Pakistan's First Successful Grafting Operation of Plastic Cornea Performed at AKUH

AKUH reached yet another milestone in late 2001, when one of its ophthalmologists performed the first-ever successful grafting operation of plastic cornea in Pakistan.

The operation was carried out by Dr. Asad Abbas (MBBS '89), Senior Instructor in the Department of Opthalmology, on a patient whose vision had been impaired due to an accident involving acid. Due to the injury to his face and eyes, the patient had developed a severe scarring response that led to the development of an opacified and vascularized cornea, which was unsuitable for conventional corneal grafting.

Dr. Abbas' expertise in corneal grafting places Pakistan among the developed medical centres of the world in the field of ophthalmology.

Many inflammatory disorders of the eye, and more specifically the cornea, cannot be treated well with conventional corneal grafting, as the host ends up destroying the grafted tissue. This situation prompted a few pioneering ophthalmologists to think about alternative methods, including the development of keratoprostheses which are made with inert plastics and do not get destroyed by the host's defence mechanisms. Except for AKUH's grafting operation, Keratoprosthesis surgery with the Dolmen Type I and II Keratoprosthesis, has yet to be attempted in the subcontinent.

Prior to Dr. Abbas' successful effort, the grafting of plastic cornea was done only in a few developed countries. Very few centres around the world are equipped to perform this surgery, either because of lack of training in this field or lack of access to the hardware. In the past, such eye patients could only be treated in the USA or Europe, and that also at very substantial charges, but now they can be offered the same treatment at AKUH at affordable charges.   

After obtaining his MB, BS degree from AKU, Dr. Abbas was trained in Ophthalmology, and developed special expertise in corneal grafting and in the grafting of plastic corneas. Dr. Abbas' recent successful endeavour has placed Pakistan among the medical centres of the developed world, particularly in the specialty of ophthalmology.