Transplant ends 15 years of blindness

Surat: The joy that he is having for the past 15 days has obliterated the pain of blindness that this 98-year-old sadhu near Godhra town in Panchmahal district had been suffering for the past 15 years. Today, he can clearly see after regaining his lost eyesight, thanks to a successful cornea transplant.
Cornea specialist Dr Sankit U Shah performed a successful cornea transplant surgery (ultrathin DSEK) successfully on the nonagenarian at the Kiran Multispeciality Hospital in the city a few days ago.
“I assessed the patient’s eyes and found he had pseudophakic bullous keratopathy. His retina and optic nerve were healthy and cornea transplant could bring his vision back. So, we had sent a cornea donation request with its particulars to Lok Drashti Eye bank in the city. Luckily, we found a matching requirement in cornea donation of a donor below 40 years of age without any medical history on eye surgery,” Dr Shah told TOI.
“We called the patient to come for cornea transplant in his left eye and performed the surgery successfully, he said, imploring people to also encourage eye donation as it can give vision to people in need like the sadhu, a prime example of beneficiary.