Dr Yan-Ming Chen
Department of Ophthalmology
E-Da Hospital, I-Shou University
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
I was constantly surprised by their new surgical methods on corneal transplantation. I saw three cases of DALK, two cases of LKP, two cases of DSAEK and also two cases by new surgical methods--DMEK that I had never seen before in Taiwan during the very short 2-week stay!
From Monday, 2 November 2015 to Saturday, 14 November 2015, I was given the wonderful opportunity of visiting the outstanding cornea center in Japan-- the Department of Ophthalmology at Tokyo Dental College, Ichikawa General Hospital by the support of the 1st Asia Cornea Society-Santan Asia Educational Observership Grant. During the two-week observership period, my learning objectives focused on new surgical methods on corneal transplantation, new advances in dry eye diagnoses and treatment and also corneal wound healing.
At the outstanding "Corneal Dominant" corneal center in Japan, I saw many interesting and challenging corneal cases (ex. severe Mooren ulcer, aniridia cases, Ocular melanoma, many kinds of corneal dystrophy, etc.) referred from medical centers nearby at the special clinics of Professor Shimazaki, Dr. Yamaguchi and Dr. Satake. I visited their eye bank and understood the situation of eye banks in Japan, which is quite different from the situation of the National Eye Banks in Taiwan.
To further understand their dry eye patient diagnoses and treatment, I visited their corneal center laboratory and saw their special procedure of autologous serum eye drops preparation for severe dry eye and ocular surface disease patients. By their arrangement, I also attended their evening seminar and case study conference. It's really very interesting that all the residents and visiting staff including Professor Shimazaki shared their experience and discussed on special cases. The atmosphere was quite different from the "Professor Round" held every Wednesday early morning when the chief, Professor Shimazaki will see and exam all in-ward patients and give his special comments to every doctors in charge. By discussions with Dr. Yamaguchi and Dr. Tomida and seeing their research presentations, I had learned a lot from their research results, especially the corneal wound healing after corneal transplants by different corneal transplant methods and also the HOA and optics change after transplantation surgery. It's really very novel and I believed it will be published in outstanding journals in the near future.
During my observership at the Tokyo Dental College, Department of Ophthalmology, I was constantly surprised by their new surgical methods on corneal transplantation. I saw three cases of DALK, two cases of LKP, two cases of DSAEK and also two cases by new surgical methods--DMEK that I had never seen before in Taiwan during the very short 2-week stay!
It had been a truly rewarding educational experience here. I enjoyed the two-week stay here very much and really learned a lot from the awesome corneal specialists here. I would like to thank all the staff at the Tokyo Dental College, Ichikawa General Hospital. They were all so nice and kind to me and made my observership a rich and wonderful experience. Finally, I would like to express my great thanks to the Asia Cornea Society and the Santan Asia Educational Observership Grant for giving me the opportunity of such inspiring and unforgettable learning experience!