Braves center fielder Cameron Maybin, diagnosed last week with a corneal abrasion, was out of the lineup for a seventh consecutive game Saturday and said he was aiming for a Tuesday return after being examined Saturday by a Braves eye specialist.
Maybin said he was also told this week he had a rare form of EKC, or epidemic keratoconjunctivitis, an ocular surface infection.
He said he had hazy vision in his left eye — but kept playing — for about four days prior to coming out of a Sept. 5 game at Washington when the condition worsened and he lost track of a routine fly ball that landed in front of him. Maybin was told that he had probably exacerbated the irritation and/or infection by frequently moving or touching his contact in an attempt to improve his vision during four days when he played with vision problems.
Tuesday would be roughly the two-week point since his symptoms first appeared. According to various medical sources online, two weeks is generally the minimal recovery period for EKC before a patient can wear contacts again.
Maybin, 28, said he’s worn contacts since he was 10, and was told that wearing them all day, every day, for so long might have contributed to his initial problems.
“I had these little white inflammation pockets that came up around my cornea, which was causing all the fogginess I was having,” he said. “It was getting worse and worse because I kept wearing my contacts, which made it worse. And I was moving them around, and he said basically I was just making them worse.
“I went today (Saturday) and got good news — he said my eyes are good, the spots are clearing up. I actually see pretty well right now. I want to (play) today, but they said to take it easy. But I’m looking at Tuesday. I’ll go back (to the doctor) Tuesday morning one more time, but he gave me some pretty good eye drops and it’s been clearing up pretty quickly.”
Maybin said he was told he would only be permitted to wear his contact lenses for perhaps six hours a day once he’s cleared to wear them again. He’s worn glasses the past week and tried to do some hitting in the batting cage, to see if that might be an option in the future. It didn’t go well.
”I’m near-signed, so when you’re near-sighted, your glasses kind of affect your depth perception,” he said. “So I tried to hit in the cage and take flips (balls flipped to a hitter by a coach), and it’s too tough to do it. These (pitchers) are way too good up here to try to play with one eye. I did OK until about the fourth day, when the fly ball fell right in front of me. You’ve got to have your eyes, man.
“It’s amazing all the things you do play through. Every day something is wrong, but the one thing I can’t control (is playing with vision problems).”
