NEXTGEN:
ECPS CAN BE LIFESAVERS
A new Ontario optometrist has already
witnessed firsthand that trusting
your gut and your patient could help
to save a life.
For 30-year-old Dr. Saed Issac, this
happened in October, only two months
after becoming a practicing optometrist,
when a patient came into his office
after waking up with double vision.
“His medical history included DMT2
and hypertension. His blood pressure
was normal in the office and he repeat-
edly denied a spike in his blood sugar,”
says Dr. Isaac.
“I diagnosed him with isolated right
CN6 palsy. My gut told me something
was off here, so I gave him an eye
patch to help with diplopia, but more
importantly, told him to get an MRI/
CT scan done ASAP. He ended up go-
30 OPTICAL PRISM | March 2019
ing the next day, where a new symptom
of numbness in his left leg appeared.
The scan results showed a hemorrhagic
stroke in the middle of the brain. I may
not have saved his life, but his life was
at risk.”
Dr. Isaac has been a practicing
optometrist since August 2018. He
graduated with a Doctorate of Optom-
etry, Dean’s Honours List, from the
University of Waterloo, but says his
career path towards optometry began
in high school.
“I used to sit in the front row of the
class because I could not see anything
and I would sometimes take notes by
listening only. I eventually got glass-
es, but still did not know much about
optometry, aside from the glasses
part,” he says.
“It wasn’t until I was studying for the
MCAT (medical college admission
test) that I learned what optometry
was all about. I was studying 12 to 14
hours a day and kept getting headaches
and eyestrain. I went to a local OD
where a student examined me and
educated me about optometry. He
made it sound like an interesting
profession and convinced me to look
into it.”
Dr. Isaac is now an associate optom-
etrist at Dr. Moussa Professional
Optometry Corp. in Windsor, Ont.,
and Eye Smile Vision in Amherst-
burg, Ont.
He says it is important to him to know
his patients on a personal level and
to keep building long-lasting
relationships.