Dr. Herron has 'rewarding' career
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| Dr. Bruce Herron has been treating problems of the eyes in Jackson for 30 years. |
He’s seen remarkable changes in what he can do for patients, such as replacing cloudy cataracts with lenses inserted in the eye. On the other hand, many aspects of his practice remain the same, such as the need for regular eye checkups.
Dr. Herron is the first to tell you that he is amazed at where ophthalmology is today. “Retinal specialists are now able to work on the inside of the eye to correct retinal detachments and severe eye trauma,” tells Dr. Herron. “I never would have imagined doing this when I began in training in the ’70s.”
Ophthalmology was an immediate fit for Dr. Herron when he began his medical training at Vanderbilt University. “I’m a gadget person,” he explains. “I enjoyed using all of the instruments and tools that were associated with ophthalmology, as well as the wide variety of patients.” He was influenced in his specialty choice by Dr. James Elliott, who was setting up the eye department at Vanderbilt.
After Vanderbilt, he spent five years at the University of Iowa before deciding to join Dr. Ben House and Dr. Jim Price at The Eye Clinic. Both are retired now and Dr. Herron is the senior physician at the clinic where he practices today with Dr. Art Woods, Dr. Mark Bateman, Dr. Sean Neel, and Dr. Jason Sullivan.
Born and raised in Jackson, Dr. Herron is the son of Dr. Henry Herron, a long-time general practitioner and a member of the original 1951 staff at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital.
“I like ophthalmology because of the people I treat,” says Dr. Herron. “In eye care, as a practice matures, you age with your patients. I follow their lives through their eyes. So now I am now dealing more frequently with problems of the aging eye.”
More of his patients have chronic conditions, such as glaucoma and cataracts. Macular degeneration is an increasingly frustrating problem, he says. Recent studies show that while nothing yet is known to stop or reverse the damage of macular degeneration, vitamins probably can help slow the process.
Treating cataracts is one of the more dramatic changes in the last 30 years, says Dr. Herron. Patients used to have to wait until the cataracts in their eyes had ripened to the point that the cataracts were so bad that an individual could barely function. With cataract surgery, patients stayed in the hospital several days and then wore huge thick lenses to help them focus. These days, the procedure is done on an outpatient basis. The human lens is replaced with an intra-ocular lens that can correct a person’s vision in most cases to near normal. “The procedure is much simpler, involving small incisions, no stitches, and very little limit to activity and with most individuals spending no more than two to three hours in the surgery center,” he says. “The visual rehabilitation is almost immediate.”
Correcting refractive (vision) problems, such as nearsightedness, also has changed dramatically as refractive surgery has evolved and now uses the precision of the laser, he says. Soon, on the horizon, will be a way to correct presbyopia, the inability of the eye to focus sharply on nearby objects, such as the print in a newspaper.
As a person ages, he or she should frequent an eye specialist more often, Dr. Herron says. The average individual should have an eye exam every three to four years until around age 40 when eye checkups should follow every two years to look for problems, such as glaucoma. “Glaucoma, for example, is a silent disease that doesn’t cause any pain,” Dr. Herron explains. “People do not know they have it until it has caused damage.”
Along with his practice at the Eye Clinic, Dr. Herron takes the time to work in the community and has gone on several mission trips. “I decided I wanted to give back a little,” he says of his community work.
The East Jackson Medical Clinic has set up an eye exam room where Dr. Herron donates his time to see patients two afternoons a month. The program provides eye exams and low-cost eyewear for those who would not have been able to afford it. “It’s been really rewarding for me,” he explains. “I expect to continue this as I wind down my practice and eventually retire.”