Eyeworld

SUMMER 2025 | EYEWORLD | 13 ASCRS FOUNDATION UPDATE and it was completely unexpected because he was 20/20 before that," Dr. Shakir said. "It was a simple vitrectomy repair, and he [would be able to] see immediately. I just had to find time at the surgery center." Dr. Shakir called the surgical center and explained that he had a patient who was uninsured (technically he had international insurance). He planned to forego his professional fee to operate on the patient and asked if the surgical center could help keep the price low for cash pay. However, they said retina surgery was expensive, coming back with a price of $20,000 to perform the procedure. "There was nothing I could do. My hands were tied. My patient could not get care, and there was nothing I could do to get a reasonable price," Dr. Shakir said. "That was the moment that I decided that either I'm creating my own surgery center or I'm figuring this problem out because I'm never doing this to another patient again. That was the fire that was lit underneath me to figure it out, and it was within a year after that I built my own surgery center." In addition to Operation Sight, Dr. Sha- kir does many community charity cases at his practice. "If patients can't pay, we'll still do the surgery." He added that another important aspect is industry partnership, and he's formed Meet the Operation Sight Volunteer of the Year The ASCRS Foundation is pleased to announce that this year's Operation Sight Volunteer of the Year is Omar Shakir, MD. Dr. Shakir, who practices at Coastal Eye in Greenwich, Connecticut, decided early on in his career that he wanted to be involved with humanitarian/volunteer eye surgery. "I opened my practice straight out of fellow- ship about 7 years ago. I'm classically trained in vitreoretinal surgery, but I knew coming out of fellowship that I wanted to do both cataract surgery and retina surgery," he said. However, there were not a lot of opportunities to combine the two types of surgery. "I figured I had to open my own practice," he said. "I'm passionate about doing total eyecare, and I don't want to limit myself to one thing. I basically do everything that I'm comfortable with." Dr. Shakir said he was fortunate that his practice grew quickly, and he had a lot of suc- cess, including word of mouth and good referral sources for patients. "One thing led to another, and 4 years ago, I opened up my own surgical center onsite, and that's where I perform all my procedures now." But it's the story behind opening his own surgical center that motivated Dr. Shakir to get involved in volunteer surgery and provid- ing eyecare to all patients, regardless of their economic means. "I'm big on not turning away anyone in my practice. I don't think there's any conflict of interest in charging high prices and having a premium practice model while also offering very good quality community/charity care. We run a premium practice and do refrac- tive lens exchange and premium cataract sur- gery, but I also don't ever want to turn a patient away if they need my help," he said. Initially, Dr. Shakir was operating at an ambulatory surgery center near his practice. He had an experience where a patient needed a complex vitrectomy repair, and the patient's daughter, who he was visiting from another country, referred him to Dr. Shakir. "He only had one eye, and that eye had a vitreous hemor- rhage and retinal detachment. He was blind, News from the ASCRS Foundation continued on page 14 Dr. Shakir is this year's Operation Sight Volunteer of the Year. Source: ASCRS Foundation

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