A chemistry practical went sour the day Susan Muthoni’s eye’s caught the dangerous chemicals in High School which burnt her eyes severely leaving her left eye able to see partially but her right eye went completely blind.
She has walked to the eye clinics so many times to save her sight to no veil settling for the enhancing glasses given to her.Just when she had resolved to travel to India, her last resort, a family friend recommended that she try Laser Eye Centre, a clinic in Westlands, Nairobi.
The odds changed for Muthoni forever. Not only will she be able to see again, but with the procedure that restored her sight, the young woman made history as the first recipient of a stem cell transplant of the eye, not just in Kenya but East Africa.
The stem cell transplant conducted last Monday involved a team of four specialists led by Mukesh Joshi and lasted just under three hours.“It was smooth but technically challenging,” Dr Joshi admitted.
According to the specialist, Muthoni’s blindness was a result of chemical injury to the eye.The doctor further said that not many treatments were available for Muthoni’s condition.The other option, Joshi said, would have been a corneal implant, which would most likely have been ineffective at fully restoring her sight.
He explained the procedure of a stem cell transplant of the eye. “We took healthy stem cells from Muthoni’s left eye and transplanted them into the right one.“Stem cell transplant has been in vogue in the past few years. It requires a very specialised membrane, known as the amniotic membrane, which is found in the placenta. This membrane is required to cover the damaged cornea to allow stem cells to grow, as stem cells will not grow on the cornea on its own. It also requires special glue which must be applied on the membrane without damaging the rest of the structure”.
The procedure has not taken place in East Africa before as it is a fairly recent advancement requiring the most modern eye technology, which is not yet available in most centres in the region.
If you needed it would you go for this surgery in Kenya?