75-year-old woman donates cornea to bring light to blind patient

This afternoon, September 30, a representative of Hanoi Eye Hospital 2 said that doctors at this hospital performed the first corneal transplant from a domestic donor.

This is the cornea received from a 75-year-old woman, the mother of an ophthalmologist working at a military hospital in Hanoi. Following her mother's wishes, this doctor expressed his desire to donate her cornea to bring light to patients after her death. The donated cornea was received by technical staff of the Tissue Bank, Hanoi Eye Hospital 2 early in the morning of September 25.

Doctor Hoang Thi Minh Chau evaluates the cornea transplant as successful

According to a representative of Hanoi Eye Hospital 2, the recipient of the donated cornea was a female patient over 50 years old, suffering from a genetic corneal dystrophy that causes blindness. Because there were very few corneas available for transplantation, this person had been blind for a long time. She needed help with daily activities and walking.

Regarding the transplant, Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Thi Minh Minh Chau, Hanoi Eye Hospital 2, shared: "Currently, vision is 1/10 after the transplant. If there is no immune reaction after the transplant, vision will gradually improve. For now, the transplant was successful, the patient is mentally stable and can walk on her own."

According to Dr. Chau, the corneal transplant takes about 45 minutes, the condition after the transplant is good, but corneal transplants need to be monitored for 6 months, even 12 months, there may still be an immune reaction.

The eyes after corneal transplantation need to be very carefully cared for, avoiding dust, avoiding impact, avoiding certain foods and the patient must have regular check-ups to promptly detect unwanted reactions or risks of infection. The patient may have a reaction to the graft, if it is timely, it can be treated and recovered.

According to Dr. Chau, this is the first corneal transplant at Hanoi Eye Hospital 2 with corneas received from domestic donors. Previously, more than 40 corneal transplants at this hospital were corneas donated from abroad.

"Patients need to be monitored after the transplant, because problems can appear after a few weeks. Eye care after the transplant is quite difficult, and there are cases where the transplant is not successful, although compared to kidney and liver transplants, corneal transplants are considered to be more promising, with a higher success rate," Dr. Minh Chau added.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cu-ba-75-tuoi-hien-giac-mac-dem-lai-anh-sang-cho-benh-nhan-mu-loa-185240930154004756.htm