On January 23, 2003, the world welcomed a perfectly healthy baby boy by the name of Myles Cure.
Myles soon developed a severe form of eczema, but he didn’t let his scuffle with the persistent skin condition hold him back; he lived his life as any young boy should—with gusto.
Doctors treated the eczema with steroids and all seemed well for a while. But in February 2016, Myles, then 13, began complaining of blurry and clouded vision. A month and a half later—he was blind.
“I suddenly noticed both his eyes were gray,” said his mother, Royletta Tinsley, “then he started saying he couldn’t see.”
Tinsley sought help at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital’s Division of Ophthalmology, where it was determined that Myles had cataract, likely caused by long-term use of steroids. Within a week of the consultation, Myles underwent cataract surgery with Dr. Zenia Aguilera, a pediatric ophthalmologist.
“The first surgery was done a week after his diagnosis—it was truly a blessing,” said Tinsley.
As is standard with cataract surgery, each of Myles’ eyes were operated on separately so that the first eye could recover before the second operation.
Tinsley said, “I could not be there, but his father and my daughter told me that the day after the first surgery, he was hugging everyone and saying that he could already see again!”
Both eye surgeries were done within a three week time frame, to make certain that Myles had plenty of recovery time in between.
“The most important thing I remember was the day he came back from the hospital, Myles said ‘Mom, it feels good to see your face again.’”
Myles Cure has made a full recovery and is a healthy, 13-year-old boy.
“Something funny he said the other day was, ‘Mom, I used to think certain things were ugly, but now—everything is beautiful.’”