Savannah Guthrie Will Need Additional Eye Surgeries: It’s ‘Unfortunate but Not Unexpected’
Savannah Guthrie is continuing to experience vision problems four months after undergoing extensive eye surgery to fix a tear in her retina.
“My eyesight is not great,” the Today anchor, who has been working remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic, tells PEOPLE.
“I have to have a couple of follow-up surgeries, which is unfortunate but not unexpected,” she adds, noting that for now, the surgeries have been postponed due to the global health crisis.
Although her initial retinal surgery restored her temporary vision loss, the newscaster says her eyesight “certainly isn’t where it was, and I think it’s getting worse.”
“Eventually I’m hopeful that when everything turns to normal, I’ll be able to schedule those surgeries and I’m hopeful there’ll be a big improvement,” Guthrie, 48, continues. “I don’t think my eye will ever be the way it once was, but I think it will be much improved.”
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One of the procedures Guthrie will need to have in the future is cataract surgery.
“When you have this retinal detachment, most people will end up developing cataracts, obviously at a much younger age than would normally be expected,” she explains. “When you have cataracts, you get blurry spots and you notice it more and more. So I do.”
“But it’ll be okay,” she adds. “Hopefully by this summer I’ll be able to take care of it and start getting back to a better place.”
The longtime host also expressed gratitude that she was able to have undergone surgery when she did.
“It saved my eye,” she says. “If I hadn’t been able to have that surgery, I think I would have probably lost my vision in that eye. So yes, I’m very, very grateful and this is just one those things. It’s an inconvenience. It’s a story that keeps going on.”
Nathan Congleton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank Savannah Guthrie
Guthrie suffered the eye injury after her 3-year-old son Charley accidentally hit her in the eye with a toy train.
Although her doctors initially tried to fix the tear with less-invasive laser surgery, they eventually determined that retinal surgery, which requires a grueling recovery period, would be necessary. The night before the December procedure, Guthrie’s vision went from blurry to dark.
“The retinal tear had deteriorated sharply, and I lost my vision,” she previously told PEOPLE. “And that’s what happens if you don’t fix this: You lose your sight.”
