New treatment cures eye defects

A young boy gets eye checked by a specialist at the International Eye Hospital in Dra es Salaam. PHOTO|COURTESY

What you need to know:

With the new hi-tech facilities, the eye-specialists will be able to correct eye defects, such as nearsightedness (myopia) using ultraviolet light, according to the International Eye Hospital President, Ali Barut.

        The International Eye Hospital based in Dar es Salaam is setting standards in the treatment of eye-related diseases in Tanzania, after it introduced a new state-of-the art laser machine—the Excimer Laser and other surgical equipment.

With the new hi-tech facilities, the eye-specialists will be able to correct eye defects, such as nearsightedness (myopia) using ultraviolet light, according to the International Eye Hospital President, Ali Barut.

The new technology, according to Barut, operates using ultraviolet energy from the excimer laser which can correct the defects on the eye cornea without causing damage to the surrounding tissue.

According to medical sources, the modified anterior corneal surface enables light to be focused on the retina, and this reduces or eliminates a person’s dependence on glasses and contact lenses.

Mr Barut told Your Health last week that the eye-hospital, located in Mikocheni, seeks to deal with complex eye diseases, which would otherwise have forced people to travel abroad for specialised treatment.

“We also have a retina specialist and another surgeon who can transplant the cornea of the eye. When the Excimer Laser technology starts operating, we will give details on how people can benefit from the service,’’ he said.

The hospital’s retinal specialist, Dr Emre Yuksel said that up to eight cases of people whose eye corneas were defective, have received treatment since the corneal transplant surgery was launched two years ago.

“They were mostly adults aged between 30 and 40,’’ he told Your Health and he explained how ultra-modern technology can revolutionarise healthcare in Tanzania. A cornea, according to ophthalmologist’s is a transparent front part of the eye that covers the iris, pupil and anterior chamber.

Patients with eye problems involving the cornea usually visit out-patient departments at eye clinics and are attended by ophthalmologists or physicians who specialise in eyes.

Medical sources say corneal transplantation, also known as corneal grafting, is a surgical procedure where a damaged or diseased cornea is replaced by donated corneal tissue (the graft).

There are two ways of replacing the cornea surgically. When the entire cornea is replaced, it is medically known as penetrating keratoplasty and when only part of the cornea is replaced, it is known as lamellar keratoplasty, said Dr Yuksel.

What happens is that the graft is taken from a recently dead individual with no known diseases or other factors that may affect the chance of survival of the donated tissue or the health of the recipient.