AURORA, Colo. -- When J.C. Collier began having problems with his right eye, he at first dismissed it as a normal part of getting older.

“My right eye was blurry sometimes and the vision would be great sometimes,” Collier said. “So I went in and thought, ‘Ah, you need new reading glasses.’”

Collier went to his ophthalmologist, got a new prescription for his glasses, but still something wasn’t quite right. He began seeing halos out of his right side; sometimes his vision would go out in the eye.

So instead of ignoring the problem, Collier went back to his eye doctor. It is a decision that may have saved his life. This time during a dilated eye exam, the doctor spotted something that was abnormal. A further scan spotted a tumor growing on the side of Collier’s eye.

“Some of these tumors can be very aggressive and can grow very quickly,” University of Colorado Hospital Dr. Scott Oliver explained. “If they do grow, most commonly, they spread through the blood stream with the most common metastatic site being the liver.”

In the past, anybody who developed this type of tumor faced losing their eye. In March, Collier underwent the first surgery of its type at University of Colorado Hospital.

During the procedure, a specially-designed and fitted gold disk was inserted into Collier’s eye. The disk contained radioactive elements and the gold directed the radiation towards the tumor on the eyeball.

“I thought there is no way,” Collier said. “And then I found out it’s as big as my thumb or as big as a dime, I’m like, ‘You’re going to put that in my eye? No way.' ”

Oliver recently returned to his home state of Colorado. During his fellowship at the U.C.L.A. Jules Stein Eye Institute, Oliver became apt at operating on the eye for a rare condition called choroidal melanoma.

While the ties to return to where he went to medical school and where he completed his residency were strong, it was the opportunity to take eye medicine to a new place which cinched the deal.

Oliver was given the opportunity to start a tumor program which combines the expertise of both the eye center and the cancer center. A biopsy is taken from the tumor. That biopsy is giving doctors a better understanding on the rare condition

“Using that genetic information really is taking our treatment to the next level,” Oliver said. “Not only, locally treating the tumor, but also being able to consider the comprehensive care of the patient.”

Over a month since his pair of surgeries to treat his eye, Collier still feels some discomfort from time to time. However it lessens all of the time.

“It feels pretty good,” Collier said. “It gets better every day. It’s still red. It’s still swollen and still a little blurred on the vision.”

Oliver recommends that everybody get an annual dilated eye exam by their ophthalmologist, not only to check for melanomas in the eye, but also for other vision impairments such as glaucoma.