Eye Disease

Last November, Mayor Sue Ann Metzner started noticing odd disturbances in her vision. While she was driving, a flat road in front of her sometimes looked like an upward slope; a coin sitting on a table looked dented. She had thought she would have more time. The disturbances were in her good eye. Her other eye had succumbed seven years ago to an eye disease called macular degeneration, which, while common, usually affects only the elderly. Metzner, only 50, knew she would have to have the good eye checked.

A relatively rare disease of the thyroid gland and the eye muscles, first identified more than 150 years ago, has received an uncommon amount of attention in the last year since first lady Barbara Bush developed it. Her latest treatment for Graves' disease involves a 10-day course of radiation therapy beamed at the swollen muscles attached to her eyes. This treatment, which began last week, is designed to reduce the swelling that has caused Bush to suffer from double vision. The first signs of Graves' disease appeared last spring when Bush was treated - apparently successfully - for thyroid malfunction.

Wayne H. Dunn had a very personal reason for becoming an eye doctor. Growing up in Jamaica, he saw two of his grandparents suffer progressive sight loss from cataracts and glaucoma. "They became virtually blind," said Dunn, 37, who now lives in Wallingford, Delaware County. "I initially got interested in the field because of what happened to them. " Dunn had other personal incentives for studying ophthalmology. Both his parents suffered from diabetes, an illness that often causes eye disease as arteries deteriorate from its effects, he said in an interview this week.

MIAMI Gator chomps down on wrestler, leaving marks An alligator wrestler was hospitalized yesterday with bite marks on both sides of his head after his latest trick with one of the 200-pound beasts went wrong. Kenny Cypress said he had recently enhanced his alligator-wrestling show for tourists by inserting his head into the creature's mouth at the end of his routine. But yesterday, an alligator smelled a drop of his saliva and apparently developed an appetite, chomping down on Cypress's head.

Of all the hundreds of people who contributed to the attempt to restore the vision of three blind patients at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, perhaps none has so personal a connection as venture capitalist Gordon Gund. He, too, is blind. Months after a mysterious disease stole the last vestiges of his sight, at age 31, Gund helped create the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Since its creation in 1971, the nonprofit has raised more than $300 million for research and education on the subject of retinal disease, including $2.9 million for the trial at Children's Hospital.

DROUGHT-PROOF GRASS. University of Florida botanists are experimenting with a "wonder grass" that needs watering only four times a year and stays lush during dry spells. But don't put away your sprinkler yet. The grass won't be ready for release to commercial sod growers for at least another year. And once released to growers, it will take a few years to produce enough to make it widely available. HEART-ATTACK RECOVERY. Despite medical advances, heart-attack victims still take as much time returning to work as they did 15 years ago. That's according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association that finds many patients could return to their jobs earlier than the current 60-to-90-day average.

Gilbert Rubin, 86, of Cherry Hill, an optometrist who practiced in South Camden for more than 60 years, died of leukemia Saturday at Virtua-West Jersey Hospital Marlton. Dr. Rubin maintained his practice on Kaighn Avenue through Camden's economic prosperity and struggles, using the front of his home for many years before moving his practice across the street to a more modern office. He kept it there after moving to his home in Cherry Hill. A graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, he began practicing in the community after serving in the Army medical corps during World War II, when he was stationed in Germany and provided eye exams for troops.

CORRECT CHRISTMAS Dreaming of a "green" Christmas doesn't make you a Grinch. "It's as simple as, when you're setting your dining-room table, choosing beeswax candles because they're not made of petroleum; cloth napkins instead of paper," says environmentalist Annie Berthold-Bond. For gifts, "instead of something plastic that may break and be disposed of in a month, be more thoughtful. A book. A wooden toy. Natural-fiber clothing made of replenishable resources. " SOBERING UP Good news as we approach the holiday-driving season: The number of alcohol- related traffic deaths has declined steadily since 1982, even during holidays.

Legally blind and suffering from other health problems, former Philadelphia nightclub operator Michael S. Rothberg has been sentenced to 27 months in prison without chance of parole for arson and fraud. U.S. District Judge Edmund V. Ludwig also ordered Rothberg, 34, to pay back $590,349 to three insurance companies and pay a $50,000 fine. The sentence would have been at least 51 months if not for Rothberg's poor health, the judge said, granting a motion by Rothberg's attorney, Frank J. Marcone, to ignore the sentencing guidelines.

Of all the hundreds of people who contributed to the attempt to restore the vision of three blind patients at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, perhaps none has so personal a connection as venture capitalist Gordon Gund. He, too, is blind. Months after a mysterious disease stole the last vestiges of his sight, at age 31, Gund helped create the Foundation Fighting Blindness. Since its creation in 1971, the nonprofit has raised more than $300 million for research and education on the subject of retinal disease, including $2.9 million for the trial at Children's Hospital.

Gilbert Rubin, 86, of Cherry Hill, an optometrist who practiced in South Camden for more than 60 years, died of leukemia Saturday at Virtua-West Jersey Hospital Marlton. Dr. Rubin maintained his practice on Kaighn Avenue through Camden's economic prosperity and struggles, using the front of his home for many years before moving his practice across the street to a more modern office. He kept it there after moving to his home in Cherry Hill. A graduate of the Pennsylvania College of Optometry, he began practicing in the community after serving in the Army medical corps during World War II, when he was stationed in Germany and provided eye exams for troops.

Wayne H. Dunn had a very personal reason for becoming an eye doctor. Growing up in Jamaica, he saw two of his grandparents suffer progressive sight loss from cataracts and glaucoma. "They became virtually blind," said Dunn, 37, who now lives in Wallingford, Delaware County. "I initially got interested in the field because of what happened to them. " Dunn had other personal incentives for studying ophthalmology. Both his parents suffered from diabetes, an illness that often causes eye disease as arteries deteriorate from its effects, he said in an interview this week.

KURT JENSEN REFUSED TO LOOK at his young life as a tragedy. And so, as the nurse slid an inch-long needle into his arm to begin the process of cleansing his blood, Jensen, a diabetic, spoke of how kidney dialysis was a way of buying time until he received a transplant. "For a diabetic, illness is the norm," he said evenly. "It sort of inverts the natural experience of life in which illness is the aberration and health is the norm. You're simultaneously sick and healthy all of the time.

Last November, Mayor Sue Ann Metzner started noticing odd disturbances in her vision. While she was driving, a flat road in front of her sometimes looked like an upward slope; a coin sitting on a table looked dented. She had thought she would have more time. The disturbances were in her good eye. Her other eye had succumbed seven years ago to an eye disease called macular degeneration, which, while common, usually affects only the elderly. Metzner, only 50, knew she would have to have the good eye checked.

MIAMI Gator chomps down on wrestler, leaving marks An alligator wrestler was hospitalized yesterday with bite marks on both sides of his head after his latest trick with one of the 200-pound beasts went wrong. Kenny Cypress said he had recently enhanced his alligator-wrestling show for tourists by inserting his head into the creature's mouth at the end of his routine. But yesterday, an alligator smelled a drop of his saliva and apparently developed an appetite, chomping down on Cypress's head.

Every morning when Gwen Riling, coffee cup in hand, stands at her Lower Gwynedd kitchen window to gaze out at the finches landing on her backyard feeders, she is helping scientists figure out a puzzling mystery. Her task is to note how many finches she sees that have crusty eyes. The symptoms signal avian conjunctivitis - an eye disease that curiously has struck only the East Coast finches and is spreading. While the illness doesn't threaten the viability of the species - there are far too many house finches for that - it has provided biologists with an unprecedented opportunity to study how diseases evolve and spread through a wildlife population.

Legally blind and suffering from other health problems, former Philadelphia nightclub operator Michael S. Rothberg has been sentenced to 27 months in prison without chance of parole for arson and fraud. U.S. District Judge Edmund V. Ludwig also ordered Rothberg, 34, to pay back $590,349 to three insurance companies and pay a $50,000 fine. The sentence would have been at least 51 months if not for Rothberg's poor health, the judge said, granting a motion by Rothberg's attorney, Frank J. Marcone, to ignore the sentencing guidelines.

As Larry Ruttenberg left the green after a round of golf in 1982, an errant ball struck his left eye. Ruttenberg had lost sight in his right eye when he was in his early 20s. The 1982 accident left him totally blind at age 68. He heard that the person whose shot hit him put down his clubs and never golfed again. But neither the accident nor his blindness kept Ruttenberg from the game. Last week, the Middle Atlantic Blind Golf Association (MABGA) held its second annual charity golf tournament at LuLu Country Club in North Hills.

The University of Pennsylvania yesterday said it planned to use a $5 million gift to set up the first research center in the world devoted to studying the molecular causes and prevention of eye disease. The F.M. Kirby Foundation in Morristown, N.J., recently presented Penn's School of Medicine the gift to explore the treatment of the hereditary causes of blindness - including cataracts, glaucoma and retinitis pigmentosa, an inflammatory condition of the retina that affects about one in every 3,000 children and young adults in the United States.