Thomas Hendra

I was referred to Mr. Sheraz Daya at the Centre for Sight to treat scarring of my cornea as a result of the Keratoconus that I had been suffering from for the last 10 years. I had done some initial reading online and based on Mr. Sheraz Daya’s experience and recognition in the field, I decided to book an appointment.

Up until the point I went for my initial check-up at Centre for Sight, I didn’t appreciate how bad my uncorrected vision was; used to putting in contacts first thing in the morning until last thing at night I always considered my eyesight to be perfectly functional. That all changed when, as part of my CfS tests, I discovered that with uncorrected vision I couldn’t even distinguish my fingers at arm’s length!

Mr. Sheraz Daya advised me that the best procedure for me would be a Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty (DALK) – a removal of the majority of my cornea to be replaced with a donor cornea. The procedure would be using a Femtosecond laser – an innovative application to allow for a more technically intricate join. Having heard the benefits from Mr. Daya and supplemented with my own research, I decided to take the plunge and book my first ever surgery – a transplant no less!
After a three month wait, the day of my surgery arrived! All the staff were very friendly and helped put me at ease for the impending surgery. During the actual procedure I was under local anaesthetic so fully conscious of my surroundings and found it genuinely interesting to listen as Mr. Daya went about the procedure and made observations to an attending observer. After a few minutes R&R I was all patched up and leaving the hospital to a good meal and a lot of sleep.

The next was I was back at Centre for Sight and having my eye patch removed – the moment of truth had arrived! After my previous vision, anything was going to be an improvement but I was still conservative in my expectations. The actual results were amazing! – From being unable to count my fingers at arm’s length, I was now able to complete the sight test to within one line of the legal driving standard. In actual fact, my right eye has the same quality of vision uncorrected as it used to when corrected before!

It is now two weeks after my procedure and I’ve returned to work and largely returned to life as normal. I still have a year of recovery ahead of me but already I appreciate how revolutionary the operation has been for me – I am literally seeing the world with new eyes and despite all the aftercare, my operated eye is already proving to be lower-maintenance than before. Now it’s just a case of waiting for the eye to fully recover so that I can get the other one done!

More about Thomas’ Corneal Transplant/DALK.