Thu, Dec 29th, 2022 - 11:52am
July 15, 2022 - 10:46am | By Kyle Cornell
(Moorhead, MN) -- A local man is expressing gratitude after having his eye saved by a doctor at Essentia Health.
Moorhead-based mechanic Adrian Flores says he was reinstalling an end cap on the bumper of a car when this routine task took a turn for the worse. He was laying down and attempting to get a clip to fit properly when the pick he was using slipped and went full force into his right eye.
Adrian immediately pulled the pick out of his eye and went into his bathroom to try and wash out the blood. His sight was blurry and his eye continued to bleed, so he called his sister to drive him to Essentia Health-Fargo for emergency care.
Once in the emergency room at Essentia, Adrian met with Ophthalmologist Mariaha Cobb. Adrian admits that he has a hard time trusting people, but says “Dr. Cobb’s experience came through by the way she spoke, and I relaxed immediately.”
Fortunately, Dr. Cobb was able to stitch up his eye after checking to make sure nothing was damaged behind the eyeball. Adrian was allowed to go home following an observation period, but he would need to come in for a series of follow-up appointments.
Injuries like Adrian’s are among the most serious cases seen by ophthalmologists.
“Trauma to the eye and orbit is one of the most unexpected and potentially devastating injuries,” said Dr. Cobb in a statement released to WDAY Radio. “Healthy individuals can lose their vision and sometimes their entire eye. In this case, I was able to repair the involved parts of Adrian’s eye. The optic nerve, as well as retina, were not significantly involved. Thankfully, after a strict eye-drop and activity regimen, Adrian was able to heal very well.”
His eye only took a few weeks to heal, and it wasn’t before long that Adrian was back to his normal routine. He describes Dr. Cobb as incredibly attentive, recounting that he had a trip to Las Vegas scheduled and that she insisted on checking in with him before and after his trip because he would be flying on an airplane and swimming.
“As a mechanic, my livelihood depends on the use of my eyes,” said Flores. says. “To have an injury like that when I’m starting my business, it would have been devastating had that future been jeopardized because of this injury.”
With so much at stake, Adrian says this accident served as an important reminder for him on eye safety.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to care for our patients during some of the most trying times, and thankful Adrian put his trust in our hands,” Dr. Cobb says. “It’s because of our team approach at Essentia that we were able to immediately address his trauma and provide him with the care he needed.”
