Filipino finds respite from a rare eye condition and poor vision

Suffering from a dislocation of artificial lens after cataract surgery, the 40-year-old UAE resident underwent a highly challenging surgery at RAK Hospital 

The patient could barely read the first letter on the vision chart

16th January, 2020; Ras Al Khaimah, UAE: Addressing a very rare case of spontaneous dislocated Intraocular lens (IOL), RAK Hospital helped a 40-year-old Filipino to regain normal vision through a challenging surgery. Manuel Mason Jr, a UAE resident visited RAK Hospital complaining of poor vision for the past six months. A known case of presenile cataract (occurring in the younger age group), he had earlier undergone cataract surgery for the same eye in Philippines 11 years ago, which were now causing severe complications.

“The patient was suffering from what is known as Intraocular Lens Dislocation – a rare condition where the lens tilts and dislocates from its position in the eye. Half of the lens was in the anterior part of the eye and the other half was hanging in the back chamber of the eye. Generally, the first symptom is vision loss, and in this case, the patient’s eyesight was so poor that he could barely read the first  letter on the vision chart,” explained Dr Mohit Jain, Specialist Ophthalmologist at RAK Hospital, who performed the surgery on the patient. 

Spontaneous dislocation of intraocular lens is rare and may occur even many years after the cataract surgery. It may happen if lens capsular support is weak due to certain eye disorders like pseudo-exfoliation syndrome or due to some surgery related complications. 

Removing the displaced lens was a critical procedure, not in the least because Intraocular lens has dislocated along with entire capsular bag, leaving no support for the new lens. A capsular bag is a sack-like structure in which the implanted intraocular lens is placed during cataract surgery.

Explaining the procedure Dr Jain said: “Due to absence of capsular bag we could not place new lens in a conventional manner. To retrieve the dislocated Intraocular lens, we decided to opt for complete retinal vitrectomy which entailed removing the jelly-like substance from interior of the eye – called vitreous – and replacing it with saline water. During the surgery, we had to cut the dislocated lens into half to remove it. As there was no capsular support, placement of new lens was the real challenge. We did it with a special technique called ‘scleral fixation of lens’ and used fibrin glue to support the wound. In this specialised technique we placed the lens inside the eye, but the hooks of the lens were fixed to the wall of the eyeball and it was further sealed with biocompatible fibrin glue.”

In all, the surgery took around one-and-a-half hours, and the patient gained 6/6 vision without eyeglasses in just one month. 

Thanking RAK Hospital, Mr Manuel said: “I was fortunate that I received such an advance surgical treatment for my complicated eye situation at RAK Hospital. It was a great experience, and now I feel relieved to have regained my eyesight. For this, I’d like to thank Dr Mohit Jain and his team for the great job they did”. 

RAK Eye Care Centre in RAK Hospital is the first fully dedicated 24-hour Eye Specialty Centre in the entire Northern Emirates offering comprehensive patient care, sight enhancement and rehabilitation services along with high-impact eye health programmes. The Centre is also the first in the region to introduce the latest vision correction technology. The facility is equipped with the latest eye-care technologies and surgical platforms and offers a wide range of procedures and services including cataract surgery, refractive surgery including Lasik corrections and glaucoma surgeries. 

Moreover, it provides medical and surgical treatment of retinal vascular disorders including diabetic retinopathy and ocular strokes, age-related macular degeneration, retinal detachments, Epiretinal membranes and macular hole, globe trauma, complex cataracts and secondary IOL implantation requiring advanced techniques and surgery following complicated cataract surgery.

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