U.S.

Defender Has Clear View of World Cup - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/sports/soccer/02demerit.html?pa...

This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, please click here or use the "Reprints" tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now.

May 1, 2010

U.S. Defender Has Clear View of World Cup

By JER LONGMAN

LONDON Jay DeMerit sat in the eye doctors office as a machine mapped the topography of his right cornea, the dome-shaped surface that covers the iris and pupil, and helps to focus vision. A digital printout resembled a weather map with its yellows and greens and dissipating reds. My own Doppler radar, DeMerit, a central defender with the United States soccer team, said with a laugh. In mid-September, a bacterial infection arose in DeMerits right eye like a sudden storm. Within 24 hours, 70 percent of the tissue in the cornea had essentially melted. He could barely see his fingers in front of his face. He worried that he might not be able to play in the World Cup. Or that he might have to retire from soccer altogether. I was freaking out, said DeMerit, who is the captain of Watford in the League Championship, a tier below the English Premier League. I realized, Im not going to play ever unless I get this fixed. No way I could play with one eye. Fortunately for him, he was a professional athlete in Englands most popular sport. Quickly, DeMerit found treatment here at one of the worlds leading eye hospitals and underwent a corneal transplant in mid-October that was performed by a renowned surgeon using the latest laser techniques. I realize how lucky I am, DeMerit, 30, said Thursday. If I didnt do what I do for a living, I never would have been able to see this doctor. A more conventional corneal transplant might have kept him out of soccer for 18 months to 2 years, said Dr. Julian Stevens, the surgeon who operated on DeMerit. Even standard laser surgery might have shelved him for four to six months, leaving little time to prepare for the World Cup. Instead, DeMerit returned to play after a month and a half. Jays position is that there are two types of guys astronauts and astronomers who look at them, Stevens said. He wants to be the astronaut. He wants to play in the World Cup, not look at it with the other eye. Even so, DeMerit came pretty close to missing the World Cup, Stevens said. DeMerit expects to be in central defense when the United States opens against England on June 12 in South Africa. He hopes that a strained abdominal muscle will be healed when training camp opens May 15.

1 of 3

7/11/2011 12:13 AM

U.S. Defender Has Clear View of World Cup - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/sports/soccer/02demerit.html?pa...

Its serendipity, Stevens said. The technology was there. Timing is everything with these things. Last Sept. 14, DeMerits timing seemed awful. As Watford bused from London to a match in Plymouth, he felt an irritation in his right eye. A speck of dust had gotten beneath his contact lens, he thought. By the next morning, the eye was red and swollen. DeMerit visited a doctor and received some antibiotic eye drops but could not play Sept. 15. He sat on the bench in discomfort. By the time the match ended, he had to cup his hands over his eyes to shield them from the stadium lights. When Watford returned to London that night, DeMerits right eye was closed and weeping. Unable to drive, he stayed with a teammate. There was so much pain; it felt like someone was pressing his thumb in my eye, DeMerit said. The next morning, a white blotch covered his pupil. It looked like I had been bitten by a zombie, he said. Even the iris had changed color, to greenish blue from blue. He became alarmed and saw another doctor, who diagnosed a bacterial infection. DeMerit said he was instructed to put antibiotic drops into his eye every hour for the next 48 to 72 hours. For three days, he said he did not sleep. His vision was reduced to 20 percent in his right eye. The eye looked dead, he said, as if covered by frosted glass. A week or so later, DeMerit was referred to Stevens at Moorfields Eye Hospital, a pre-eminent treatment center. The diseased cornea was caused by a strain of Pseudomonas bacteria that is essentially flesh-eating, Stevens said. Even as it dies, it effectively explodes and releases enzymes that dissolve tissue. You cant get the tissue back once its been lost, Stevens said. All you can do is replace the tissue. A donor cornea was provided by the North Carolina Eye Bank and was transplanted to DeMerit on Oct. 19. Bob Bradley, the United States coach, said he was initially concerned, because thats not something we deal with regularly. A conventional graft, known as a full-thickness transplant, probably would have prevented DeMerit from playing soccer again, Stevens said. Theres a permanent weakness; if you get a bump in the eye, its a disaster, he said. Instead, Stevens performed a less-invasive graft, known as a partial-thickness or lamellar transplant. Extreme precision was required, given that DeMerit needed sufficient eyesight restored quickly so he could return to soccer. For the one-hour operation, Stevens spent nearly seven hours custom-programming a femtosecond laser, a high-speed instrument designed not to damage adjacent tissue. The incisions reached a depth of 70 microns, or about the thickness of eight cells. You cant go deeper than that; otherwise you perforate the cornea, Stevens said. If I perforated it at any point, thats the end of Jays playing career. Hed need a full-thickness transplant then. The graft was shaped like a top hat and set in place like a dovetail joint in woodworking to

2 of 3

7/11/2011 12:13 AM

U.S. Defender Has Clear View of World Cup - The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/02/sports/soccer/02demerit.html?pa...

reduce the chances of its dislodging. Finally, Stevens anchored the transplant with a stitch that traced a starlike pattern around the outer edge of DeMerits cornea. In November, to correct the nearsightedness in his otherwise healthy left eye, DeMerit had Lasek surgery, which applies laser energy directly to the eyes surface instead of cutting a thin flap as in Lasik surgery. Eventually, he will have the same procedure on his right eye. As the transplant healed, DeMerit performed exercises to retrain the eye, catching a nubby ball as it bounced off a wall and playing video games, sometimes while wearing a patch over his stronger eye. He resumed playing for Watford on Dec. 5 and early on found himself shielding his eye when he headed the ball. Soon, though, he resumed his usual fearless style of defending. The vision in his right eye has been restored to about 80 percent of its previous acuity. Even so, DeMerit has had to compensate for a slight distortion in depth perception a retinal signaling phenomenon known as the Pulfrich effect which is most noticeable during night games and when it snows. If Im 15 yards away and somebody throws a ball into my feet, I cant judge it as well as I used to, DeMerit said. But can I play and do my job 100 percent? Yes. The stitch has been removed from his cornea. Last week, Stevens used a diamond scalpel to make a tiny incision to further reduce the astigmatism in the healing eye. DeMerits vision should soon improve to about 90 percent, Stevens said, which he joked could put himself in an awkward situation. If Jay knocks England out of the World Cup, Ill probably have to go into hiding, he said.

Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company Back to Top

Home

Privacy Policy

Search

Corrections

XML

Help

Contact Us

3 of 3

7/11/2011 12:13 AM