Dr Wei-Ting HO
Far Eastern Memorial Hospital
New Taipei City, Taiwan
Overall, the training program is very helpful for me to acquire new knowledge and techniques which will certainly translate into better patient care.
It’s my honor to report the details of my observership. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Asia Cornea Society-Santen Asia Educational Observership Grant for my training in Japan. During my stay, I visited Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa Hospital, Yokohama Minami Kyousai Hospital, and hospital of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine. Before the observership training, I set 3 learning objectives:
1. Techniques of keratoplasty, especially deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty and Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK);
2. Treatment for severe ocular surface diseases, particularly ocular surface reconstruction by cultivated epithelial sheet transplantation; and
3. Up-to-date evaluation and treatment for dry eye diseases.
In Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa Hospital, I observed penetrating keratoplasty with keratolimbal allograft performed by Professor Shimazaki , anterior lamellar keratoplasty performed by Dr. Yamaguchi, DSAEK performed by Dr. Tomida, Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK) performed by Dr. Satake and Dr. Tomida. In Yokohama Minami Kyousai Hospital, I observed DMEK performed by Dr. Hayashi. In the hospital of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, I observed ocular surface reconstruction in a Stevens -Johnson syndrome patient performed by Professor Sotozono, and excision of corneal intraepithelial neoplasia plus amniotic membrane transplantation performed by Dr. Inatomi. The professors and doctors in all 3 hospitals demonstrated great surgi cal techniques , and also showed me many key steps to achieve a successful surgery.
In addition to the surgical part, I also joined outpatient clinic both in Tokyo Dental College Ichikawa Hospital and hospital of Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, where I can have thorough discussion with the professors and the doctors about disease diagnosis, treatment, pre-operative evaluation, and post-operative management of many challenging but interesting cases. At the end of my stay in Japan, I also joined the 70th annual congress of Japan Clinical Ophthalmology as well as Taiwan-Japan Joint Symposium on Ophthalmology in Kyoto. In the congress, much more up-to-date knowledge was shared, such as using mucin secretagogue eye drops to treat dry eye disease.
Overall, the training program is very helpful for me to learn new knowledge and techniques, which will certainly translate into better patient care in the future. Besides, the program also helps me to form tighter links with some of the best ophthalmologists in Japan, which will facilitate communication and cooperation in the future.