Dr Sujaya SINGH

University of Malaya Medical Centre
Malaysia

It is indeed a great opportunity and I would encourage all cornea specialists to apply for this educational grant from Asia Cornea Society.

I am grateful to Asia Cornea Society for providing me the wonderful opportunity of visiting L. V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India. The Asia Cornea Society Santen Education Grant gave me a chance to spend one month i.e. 20th November 2017 to 19th December 2017 at the prestigious Institute.

My learning objective for this one-month period was to observe the spectrum of paediatric corneal diseases and gain on the surgical pearls for lamellar surgeries especially DMEK. The one-month period of observer ship was planned meticulously by Dr. Somasheila Murthy which provided me with adequate time in both OPD and OT. I had 4 OT and 3 OPD sessions every week.

For my paediatric cornea observership, I had the opportunity to do my attachment with Dr. Muralidhar Ramappa. During this one-month period, I witnessed several paediatric corneal surgeries including keratoplasty, DSEK, lens aspiration etc and picked up important surgical tips. The OPD sessions with Dr. Muralidhar were equally interesting with variety of paediatric corneal cases, such as congenital corneal opacities, congenital aphakias, congenital aniridias, some of which seemed straight out of text book. Also, the concept of having a minor OT, next to the paediatric OPD ensured that all children who could not co-operate well for examination at slit lamp were seen the same day without having to return another day. Apart from picking up clinical knowledge from Dr. Muralidhar, this attachment also taught me to the patience that is required in dealing with these cases including the parents.

Another part of the attachment was for lamellar surgeries with Dr. Pravin V. Krishna, that included one OPD and one OT session/week with him. In the OPD I saw patients with excellent post-operative results of various lamellar surgeries especially DMEK. Apart from these post op cases there was a myriad of challenging corneal cases. The OT sessions with Dr. Pravin were equally interesting where I picked up significant tips for various lamellar surgeries and witnessed DMEK being performed. The meticulous explanation in the OT, helped me practice these surgeries in wet lab.

I was also fortunate to have attended a DMEK course with Francis Price and Maryanne Price, a paediatric cornea course with Ken Nischal and Alex Levin and a DSEK course with Michael Bennet and ……during my stay in Hyderabad. I was also able to attend two major conference, WSPOS and Keracon 2017 during this period.

I sincerely thank Asia Cornea Society for awarding me this grant and the opportunity to come to Singapore National Eye Centre. I extend my heartfelt gratitude to all the Cornea Specialists at L. V. Prasad Eye Institute for making my stay academically enriching and the education department for co-ordinating the entire observership schedule.

It is indeed a great opportunity and I would encourage all cornea specialists to apply for this educational grant from Asia Cornea Society.