Dr Sayali PRADHAN

Krishn Eye Hospital Parel,

Mumbai, India

It was an enriching educational experience which definitely upgraded my knowledge regarding the diagnoses and management of various corneal diseases.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to receive the Asia Cornea Society- Santen Asia Education Grant. Through this grant, I got the opportunity for observer-ship at the Cornea department of Singapore National Eye Centre from 9th October to 21st October, 2016. It was an enriching educational experience and definitely upgraded my knowledge regarding the diagnoses and management of various Corneal diseases.

On the first day,I was handed over the schedule for the entire two weeks which included observation sessions in the Operation Theatre as well as the Clinics with various Cornea Sub-speciality expert Ophthalmologists.

In the OT sessions, I could observe surgeries like lamellar keratoplasty, penetrating keratoplasty, cataract surgery in a PKP patient, pterygium excision with autograft and also phacoemulsification surgeries performed by various surgeons. I also observed the Femto laser refractive surgeries and corneal cross linking procedures. By observing these and from the discussions with the operating surgeons I learned several new surgical pearls. I have already started implementing these during my surgeries back home and this is for sure improving my end results.

The clinics were very interesting. I could see a variety of patients suffering from corneal problems and learnt about their management protocols. Especially the dry eye clinic, keratoconus management and the contact lens clinic enhanced my understanding of these conditions and will help in providing better care for the patients in my daily practice. The polite demeanour of all the doctors and staff towards their patients and the way of explaining a certain condition to a patient was very inspiring.

I sincerely thank Asia Cornea Society for awarding me this opportunity and also all the Cornea Doctors at SNEC- Adj Assoc Prof Lim Li, Adj Assoc Prof Jodhbir Singh Mehta, Assoc Prof Loius Tong, Dr. Khor Wei Boon, Dr. Jean Chai - for making this observer-ship a great learning experience for me. I would also like to thank Ms. Pei Ling Chua for co-ordinating the observership schedule.

I would encourage all the budding ophthalmologists with interest in Cornea sub-speciality to apply for this grant.