Challenges Faced
Throughout not only her swimming career but her life, Trischa Zorn has faced many challenges. Trischa Zorn was born with aniridia, a congenital, genetic eye condition that is typically bilateral. The condition is caused by a dysfunction in the PAX6 gene, the gene responsible for eye development, which causes the eye to stop developing prematurely. The iris of a fully developed eye functions by opening and closing like the aperture of a camera, individuals born without irises do not have the physical capacity to focus and control the amount of light entering the eyes. The pupils remain wide open, no matter how bright the lighting conditions. In effect, this condition is similar to the feeling of walking out of a dark movie theatre into blinding sunlight-although the eyes do not adjust to the change in lighting conditions.
The only treatment for aniridia is a surgery involving a synthetic iris implant, which reduces the amount of light entering the eyes. "I learned about the artificial iris procedure on the local news," said Trischa Zorn, who received her implants from internationally recognised ophthalmic surgeon, Dr. Francis W. Price Jr.
"They were reporting the first artificial implant that Dr. Price performed. After hearing about the procedure, I called Dr. Price's office to make an appointment to see if I would qualify as a candidate for the FDA study and procedure." She did indeed qualify, and received her first synthetic iris and lens, which came from Holland, in April 2003. She received her second implant in August 2003.
"Typically, if both eyes are going to have artificial implants, the time period between surgeries is six months," said Trischa. "However, my surgeries were four months apart due to my school schedule and swimming training." The procedure takes between two-and-a-half to three hours in length, and the full recovery can actually be up to a year! However, Trischa Zorn was out of the water only six weeks for each surgery due to her busy training schedule, this was a challenge for Trischa as she was out of the pool multiple times a year due to the surgeries. According to Zorn, there wasn't too much pain, just some swelling and bruising of the eye.
Although the procedure effectively reduced the area of exposed pupil, the whole experience has been an eye-opener and she faced many challenges due to the genetic eye condition. Before the surgery, she could only see objects that were a few feet in front of her. Although her vision has improved from 20/1100 to 20/850, however it does not change her classification for Paralympics competition. The surgery's main purpose was to help cut down glare from light coming into the eyes, but the synthetic irises gave the eyes a natural appearance.
"People who knew me really saw a significant difference right away," Trischa said. "Being able to see one eye with an iris and one eye without an iris was very interesting. We were able to see the transformation of what the final results were going to look like. People who had not seen me in a while and didn't know that I had the surgery noticed something different, but couldn't figure it out until I told them what I had done."
The only treatment for aniridia is a surgery involving a synthetic iris implant, which reduces the amount of light entering the eyes. "I learned about the artificial iris procedure on the local news," said Trischa Zorn, who received her implants from internationally recognised ophthalmic surgeon, Dr. Francis W. Price Jr.
"They were reporting the first artificial implant that Dr. Price performed. After hearing about the procedure, I called Dr. Price's office to make an appointment to see if I would qualify as a candidate for the FDA study and procedure." She did indeed qualify, and received her first synthetic iris and lens, which came from Holland, in April 2003. She received her second implant in August 2003.
"Typically, if both eyes are going to have artificial implants, the time period between surgeries is six months," said Trischa. "However, my surgeries were four months apart due to my school schedule and swimming training." The procedure takes between two-and-a-half to three hours in length, and the full recovery can actually be up to a year! However, Trischa Zorn was out of the water only six weeks for each surgery due to her busy training schedule, this was a challenge for Trischa as she was out of the pool multiple times a year due to the surgeries. According to Zorn, there wasn't too much pain, just some swelling and bruising of the eye.
Although the procedure effectively reduced the area of exposed pupil, the whole experience has been an eye-opener and she faced many challenges due to the genetic eye condition. Before the surgery, she could only see objects that were a few feet in front of her. Although her vision has improved from 20/1100 to 20/850, however it does not change her classification for Paralympics competition. The surgery's main purpose was to help cut down glare from light coming into the eyes, but the synthetic irises gave the eyes a natural appearance.
"People who knew me really saw a significant difference right away," Trischa said. "Being able to see one eye with an iris and one eye without an iris was very interesting. We were able to see the transformation of what the final results were going to look like. People who had not seen me in a while and didn't know that I had the surgery noticed something different, but couldn't figure it out until I told them what I had done."