Clinic specialising in Glued IOL launched

CHENNAI: For nine-year-old Anandhi in Villupuram, the gift of vision did not come easy after a cracker accident more than five years ago. With complete loss of sight and a serious corneal injury, she approached Dr Amar Agarwal of the Dr Agarwal's Eye Hospital to regain her lost vision. Complications in her eye led Dr Amar to develop a unique surgical technique called the Glued IOL technique using which, more than 2,000 persons have gained clear vision.On Wednesday, when the eye-care super specialty hospital completed 55 years of existence, it was an occasion to remember Anandhi and honour the technique that brought back the sparkle to her eye. The first clinic exclusively for the Glued IOL technique was inaugurated in the hospital premises.Glued Intraocular Lenses simply means implanting the IOL in those eyes that lack the lens capsule using tissue glue of the patient's blood as an adhesive. The absence of lens capsule could be due to a congenital reason or trauma. Recalling Anandhi's plight five years ago, Dr Amar Agarwal, Chairman and MD of the Dr Agarwal Eye Hospitals, said the conventional method of suturing the IOL did not work for her, which was when he thought of using a glue. “We could not use a synthetic glue to fix the lens over the eye as it was not good. Hence, I tried using tissues from her blood for this purpose,” he explained.Inaugurating the clinic, Governor Dr K Rosaiah said increasing incidences of lifestyle diseases posed a threat to people's vision due to retinal damages. He also opined that it was high time that Ophthalmic hospitals, educational institutions and parents worked together to detect vision problems faced by children at an early stage, so as to facilitate them to concentrate more on their studies.Dr Athiya Agarwal, director of the hospital, CEO S Rajagopalan and COO of the hospital V Suresh were among those present on the occasion.