George H.W. Bush: Eye Examination and Glaucoma

Doctor Zebra > Presidential health > List of Presidents > George Bush > More


	The Health and Medical History of President
	George H.W. Bush: Eye Examination and Glaucoma

mild glaucoma

"An early glaucoma of [the] left eye" was noted during Bush's physical in April 1990. He was started on Betagan eye drops, 1 drop every 12 hours [11c]. After re-examination two weeks later by specialists from Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic, it was decided to stop the eye drops and to follow him closely [11i].

More...

Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Eye Examination [11i].
April 25, 1990

President Bush was examined today at Bethesda Naval Hospital by Dr. Harry Quigley of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, MD, and Dr. Richard Brubaker of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, prominent experts on glaucoma.

During the President's last routine physical on April 12, an early glaucoma in his left eye was detected. Extensive visual tests at that time revealed no loss of any aspect of his visual acuity. Betagan eye drops were prescribed, 1 drop every 12 hours.

The examination today was requested by Dr. Burton Lee, the President's personal physician, to confirm the earlier diagnosis and assess the treatment strategy. ``The physical findings were reviewed by the consultants and the diagnosis of exfoliation syndrome was confirmed with slightly increased intraocular pressure noted again in the left eye, one type of early glaucoma,'' Dr. Lee said. ``Extensive testing of the eye, including detailed photographs, once again revealed no abnormalities and no visual loss. It was decided to stop the Betagan eye drops and follow him closely for now, on no treatment.''

Resources

[Top]

Disclosure: Doctor Zebra gets a few pennies if you click & buy from Amazon.

Abrams, Herbert L. "The President Has Been Shot": Confusion, Disability, and the 25th Amendment in the Aftermath of the Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992. ISBN 0-393-03042-3 @ Amazon [a] pp. 59-60
Associated Press. [no title]. Yahoo! News [on-line]. 3 August 2002, 1:40 pm ET.
Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994. ISBN 0-89950-956-8 @ Amazon [a] p. 288 [b] p. 289 [c] p. 290 [d] pp. 289-291
Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
Ebner SA, Badonnel MC, Altman LK, Braverman LE. Conjugal Graves disease. Ann Intern Med. 1992 Mar 15;116(6):479-81. Pubmed.
Heimel, Cynthia. Combover Congress: how can we trust our leaders to manage impeachment when they can't even manage their hair?. Salon.com. Feb. 3, 1999.
Caveat emptor: no written source for these statements is known to Dr. Zebra. Available on the web at: http://www.salon.com/news/1999/02/03newsb.html
Jaret, Peter. Blinking and thinking. In Health. July/August 1990; 4(4): 36-37.
Mathews J. The shrinking field. Washington Post. August 3, 1999. Page C1.
Accessed through washingtonpost.com: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/wh2000/stories/tall080399.htm
Springer, Brian. Spin. [Movie, 1995]. Accessed 6 July 2006.
This movie is largely composed of clips from 1992 television satellite feeds. These feeds are usually not broadcast in their entirety. For example, satellite feeds can include recordings made during commercial breaks or before a show starts. With the proper equipment, anyone can pick up satellite feeds (although they may be encrypted). 57 minutes 26 seconds. Movie accessed at: http://www.brasscheck.com/videos/spin.html
The Thyroid Society. Graves' disease: the heart of the matter. [On line]. Accessed 16 December 2002.
See: http://the-thyroid-society.org/graves.html
Toltzis RJ, Morton DJ, Gerson MC. Problems on Pennsylvania Avenue. N Engl J Med. 1986 Sep 25;315(13):836-7. Pubmed.
White House Press Release. [various topics]. George H.W. Bush Public Papers. (Kept in the Bush Presidential Library, College Station, TX). [a] Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the Results of the President's Physical Examination, May 10, 1989 [b] Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Physical Examination, May 9, 1989 [c] Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Physical Examination, April 12, 1990 [d] Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Physical Examination, March 27, 1991 [e] Question-and-Answer Session With Reporters in Bethesda, Maryland, March 27 1991 [f] Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Health, August 2, 1991 [g] Statements by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Physical Examination, March 26, 1992 [h] Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Hand Surgery, October 6, 1989 [i] Statement by Press Secretary Fitzwater on the President's Eye Examination, April 25, 1990
Downloaded 26-27 November 03 from: http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/papers/
The George Bush web page at the White House.
(6 matches when checked in November 2003)

[Top]

<== Ronald Reagan	Return to George Bush	William Clinton ==>
George Washington · John Adams · Thomas Jefferson · James Madison · James Monroe · John Q. Adams · Andrew Jackson · Martin van Buren · William Harrison · John Tyler · James Polk · Zachary Taylor · Millard Fillmore · Franklin Pierce · James Buchanan · Abraham Lincoln · Andrew Johnson · Ulysses Grant · Rutherford Hayes · James Garfield · Chester Arthur · Grover Cleveland · Benjamin Harrison · William McKinley · Theodore Roosevelt · William Taft · Woodrow Wilson · Warren Harding · Calvin Coolidge · Herbert Hoover · Franklin Roosevelt · Harry Truman · Dwight Eisenhower · John Kennedy · Lyndon Johnson · Richard Nixon · Gerald Ford · James Carter · Ronald Reagan · George Bush · William Clinton · George W. Bush · [Cheney]