A 13-year old boy had his vision restored after a rare surgery was conducted by doctors from Dr. Agarwal Eye Hospital, Secunderabad.

After a cataract surgery at the age of three failed to provide proper remedy, ten years later, a 13-year-old boy is enjoying clear vision after a rare surgery was conducted at Dr Agarwal Eye hospital, Secunderabad. Doctors treated the rare case of blindness (Aphakic Glaucoma) successfully by conducting systematic multiple procedures in right approach.

The Surgery was carried on successfully on July 10 and within a week, the child recovered and now he is enjoying good improvement in his vision, hospital spokesperson Dr. S A Hussain Naqvi told media on August 1. While explaining the case, Dr Hussain said that the boy was born with cloudy lens in both eyes, for which he was operated ten years back. In due course of time he lost one eye and had difficulty in seeing with the other. He could not attend regular school due to the poor vision and was forced to stay at home.

These children are hard to diagnose as they can remain asymptomatic for a long period of time despite high intraocular pressures (IOP). It was also difficult to measure the IOP with the child when awake and examination under anaesthesia is usually required in young children.

The poor visual outcome results from many factors including amblyopia, (Lazy eye) late diagnosis, poor compliance with medications, delayed surgery and surgical complications. Upto 45 per cent of all Aphakic patients may go on to develop Glaucoma and Glaucoma surgery is required in 57 per cent of Aphakic patients, following congenital cataract surgery.

The challenge in the case was to take care of Glaucoma and to provide vision to the sole functioning eye of the child, he said.
After careful study of case, the parents were given option of surgery, which included a Combined procedure of Ahmed Glaucoma Valve (AGV) implantation. The procedure shunts the fluid out of the eye and take care of raised pressures and prevent the eye from going blind because of Glaucoma. To rehabilitate the child, they proceeded with Implanting a Secondary Intra Ocular Lens to improve his vision, as lens were not placed in first surgery, Dr Hussain said.

Dr Maramganty Vamshidhar and Dr Gaurav Arora, Regional Medical Directors of the hospital said that 70 per cent of eye problems may be possible to resolve through early detection and use of glasses. Government schemes like Arogyasree, EHS, ESIC also covering most of the eye deceases, they said.