About Us at Rite Time

Alfred J. Heitz

     The Rite Time Make It Rite Mirror was designed by 
Alfred J. Heitz, and his daughter Sandra Heitz Willwater,
after his successful vitrectomy eye surgery in 1994 to repair the macular hole in the retina of his eye.
     The Make It Rite Mirror is backed with 25+ years of assisting other vitrectomy patients regain their vision.
       To order and/or discuss the Rite Time® Make It Rite Mirror face down recovery comfort solution, or the RiteTime Rental Option, call Sandra at RiteTime® at 1.800.266.2924 or 1.480.832.1592 or email me at sandra@RiteTime.com.
       We look forward to assisting you or your loved one regain eyesight.

Sandra Heitz Willwater

Personal Experience:

           In 1993, Mr. Al Heitz was driving and was shocked when he discovered he couldn't see the car in front of him while he was driving and closed his left eye.  He went to an ophthalmologist and was referred to a Vitreo Retina Specialist. Al had no center vision at all. The doctor suggested that he could do a vitrectomy, and that Mr. Heitz would have to maintain face-prone positioning, but he didn't really recommend it.
          About a year later (March 1994) Al went to a second Vitreo Retina Specialist, Dr. Robert Flindall (now deceased).  Dr. Flindall suggested that ideally the vitrectomy should have been done the year before. Dr. Flindall recommended that Mr. Heitz have the surgery to stabilize the right eye and minimize the chance that a hole develop in the left eye.
          Dr. Flindall insisted that Mr. Heitz commit to strict face-down posturing 24/7 for 2 weeks.  As a family, we anticipated a very grueling, challenging recovery. Mr. Heitz is a design engineer and developed a variety of ways to be reasonably comfortable for the impending recovery. The entire time of recovery Al and his family continued to develop ways that allowed him to sit, watch TV with everyone else, lie down, lounge, sleep and walk while maintaining the strict face prone posture.
          It was a little surprising and fascinating to discover the reason for facedown positioning is that the surgeon removes the vitreous gel from the eye and fills it with a gas bubble.  Our wonderfully designed body replaces the gas bubble with a natural body fluid. As the eye cavity replaces the gas with fluid, Mr. Heitz (and other vitrectomy patients) actually see the liquid moving back and forth in their eye! 
          One of the disturbing aspects of the recovery was that whenever Al looked down in a mirror, everything was not only backwards but was UPSIDE down.  Again, we are wonderfully created and given a few minutes the mind turned things right side up and Al watched a lot of TV with a mirror -- and most importantly, maintained positioning and got his eyesight back!
          Surprisingly the 2 weeks of strict 24/7 face down recovery went rather quickly and reasonably comfortably. Al's eyesight continued to improve for 6 months at which time he had cataract surgery. Following the cataract surgery, Mr. Heitz has 20/40 vision in that eye!  Dr. Flindall was very pleased with the eyesight recovery and actually asked how Mr. Heitz had done so well at maintaining the necessary positioning. Dr. Flindall asked if Mr. Heitz might be able to assist other vitrectomy patients with their recovery. After refining design ideas, RiteTime started to make durable medical equipment available for other vitrectomy patients. Initially Rite Time offered rental equipment and later for a number of years sold patented system. Rite Time is proud to now offer the Rite Time Rental Option for fellow vitreo retinal eye surgery patients, which includes a vitrectomy mirror / facedown mirror.
Make It Rite Mirror story:
          The Make It Rite Mirror for vitrectomy face down recovery was invented by Mr. Alfred J. Heitz and his daughter, Sandra Heitz Willwater, about a year after his successful vitrectomy macular hole eye surgery (20/400 to 20/40). During his two-week faceprone recovery, Mr. Heitz was challenged that every time he looked in a mirror (while necessarily facing the floor) everything was not only backwards, but upside down. Mentally he would have to turn things right side up. After continuing to think about it, Mr. Heitz and Sandra designed the Make It Rite Mirror which is now available for other vitrectomy retina surgery patients.  It's not magic, majiK, or majic, rite site--it's an easy adjustable view, double mirror that Mr. Heitz and Sandra designed in 1995 and has been offered to assist other vitrectomy patients--period. The vitrectomy mirror / face down mirror has often been the key component to successful eyesight recovery.
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The Make It Rite Mirror now comes in 2 sizes and is available on Amazon.

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