Low Vision Specialist in Gulfport, MS

Dr. Rod Fields

Dr. Fields has specialized in vision rehabilitation for over 35 years. His visual rehabilitation clinic staff provides both testing and treatment for patients with lazy eyes, crossed eyes, vision-related learning problems and traumatic brain injury. Low Vision care evolved naturally as a result of his years of caring for special needs patients and has grown to include 15 satellite Low Vision clinics throughout the entire states of Mississippi and Northern Alabama.

Dr. Fields has been on the staff of Memorial Hospital for over 20 years, providing neuro-optometric evaluations and treatment to patients with brain injuries. He utilizes the latest techniques involving prisms and various occlusive devices to alleviate trauma-induced double vision, visual field defects wherein one side of the vision is lost on each eye, and other maladies that interfere with the rehabilitation process when they go untreated.

Patients with Low Vision caused from such conditions as Macular Degeneration, Diabetes, Glaucoma and Inoperable Cataracts, to name a few, come from not only MS, but also the neighboring states of Louisiana, Alabama and the Panhandle of Florida to receive specialized care using advanced Low Vision telescopes and microscope systems.

Dr. Fields presently serves as the chairman of the Vision Rehabilitation and Low Vision committee of the Mississippi Optometric Association. He is a fellow of the International Association of Low Vision Specialists (IALVS), a member of the Neuro-Optometric Rehabilitation Association (NORA), the College of Optometric Vision Development (COVD) and is frequently a lecturer on the subjects of vision rehabilitation and Low Vision to groups of his peers throughout the country.

Most patients with Macular Degeneration have been told that nothing else can be done for them and that eyeglasses will no longer help them. By using state of the art telescopes and microscopes, Dr. Fields is able to restore vision that can be used in the “real world” to see well enough to do things again like drive, read, watch TV and see peoples faces.

Low Vision evaluations take about one and one half hours and patients are actually able to see how much improvement can be made during the examination. That way, there is no guessing whether or not the patient can be helped.

These specialized glasses cost between $450 and $4,500 and take about 3 to 4 weeks to be fabricated. Most of Dr. Fields’ patients say that even though Low Vision glasses are costly, retaining their independence through improving their ability to drive, read and watch TV again is well worth the investment.