PEORIA – What began as a practice of one doctor has become a center serving more than 60,000 patients a year from a 100-mile radius.

Eye Center in Illinois was the brainchild of the late Dr. George Wyman.

“My father bought the practice in 1945 out of an estate, and he practiced largely solo until I joined in 1977,” said Dr. Thomas Wyman. “Those days, general opthalmologists did everything, but anyone needing tertiary care had to go to Iowa City or Chicago.”

That is no longer the case.

Eye Center in Illinois, located at 8921 N. Wood Sage Road among the growing medical campus off Illinois Route 91, is the only facility in central Illinois to offer seven different fellowships, eliminating the need for patients to make those trips to Chicago or Iowa for specialized treatment.

Under one roof, the center has nine ophthalmologists and two optometrists trained in the following specialties: glaucoma, retina, cornea and external disease, pediatric opthamalogy, adult strabismus, refractive surgery and oculoplastics.

“Our mission is to provide the highest quality, and you need to have subspecialists and comprehensive providers to achieve that,” Wyman said. “We have as many experts comparable to an academic center.”

Doctors perform more than 8,000 surgeries a year at the three Peoria hospitals, and the center has on-site operating facilities for out-patient procedures in addition to an in-house laser suite.

It’s refractive surgeon, Dr. Yannis Kolettis, studied in Greece with Dr. Ioaness Palikaris, who is credited with pioneering LASIK.

Wyman said the center is constantly having to keep up with technology.

One example is the second generation spectral-domain OCT.

Instead of ultrasound with frequencies, it uses ultrasound with light. It uses two separate beams of light to capture two images of the retina at the same time.

“It gives us much better resolution,”

said Dr. Pete Lagouros, who specializes in vitreo-retinal disease.

“It’s like going from an old black-and-white TV with rabbit ears to a flatscreen.”

The OCT uses high-resolution confocal laser imaging that provides detail and structures of the inner eye to assist in diagnosis and treatment of most major eye diseases, oftentimes at a much earlier stage than before. It provides a topography, or map, of the retina.

“Years ago, the way to get the information was to start an IV, inject a dye into the patient and then take high-sequence photographs with magnification – it was really a pain,”

Lagouros said.

“The OCT allows us to see the thickness and contour of the macular retina.

“There’s no radiation, no IV, no X-rays – it’s so safe,”

Lagouros said.

The retina, Wyman said, was totally a surgical specialty up until a few years ago.

Now with technology, there are treatment and detection devices available that almost makes things routine.

“That’s the scary part of health care right now. If we cut research money, as my uncle would say, we won’t know what we’re missing,”

Wyman said.

“When I was a resident 32 years ago, if someone had told me then what we’d be doing now … witchcraft.”

“My father was a very contemporary ophthalmologist. He said, ‘If you don’t change your thinking, you’ll be doing the same things at 65.’ I got to pick his brain for a long time – some of the older concepts are still useful,”

Wyman said.

He suspects one day he’ll slow down, but until then, Wyman will continue to marvel at technology and focus on providing the best care possible.

“It’s very gratifying to have the support of the community,”

he said.

“I’m taking care of third and fourth generations. It’s been a very pleasant experience to see a dream come true.”