Dr Ka-Wai KAM
Prince of Wales Hospital & Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital
Hong Kong, S.A.R.
This experience has certainly broadened my horizon and enriched my knowledge in the management of these patients back in my home town.
It was my great honour to be awarded the Santen Asia Educational Grant from the Asia Cornea Society that supported my clinical observership at the LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad from March 20-31, 2017.
During the two weeks, I was assigned to follow Professor Virender Sangwan and Dr. Sayan Basu at their cornea clinics and operation theatres which started at around 9AM and ended at 7PM or even 10PM. Other clinical duties also included morning lectures that started at 7AM from Monday to Saturday, the daily "Ulcer Round" where cornea fellows and consultants gathered to examine and treat in-patients with nasty corneal ulcers, visits to the contact lens clinic and research facility, and the friendly get-togethers where consultants shared surgical and clinical pearls with the fellows.
One major objective of my observership was to learn about ocular surface reconstruction, particularly limbal stem cell surgery. During my time at LVP, I have seen a wide range of surgical procedures including amniotic membrane transplantation, mucous membrane grafts, corneal transplantations, keratoprosthesis and limbal stem cell replacement almost every other day. On any regular OT day I might see two to three corneal grafts, several limbal stem cell transplants and ocular surface reconstruction in addition to some complex cataract operations! Both Professor Sangwan and Dr Basu were well known pioneers in the field of ocular stem cells and it was truly wonderful to be learning from the masters.
Besides the surgical aspect, I also learned about the medical practice at LVP in the treatment of vernal keratoconjunctivitis, ocular cicatricial pemphigoid, Stevens Johnson Syndrome and recalcitrant infections of the anterior segment. The epidemiology and clinical presentations of these diseases were very different from patients whom I encountered in my own clinic. This experience has certainly broadened my horizon and enriched my knowledge in the management of these patients back in my home town.
Last but not least, I had an enjoyable time staying on the campus ( I lived in the Guest House at LVP! ) and making new friends who took me out to dinners and gatherings after a long day of work. I enjoyed every bit of my time at LVP and I would once again like to thank the Asia Cornea Society and the SNEC Team especially Ms Kapricia for materializing this programme and helping me throughout my application. I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Sangwan, Dr Basu for their teachings not only on clinical science but also on how to become a better doctor, and to Drs Siddharth Malaiya, Vijay Jeswani, Chandraprakash Oli, and many other friendly cornea fellows, optometrists, consultants and staff at LVPEI for such wonderful friendships and joyful moments at LVP. I am forever grateful for their hospitality!
To all aspiring cornea fellows out there, I would highly recommend this programme to you and hope you would seize this opportunity too!