New op lets gran see family after 30 years

Published on Monday 22 June 2009 22:52

A GREAT-GRANDMOTHER has become one of the first women in Scotland to undergo a "life-changing" procedure which restores sight in days.

Jean Black, who is 69, has only been able to make out vague shapes and colours since her thirties, when she developed Fuchs' dystrophy which leads to the corneas of the eye becoming clouded.

Now she has become one of the first people to benefit from a new kind of transplant which replaces only the diseased section of the cornea.

Within days of the procedure, called an endothelial transplant, Mrs Black, from Prestonpans, East Lothian, was able to see her grandchildren and great-grandchildren clearly for the first time.

She said: "I couldn't believe it when I realised I could see everything so clearly. It has changed my life completely.

"I was over the moon when I saw my great-grandchildren properly for the first time.

"I never knew they were so big. It means the world to me."

Mrs Black underwent a corneal transplant in her left eye three years ago but it was not successful.

"When I was told I could have this new form of surgery in my other eye I jumped at the opportunity.

"A couple of days after I had the operation, I could see properly with that eye for the first time in years.

The difference between the two procedures is like night and day."

Surgeons at Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh have now performed the new procedure about a dozen times – and say that it could benefit around 100 Scottish patients every year.

Consultant ophthalmic surgeon Dr Ashish Agrawal said the new operation could transform hundreds of lives. He said: "It not only increases patient comfort, convenience and satisfaction, but also allows huge financial savings.

"Patients are required to attend hospital less and there is not as much need for follow-up visits, additional procedures or complex spectacle prescription or contact lens fittings."

He added: "The main disadvantage of the old procedure is that there are so many stitches inside the eye.

"It is major surgery and because the cornea doesn't have blood vessels it takes a long time to heal.

"The surgeon will know that the graft has worked because it will appear clear but it will not be any good to the patient.

"As long as they have stitches inside the eye the vision recovery is very slow and can take up to two years which is unreasonable for a lot of older people."

Around 2,500 corneal transplants are performed every year in the UK and patients with Fuchs' dystrophy account for about 40 per cent of them.

The condition usually develops after the age of 40 when the inner layer of the cornea stops functioning normally.

A spokesman for the Royal National Institute of Blind People Scotland said the new operation was an exciting development and urged people to consider becoming donors.