UCI Health Welcomes New Low-vision Optometrist

Optometrist Karen Lin, OD, developed a passion for helping people with impaired vision as a young National Eye Institute research intern at UC Berkeley. There, macular degeneration patients in their 80s and 90s would trek up the campus’ steep hills to participate in her laboratory studies.

“I really loved those patients, who were so resilient and had so many life stories to share,” says Lin. “I wanted to learn how to make their lives more functional and instill hope. Back then, there wasn’t as much technology as there is today, so now there’s even more hope for low vision patients.”

Eighteen years later, Lin is excited to join our department faculty and the eye institute’s Low Vision Rehabilitation Program, which combines the research and clinical expertise expected of an academic medical center with a hands-on occupational therapy approach to help low vision patients navigate their daily lives.

“It’s this awesome collaboration that drew me to UCI,” Lin says. “I can do evaluations and calculations to make recommendations but having an occupational therapist who trains patients to use the devices in their own home, where the lighting or other factors may be different, is what makes our low-vision program such a rare find.”

In her first few months, Lin says one of the most common questions patients ask is, ‘How do I qualify to see you?’ “I want to emphasize that low vision is not just a number and you don’t have to have a certain diagnosis to come to the clinic,” she says. “Every individual is different, but when you feel that your vision is functionally impaired, we can help.”

Ophthalmologists manage eye health and treat the disease that causes low vision, but it’s Lin’s role to focus on how a patient can make the best use of their existing vision. Initial office visits usually include a contrast test to assess the ability to distinguish shades of gray, a central visual field test to check for blind spots and a trial framing to place powerful lenses into a pair of wearable glasses.

“Those three tests give us a much better sense of what each patient is dealing with and a better sense of why a patient may respond differently to different devices and tools in the real world — even with the same pathology and same vision,” says Lin.

Advancements in optical tools and new technologies like telescopic devices that attach to glasses provide new ways to cope with low vision. Lin tries to offer a mix of both high and low-tech solutions for each patient. The results can be profound.

Recently, a caregiver brought in a patient who was so uncommunicative they weren’t sure if he could read English. When Lin put a pair of high-power reading glasses on the man, he perked up, began talking and reading aloud. Another patient cried tears of joy when she looked at a photo of her grandchild through a magnifying device. “Oh, that’s what he looks like now!” the woman exclaimed.

“There are so many resources out there,” Lin says. “When I see patients struggling, I tell them there are always things we can do to help you continue to enjoy life. We just have to take a different perspective.”