From left: Ted Balk, Head of Infomatics
Sharon Colclough, CE of Queen Victoria Hospital
Sheraz Daya, Medical Director of Centre for Sight

The success and accomplishments of the unit in providing very complex patients with exceptional treatment and care have been outstanding. They not only benefit NHS patients, but many others who are referred to the unit from throughout the European Union.

Nominating patient Sara Wiseman sums up, “Mr Daya is a genius and a miracle worker. He is forever fighting for people who others see as beyong help. He transforms lives in an unimaginable way and has literally given sight to the blind. He has improved my quality of life and I have comfort I never dreamt possible for the first time in 30 years.”

Read all about it in the local papers: East Grinstead Courier East Grinstead Observer

Tony Ally, a British Olympic Diver who has competed in both Athens and Sydney had IntraLASIK surgery performed by Sheraz Daya at Centre for Sight on Saturday 16th October 2004.

Tony is "delighted" with his surgery result. He said: "It is impossible to wear contact lenses when you are in and out of a pool like I am. Before hitting the water I am traveling at up to 45mph at the same time as spinning and rotating, and being able to see and focus clearly means I can be confident about my line. After the surgery I went to bed early. The next morning I woke up and read the back of a Cornflakes packet without my glasses. 24 hours on and the difference is superb. My sight is improving consistently and I am looking forward to getting into the pool to reap the benefits".

For the first time in the UK, INTRALASIK is available to those wishing to consider LASIK surgery and brought to you by Centre for Sight.Centre for Sight in keeping with its values of safety, first class technology, evidence based medicine,and expertise have made a major investment and acquired the Intralase laser for a variety of corneal procedures including flap creation in Lasik surgery.

The installation is the first in the United Kingdom and available from August 23rd 2004.

For more information see our Intralasik pages.

Ophthalmic surgeon Dr. YY Choong flew to the UK from Malaysia, for just one day, to undergo LASIK treatment at East Grinstead-based Centre for Sight.Having been trained many years ago by medical director of the Centre, Sheraz Daya, Dr. Choong would only have vision treatment if undertaken by Sheraz and his team.

Dr. Choong arrived late on Sunday evening (23rd May), had surgery on both eyes on Monday 24th May, and departed for Malaysia early on Tuesday morning to return back to his own clinic by Wednesday. Sheraz Daya carried out the surgery on Dr. Choong, using the latest Zyoptix treatment in one eye and tissue saving LASIK in the other.

Commented Sheraz Daya: "It is truly an honour to look after a colleague. Mr Choong as an ophthalmic surgeon (who also performs laser surgery) and therefore an "insider" is obviously in a good position to know where to obtain excellent care. Choosing Centre for Sight and taking the trouble to come all the way from Malaysia is an enormous endorsement of the ability, standard and quality of care provided by the team here in East Grinstead. Our staff are to be congratulated!"

THIS INFORMATION IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. THE STEM CELL TRANSPLANT PROGRAM IS AN INVESTIGATIVE PROGRAM OFFERED PRINCIPALLY THROUGH THE QUEEN VICTORIA HOSPITAL NHS TRUST AND THE BLOND MCINDOE CENTRE.

CENTRE FOR SIGHT IS AN INDEPENDENT ORGANISATION THAT OFFERS PRIVATE CARE AT THE QUEEN VICTORIA HOSPITAL WITH OFFICES IN LONDON.

STEM CELL TRANSPLANTS REHABILITATE OCULAR SURFACES

This is the subject of work performed by Mr. Sheraz Daya, Medical Director of Centre for Sight as well as Director and Consultant of the Corneoplastic Unit and Eye Bank of the Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, UK. This work has been performed in close collaboration with Dr. Liz James, Head of Research at the Blond-McIndoe Centre located at the hospital.

In summary, limbal tissue from the rims of tissue used for transplantation have been used to culture sheets of cells in the laboratory. Sheets of expanded cells were transplanted to the ocular surfaces of eyes with severe limbal stem cell deficiency. Following transplantation, parameters of stem cell deficiency improved. Over time several patients had developed increased corneal clarity and vision. Others required corneal transplants which survived with improved visual acuity. Long term follow up of patients initially transplanted over 4 years ago have demonstrated good survival. Restoration of normal corneal epithelium occurred in 70% of eyes treated.

DNA fingerprinting over time revealed interesting findings in that no donor DNA was found on the ocular surface in spite of an improvement. This suggests that maintenance of a normal ocular surface was from the recipients’ cells. The origin of these cells is uncertain and the subject of further investigation. These breakthrough findings suggest there are alternative mechanisms for ocular surface rehabilitation which does not involve repopulation of the limbal region by donor cells. Rather donor cells have a beneficial influence on host cells and somehow stimulating the host to repopulate the limbus with its own cells. The mechanism of this requires further investigation and may have implications for other forms of stem cell transplantation.

NB: This work was performed wholly within the NHS and involved the use of Adult stem cells derived from the eye.

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Optometrists will soon be involved in shared care schemes using state-of-the-art refractive surgery. News of the opportunity came as Britain’s first three refractive patients to undergo laser vision correction with the help of iris recognition technology were treated on Monday (December 1).The surgery, which involved the use of Bausch & Lomb’s Zyoptix 100 Excimer laser (ZlOO), took place at East Grinstead’s Centre for Sight based at the town’s Queen Victoria Hospital in West Sussex.

Following the downbeat publicity laser eye treatment received earlier this year, the system is a shot in the arm for the refractive sector as it utilizes the technology previously only used for high level security authentication purposes, and referred to by Home Secretary David Blunkett in his aim to introduce ID cards.

Commenting on the iris recognition technology, Sheraz Daya,medical director at the Centre for Sight, said it improved safety immensely with laser vision correction,as it provided an automatic and unique identification of the individual and of the eye.

Daya, who performed the surgery on Monday, said: "This technology is remarkable and an incredible joy to use. Our patients stand to benefit tremendously from this technology and it should be a major reassurance to those concerned about safety."

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the most valuable advantage of IntraLASIK. A number of recent high profile cases in the media have highlighted horrific blade related complications that occasionally occur with traditional LASIK. All concern flap cutting issues caused during the first stage of surgery. With the accuracy and safety checks offered by the Intralase these blade related problems DO NOT happen.

The Centre for Sight based in London and at the Queen Victoria Hospital NHS Trust, East Grinstead, is the first UK centre to install the Z100 Excimer laser from Bausch and Lomb.

The FIRST UK treatment scheduled to be performed at East Grinstead on December 1st will utilize the latest Bausch and Lomb Zyoptix Wavefront treatment using Iris recognition identification and tracking software.

The laser is also a major improvement running at twice the speed of the previous model and together with newer enhancements saves corneal tissue and reduces further the risk of night vision aberrations.

The iris recognition technology used for high level security purposes has been adapted for medical use and provides automatic identification of the individual and the eye improving safety. Additionally the iris recognition ensures accurate alignment of diagnostic data acquired at the time of consultation on the eye at the time of laser treatment.

The combination of two spot sizes (1mm and 2mm) with a repetition rate of twice that of the previous model makes overall treatment times among the most rapid of all available lasers, fast enough to decrease treatment variables, but not too fast to be unforgiving.

Sheraz Daya MD FACP FACS FRCS(Ed) who is medical director of the Centre for Sight and Director and Consultant of the highly specialist Corneoplastic Unit and Eye Bank, Queen Victoria Hospital is a consultant to Bausch and Lomb, the manufacturers of this technology.

Mr. Daya already used this technology at the launch of the Z100 in Munich in September 2003 when he performed LIVE LASIK vision surgery at the meeting of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery. "This technology is remarkable and an incredible joy to use – it is a privilege to have the first UK installation in an academic and tertiary referral centre like the Centre for Sight and Corneoplastic Unit" commented Mr, Daya. "Our patients stand to benefit tremendously from this technology and should be a major reassurance to those concerned about safety".

Mr. Sheraz Daya performed the 100,001 Zyoptix wavefront procedure live in front of an audience of over 1000 delegates at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery in Munich, Germany on September 9th 2003! Mr. Daya who was assisted by Debbie, Ophthalmic Technician at Centre for Sight, demonstrated his technique for performing Lasik surgery safely along with the new features of the Bausch and Lomb laser platform.

The Live surgery session was sponsored by Bausch and Lomb in celebration of their new platform and the 100,000th wavefront procedure, reflecting more procedures than any other laser platform offering similar wavefront surgery.

We are delighted to announce our move to larger premises in Queen Anne Street, London. Our new building, situated between Harley Street and Wimpole Street, is refurbished to a high standard and provides a bright, modern environment in which to deliver your quality eye-care. With the whole building available to us, we can now accommodate our expanding range of high technology eye-care equipment. Our new address is:

Centre for Sight 
38 Queen Anne Street 
London W1G 8HZ 

We look forward to seeing you.

The Sunday Times. 9th March 2003. Article by Jonathan Leake, Science Editor Top sportsmen, pilots and military personnel are taking advantage of new laser techniques that can make their vision even better than nature can achieve.

They have been attending private clinics pioneering the laser treatment, which can give them eyesight almost two times more powerful than 20/20 vision, the benchmark for perfect sight.

Sheraz Daya, director of the Corneoplastic Unit and Eye Bank at Queen Victoria hospital in East Grinstead, said he had treated a tank commander from Syria who flew over just for the operation. “We also get policemen and firemen as well as a lot of golfers — all people for whom good vision is critical for their work.”

Read the full text of the article here.

Centre for Sight is pleased to offer this option to those undergoing cataract surgery or to those not suitable for Laser vision correction. This implant has the ability to move in the eye just like the natural crystalline lens when in younger age.

This hardens as we age and consequently the ability to focus up close disappears. Implantation of the Crystal lens as opposed to a conventional lens enables most recipients to improve both distance and reading vision.

More information will be available on this website soon. Meanwhile for more information contact us at 07000 288288 or enquiries@centreforsight.com

Cornea 2002 organized by Sheraz Daya, Director and Consultant of Centre for Sight, the Corneoplastic Unit and Eye Bank was a celebratory conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the Corneal Grafting Act 1952. This act permitted corneal transplantation and was the result of a publicity campaign by Sir Benjamin Rycroft the director of the Corneoplastic Unit at the time.

The conference was a tremendous success attracting over 35 speakers from 12 countries.

The picture shows Mr Sheraz Daya and Dr. M