BENGALURU: The trip from South Africa to this city after a failed surgery at Sri Lanka, turned into a fruitful one for 28-year-old Marlin Naidoo. He was diagnosed with Keratoconus in both eyes.
However, a failed transplant of the left eye at Sri Lanka did irreversible damage to that eye. “He came to us after he already had a surgery done for Keratoconus in the left eye. This made it impossible to rehabilitate his left eye, which was suffering from trauma. Hence, he came in to us one-eyed,” says Dr Pallavi Joshi, Consultant, Cornea, Department of Cornea and Refractive Services, Sankara Eye Hospital.
She added, “The whole and sole visual capacity was concentrated on the right eye, which had Keratoconus.” Naidoo could not risk or put further strain on his right eye as it was the only window of hope he had.
Regarding the disease, Dr Pallavi said, “It is a progressive ‘ectatic’ disease of the cornea where the structural changes within the cornea cause it to thin and change into a more conical shape.” Marlin’s family looked up the details of the hospital on the internet and after seeing positive reviews, decided to approach the hospital.
“Marlin’s Keratoconus had reached an advanced stage with apical scarring. He underwent corneal topography and vision improvement with scleral contact lens to assess the severity of disease and visual improvement respectively. The condition, if not corrected, can lead to significant distortion of vision, with multiple images, streaking and sensitivity to light,” said the treating doctor who did the successful transplant during the one-and-a- half hour long surgery.
As for the cause of this eye ailment, the doctor said, “It can be genetic or the patient may have contracted an allergic disease during childhood or it could even be hereditary.” Talking about seeing the world with a new vision, Naidoo said, “We are glad we came to India for treatment. When I lost my left eye in Sri Lanka I was disheartened, which is why I did not want to take any risk with the right one.”
