Wilson has surgery. return unknown
Tim Tyers
The Arizona RepublicDec. 16, 2002 12:00 A.M.
Coyotes winger Landon Wilson underwent surgery on Saturday night to reattach a lateral tear in the retina of his left eye. His playing future, as well as his return this year, is in doubt.
His prognosis won't be known "for weeks, possibly for months," said Dr. Jeffrey Edelstein, who assisted in the surgery.
Wilson was struck flush in the left eye when a shot by teammate Shane Doan hit an opposing player's stick and deflected into his eye during a 4-3 loss to Washington at America West Arena on Friday night.
Wilson had exploratory surgery on Friday night to determine the extent of injury, but there was too much blood in the eye to make a determination and he was sent home from the hospital. He returned and had the surgery on Saturday after it was determined that the retina was torn. "He had a fairly large tear in his retina, and it was mostly lateral, but he has a lot of swelling in there right now," Edelstein said. "His vision is profoundly affected right now.
"Right now the retina is swollen, and like I said, it's a fairly significant injury. The retina is reattached, and it's just a matter of time to let the blood clear and the inflammation and swelling to settle down, and then we'll have a better idea of what his visual outcome will be."
Wilson was hit in the same eye with a stick six games ago against San Jose and called it his "scariest moment in hockey." He vowed to wear a protective eye shield. He played one game with the shield before retiring it, saying it was giving him a headache.
In addition to the eye injury, Edelstein said Wilson, who had six goals and 14 points while playing on the team's most consistent line, also suffered a laceration on his left eyelid and nondisplaced fractures of the orbital bone below his eye and on the nasal bone.
"They were relatively small fractures, and nothing had to be done with those," Edelstein said. Edelstein said the type of attachment that was performed has a high degree of success, but he added there is no definite time frame as to when Wilson can return.
"It's variable, depending on how the swelling goes down," he said. "We'll have an idea probably in the next month, but all bets are off until we see how things progress.
"Right now, our view in is like his view out - we have to wait for the swelling to go down. It will be day to day, weeks to months before we're able to make more predictions."