Dr. Irene Ludwig Shares Surgical Innovation Technique for Double Vision

Dothan, Ala.— It’s not every day that you read about a physician who donated her time to perform a cutting-edge eye surgery (that she pioneered) on a patient suffering from debilitating diplopia (double-vision), while teaching a fellow physician how to perform the surgery. But for Irene Ludwig, M.D., Pediatric and Strabismus Ophthalmologist at Eye Center South in Dothan, Ala., these good deeds are all in a day’s work.
 
It started this past winter when Dr. Ludwig received a phone call all the way from Newport News, Va. On the phone was colleague and fellow ophthalmologist, Denise Chamblee, M.D.
 
Dr. Chamblee explained that she had a patient who, as a result of a motorcycle accident, had sustained trauma to the muscle in his eye and was now suffering from severe diplopia. Dr. Chamblee knew that Dr. Ludwig was the leading expert in this type of eye muscle injury, the developer of a surgical technique that repairs the problem and one of only a few in the country to perform the procedure.
 
Through years of research, Dr. Ludwig had discovered an eye muscle injury, called a flap tear, sustained after trauma to the head or face to one of the eye’s movement-controlling muscles (often the rectus muscle). When a flap tear occurs, the movement of the eye can become impaired causing the patient to have strabismus and even diplopia (double-vision), as was the case with Dr. Chamblee’s patient. If left untreated, the injury’s symptoms can make even the most mundane tasks, such as driving a car, impossible.
 
Based on her discovery of the flap tear, Dr. Ludwig designed a surgical technique that, simply put, “finds the pieces of torn muscle and reattaches it to the eye” with special sutures and, in some cases, tissue grafts from the patient’s own eye, according to Dr. Ludwig.
 
Knowing the challenges Dr. Chamblee’s patient faced with this type of eye injury, Dr. Ludwig offered to perform the surgery. She also offered to show Dr. Chamblee how to perform the surgical technique for future use on her own patients in Virginia.
 
But there was a major obstacle.
 
The patient had no insurance and no way to fund the needed $5,000-plus operation. Dr. Ludwig quickly offered her services for free and Surgery Center South donated the use of its surgical suite and supplies. On Feb. 2, 2011, Dr. Chamblee observed Dr. Ludwig’s surgical technique first hand and learned how to perform it. The patient received the gift of corrected vision.
 
“I am thankful that Dr. Ludwig offered these services for my patient and that she shared her expertise in this field,” said Dr. Chamblee.
 
Dr. Ludwig prefers to downplay her instrumental involvement in this happy ending and, instead, emphasizes the need for prompt treatment.
 
“The sooner you treat this type of eye injury, the better,” said Dr. Ludwig.
 
She adds, “It is also very important to stretch the eye through physical therapy for several months post-surgery” – a step that helps the healing process.
 
For more information on Dr. Irene Ludwig and her innovations in eye surgery, please contact Lindsey LaBerge, Director of Marketing for Eye Center South,
at (334) 671-8301, ext. 266 or visit HYPERLINK "http://eyecentersouth.net" http://eyecentersouth.net

Dr. Ludwig sees patients in the following cities:
Eye Center South - Dothan, AL,  Miramar Beach, FL, Montgomery, AL,  Panama City, FL
Vision America-  Huntsville, AL, Birmingham, AL, Nashville, TN