City hospital performs rare eye surgery
A city hospital today claimed that it had successfully performed India's first non-invasive corneal transplant on two children using "blade-free" intralase laser.
Dr Amar Agarwal, Joint Managing Director at Dr Agarwal's Eye Hospital, told reporters that Sanjay (7) and his sister, Sangeetha (12), hailing from Shimoga in Karnataka, were suffering from corneal dystrophy, a condition where the eye would become very sensitive towards light. The condition was caused due to consanguinity of their parents.
He said the vision of children slowly started deteriorating from the age of five. As the girl's whole cornea was damaged, the entire cornea was transplanted on July 30. As only a part of the boy's cornea was damaged, that part was replaced. Now, they have almost normal vision, he added.
Agarwal said by using the laser, a high precise incision could be made resulting in a perfect match of the donor, thereby improving the quality of the sight.
"Intralase laser enables us to slice out a cornea from an eye, which can be used on multiple patients depending upon the deformity. This blade-free approach will also help the patients to recover faster," he added.