more than 10 years.
Prior to what the 17-year-old Saline High School student described as a life-changing procedure, Gerlinger’s eyesight affected him on the football field, inside the classroom and far beyond.
He didn’t know he was suffering from a rare eye disease that was making it hard to do the things he loves -- like working on engines and playing football for the Hornets.
A recent surgery, however, has Gerlinger seeing clearly for the first time in years.
‘I was seeing double’
Growing up, Gerlinger‘s impaired eyesight made it so he saw double, which meant tripping over furniture and other household items. Gerlinger said he had a hard time performing simple tasks that required sharp focus.
Although his teachers and coaches told him that ‘eyes change,’ Gerlinger’s declining eyesight was inconsistent and puzzled his family for years.
“I was seeing double vision and I really just adapted to it and thought it was normal,” Gerlinger said. “I saw two of everything, my peripheral wasn’t good, I couldn’t see out wide. I would get these really bad headaches at night just from trying to see all day, reading books and doing school work.”
Double vision, which can affect a persons balance, movement and reading ability, began to affect his academic success.
“You go to school and you sit at the back of the classroom and they’re writing in all of these light colors— I couldn’t see anything, so all my teachers would move me to the front of the classroom,” Gerlinger said. “I’d be sitting literally three feet away from the board and I’m still having a hard time seeing it.”
At times, Gerlinger said he couldn’t see the projector at the front of class, causing him to struggle to keep up with lessons and assignments. Gerlinger’s vision affected his performance throughout school to the point that his teachers believed he wasn’t paying attention, he said.
Gerlinger’s vision problems were first noticed in elementary school, beginning in second grade when he received his first eye glasses prescription due to declining vision, which turned into annual trips to the eye doctor for stronger prescriptions during fourth grade.
“In second grade, we went and got him tested so they thought it was just that he needed glasses, and then, as years passed, we moved from Kalamazoo to Saline, his teachers thought he was ADHD,” Luke’s dad, Matt Gerlinger said. “It’s been a struggle for him with his eyes but we didn’t realize how bad it was. I think it was when he was in fourth grade, he was sitting with my dad and he was trying to thread a needle and he couldn’t do it at all.”
It was then that Matt Gerlinger and Gerlinger’s family knew something wasn’t right, and that Gerlinger’s problem required more than just a stronger prescription.
A diagnosis
Matt Gerlinger brought his son to several eye specialists that eventually led him to Ann Arbor Optometry, the facility Gerlinger has been visiting since fourth grade. It was there where he began vision therapy, a sequence of eye exercises administered to improve one’s quality of vision, a process that ranges from six months to a year.
“I was at Ann Arbor Optometry doing therapy and it wasn’t until over the summer when I was like, ‘You know, I really can’t see,” Gerlinger said.
After Gerlinger’s optometrist did some research and looked into the specifics of what he described to be experiencing, it was clear that Gerlinger’s eye sight was the result of much more than just the nearsighted or farsightedness typically found in the average glasses-wearer, and that his double vision meant he needed a more sophisticated treatment option.
“There’s this new thing that came out in 2018 called KC, and my doctor told me ‘You might have it, you might not,” Gerlinger said.
It was then that Luke was referred to Dr. Luis Gago and the Specialty Eye Institute in Ann Arbor, who finally diagnosed the teen with Keratoconus, or KC, a rare eye condition that causes distortion of the corneas, bad vision, and if left untreated, can cause blindness.
Gerlinger was eager to undergo the minimally invasive procedure on his right eye, deciding to move forward with the operation shortly after doing some research and hearing testimonials from those who had undergone similar treatments.
The procedure
Despite only a handful of people in the state having undergone the procedure which requires making a nine millimeter incision in the eye, Gerlinger said that he wasn’t too nervous.
“I actually felt pretty good going into it and it wasn’t terrible,” Gerlinger said of the procedure. “The worst pain that I had through the whole thing was the spacer holding my eye open for two hours. I was awake talking to the doctor the whole time, they put numbing eye drops in so I didn’t feel anything ...”
The results of the procedure were not only a success, but were recognized almost immediately. It only took 12 hours for the side effects of the operation to wear off, Gerlinger said.
“I got it done in the morning and I came home and slept all day basically and toward the night I was like, ‘Wow,” Gerlinger said. “I still had my old prescription but I’d take it off just to kind of test it, and I could see a lot better, so I mean, it was instant results.”
Vision for the future
Since the operation in July, Gerlinger has been able to enjoy his favorite hobbies or going on a drive without issue. A defensive lineman for the Saline Hornets, Gerlinger said he’s noticed improvements to more than just his athletic performance. Gerlinger is now able to drive comfortably at night, something he was not confident in doing before.
“I’ll be honest, it was not the best seeing while I was out there, I could not drive at night, but it’s my favorite time to drive now,” Gerlinger said. “The procedure opened up my peripheral a little bit and just my overall vision across the board, to where I can actually see what’s happening, everything I do now is just a night and day difference.”
Today, Gerlinger can’t remember the last time he’s had a headache and is anxiously waiting to get the OK in order to have the procedure performed in his left eye. His next procedure won’t be for another few years out, but Gerlinger said the day he underwent the surgery in his right eye, he knew he wanted it done to the other.
“Since it’s just one side, his glasses are like, Coke bottle lenses on that one side,” Matt Gerlinger said. “Hopefully his other eye isn’t getting too bad, the other one went pretty quick, so, hopefully we can catch this one a little sooner and whenever they tell us we’re going to do it.”
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