AGAINST THE ODDS
Guided by faith, compassion and lived experience, Dr. Tyler Sexton delivers wound care to patients across communities and around the world.
Whenever Dr. Tyler Sexton has to fly somewhere for work, he expects to be stopped by airport security—after all, when you’re traveling with a mysterious, hard-sided carrying case, questions are bound to arise.
“I often get asked what’s in the case, and I’ll immediately tell them it’s not a bomb,” says Dr. Sexton with a laugh. “Then I’ll explain that it’s a medical device I use for wound care.”
If that explanation isn’t enough to placate security, he’ll open the case, pull out the hand-held unit nestled inside, and demonstrate how SnapshotNIR uses near-infrared light to reveal the oxygenation levels of tissue at a wound site.
“Usually, once they see what it does, they’re amazed,” he says. “And then I’m on my way.”
A pediatrician and wound care specialist by trade, Dr. Sexton doesn’t go anywhere without his SnapshotNIR device when he’s working. To him, Snapshot is more than just an imaging tool; it’s an extension of his mission to bring hope and healing directly to the people who need it most.
Because in his world, there’s no such thing as “can’t.”
Dr. Tyler Sexton, Brevard Regional Hyperbaric Center in Melbourne, Florida
Defying Expectations
Dr. Sexton’s commitment to meeting people where they’re at is rooted in his own story—one that began with a prognosis that offered little hope.
Born at just 28 weeks and diagnosed with cerebral palsy as an infant, he wasn’t expected to survive long. Doctors told his family that if he did live, he’d never walk or talk, let alone attend a mainstream school. “They advised my parents to take me home and let me die,” he says.
Instead, young Tyler Sexton fought. He endured 18 surgeries, battled through years of physical therapy and learned to walk—falling and breaking bones along the way. From an early age, he refused to let his condition define him, even in the face of blatant discrimination, which he experienced throughout his early schooling and along his journey to becoming a doctor. Though he excelled academically and scored high on the MCAT, Dr. Sexton was turned away by more than a dozen medical schools, many of which openly cited his physical condition as the reason he was not accepted into their programs.
Eventually, he enrolled at the University of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean. After earning his medical degree and completing a pediatric residency in Alabama, he developed a keen interest in wound care. “I fell in love with the chronicity of it,” he explains. “Wound healing isn’t a quick fix. It can be a long process, and I like making a connection with my patients over that time. I also like to picture myself as a cook, putting all the treatment ingredients together, like high-quality dressings, acoustic debridement and hyperbarics.”
Indeed, hyperbaric therapy is a primary focus in Dr. Sexton’s practice. “It became a real passion for me, because I’m a scuba diver and I’ve always found freedom in the water,” he says. “I learned as much as I could about hyperbaric medicine and how it can play a huge role in healing wounds and preventing amputations.”
Man on a Mission
Today, Dr. Sexton leads the Brevard Regional Hyperbaric Center in Melbourne, Florida, where he oversees up to 60 hyperbaric dives and sees 25 wound care patients a day. He also oversees sister clinics in Atlanta and Viera, Florida, in addition to making house calls, mentoring clinicians and teaching wound care courses.
But some of his most passionate work happens abroad.
Dr. Sexton has helped install hyperbaric chambers across the Caribbean and personally leads medical missions to underserved communities. He was the first to establish a hyperbaric therapy program in Grenada—and the first to bring advanced wound imaging technology there.
When Dr. Sexton first learned about Kent Imaging’s SnapshotNIR, he was intrigued not only by its technology, but also by its simplicity. The hand-held device operates much like a digital camera; with the click of a button, it captures near-infrared images that allow practitioners to determine, document and track tissue viability and wound healing.
“It’s quality in the palm of your hand,” he says. “You can assess tissue oxygenation in real time, right at the bedside. It offers clinical insight without needing a big hospital or expensive imaging, which is incredibly helpful on Caribbean islands.”
Snapshot’s portability and ease of use make it ideal for low-resource environments. In Grenada, where vascular assessment tools are virtually nonexistent, SnapshotNIR has become a vital piece of medical equipment.
“Kent Imaging donated one of its older Snapshot devices for permanent use at our mission in Grenada,” Dr. Sexton says. “In the first six months of use, it helped save five patients from having to undergo limb amputations. On an island where the amputation rate was as high as 80 percent, that’s transformative.”
The Power of Seeing What Others Miss
SnapshotNIR also plays a central role in Dr. Sexton’s daily practice at the Brevard Regional Hyperbaric Center. “I have two SnapshotNIR’s at my clinic, and they’re used eight hours a day,” he says.
Every wound care and hyperbaric patient at the clinic undergoes Snapshot imaging initially on evaluation, and then again at various points of treatment. The device helps guide debridement, track healing, and justify different wound care interventions to patients, peers and even insurers. “A photo is worth a thousand words, and SnapshotNIR has so many ways of proving things through its images,” he says. “It shows changes in oxygenation and tells you if a patient needs compression for a venous ulcer or if they lack adequate blood flow. It’s vital clinical data at your fingertips.”
Dr. Sexton recalls one case involving a patient who came to the clinic with a compromised skin flap. “The graft looked healthy to the surgeon who performed it,” he says, but SnapshotNIR revealed a different reality. “The images showed only 18 percent oxygenation—the entire flap was going to die.”
This assessment led Dr. Sexton and his team to start an immediate course of hyperbaric treatments. After 19 hyperbaric dives—and Snapshot imaging performed after every five treatments—the flap’s oxygenation level had risen to 70 percent. “We knew we were on the right path because the SnapshotNIR device helped us to track healing progress. That patient’s leg was headed for amputation, and we saved it,” he says.
Bringing Medicine to the Margins
Whether he’s treating patients in Florida or travelling to the Caribbean with his Snapshot carrying case in hand, Dr. Sexton is steadfast in his aim to heal wounds, prevent amputations and deliver hope to people wherever they are. “There’s no such thing as can’t. That’s really it. I’m always going to find a way to bring healing to patients’ lives, both physically and hopefully emotionally.”
And SnapshotNIR, he says, is helping him do just that. “This device has allowed me to extend my expertise so much further than I could before. It validates my work and gives me the insight I need to apply life-changing care in places where it might otherwise be impossible.”
GAME CHANGERS: If you would like to share your experience with SnapshotNIR through an Ask the Expert Interview or Customer Story, contact Kent Imaging via email for more details or call TF: 1-833-733-5368