Local Doctor's Medical Mission

       Dr. Gayatri Reilly a prominent area ophthalmologist with The Retina Group of Washington (headquartered in Greenbelt) has just returned from a medical mission to the Turks and Caicos Islands where she treated hundreds of patients with cataracts, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

     Dr. Reilly takes these medical missions once or twice a year. The past two trips she went equipped with a retinal laser provided by Iridex and intraocular lenses and eye drops donated by Alcon.  She performs exams, does cataract and pterygium (‘tur-IJ-ee-um”/common eye condition affecting people who spend a lot of time outside, thus the term “surfer’s eye”) surgeries and uses the laser to treat diabetic retinopathy, all at no cost to locals who live in T&C and other nearby islands where there are no ophthalmologists.

             It was only last year that Dr. Reilly did the first-ever laser procedure in Turks and Caicos; this year she estimates seeing close to 100 patients a day for a myriad of retinal and eye-related conditions.  She also devotes part of each mission to training Emergency Room doctors about basic eye care.

             One of the highlights of her recently-completed mission came from bringing a catatonic patient with schizophrenia “back to life.”  The patient had lost vision in both eyes due to dense cataracts–and she had not spoken for years.  Shortly after Dr. Reilly completed cataract surgery in just one of her eyes, the woman immediately began talking with her and the medical staff, achieving a medical miracle that changed the life of a very appreciative patient.