THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 14, 1995 TAG: 9512140325
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
At first, visitors to the North Carolina Aquarium could not believe their eyes.
The silver and brown striped fish swimming past them had a muddy-brown colored eye just like its tank-mates. But when it swam back, a golden eye with bronze flecks stared back at them.
It was the public's first sighting of ``Goldeneye,'' a 10-inch long spadefish with a glass eye.
Goldeneye was just a nameless specimen until developing a condition known as exophthalmos, or ``popeye,'' as it is more commonly known. The condition causes the eye to swell abnormally and become cloudy.
``We had sent the word out that we were looking for good candidates'' for eye replacement surgery, said Dr. Greg Lewbart of the university's College of Veterinary Science. ``Then Goldeneye showed up.''
Lewbart is no stranger to fish surgery. He has removed stomach tumors from 2-inch goldfish and surgically corrected a fish that swam with its head facing the bottom of its tank.
Lewbart coordinated the November operation and administered anesthesia while Dr. Brad Nadelstein, a veterinarian ophthalmologist, did the surgery.
The surgery was performed out of water using miniature surgical tools and magnifying goggles. Tubes pumped water, laced with an anesthesia, into the fish's mouth and out its gills.
With no eyelid to hold the eye in place, creative techniques were called for, Nadelstein said. He made a stitch in the eye socket, then injected a dental material in the cavity that hardened and bonded the stitch to the prosthetic eye.
But a week ago, the artificial eye popped out while the fish swam at the aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. ``The stitch may have broke or the dental solution may have come apart from the eye,'' Nadelstein said.
The same North Carolina State researchers who did the original operation plan to reinstall the eye today.
Lewbart and Nadelstein's odyssey in fish eye replacement began with ``Big Boy,'' a large goldfish that came down with eye cancer. Big Boy's owner had had the fish for 15 years and was devoted to it, Lewbart said.
They removed the fish's eye and it is still swimming today. But the two thought, if they could remove the eye, why not replace it?
As they experimented on fish cadavers, they sent out word that they were looking for the right subject.
At the aquarium, Goldeneye had been labeled ``exhibit dead.'' That means he was healthy, but could not be shown to the public because of a defect, Lewbart said.
Although Goldeneye is not a particularly valuable species, some aquarium fish are. ``This procedure saves them from being destroyed,'' Lewbart said.
Nadelstein called the idea crazy when Lewbart first approached him. Now he says the procedure may become common.
``A few years ago surgery on dogs with cataracts was unheard of,'' he said. ``But now it's common. Why not fish?'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS color photo
This photo of ``Goldeneye'' was taken in November, two weeks after
his original surgery to install his glass eye. The fish had a
condition known as exophthalmos or ``popeye,'' which causes the eye
to swell.
by CNB