As I celebrate my 25th year volunteering as an eye surgeon in Southeast Asia. I am delighted to share photos and stories about the vision challenges and the people and cultures of India, Nepal, Cambodia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Vietnam.  - Dr. Gary Barth

Chronicle 7 - Keratoconus-Induced Irregular Astigmatism. A California Corneal Transplant Tissue Donor Allowed Her to Return to School

I founded and was the Medical Director of a Corneal Transplant Eye Bank in Santa Rosa. 

The Medical Director of Seva Foundation Chundak Tenzing asked me to help complete the training cycle for this yet-to-be-launched corneal transplant program in Western Nepal. 

In the two-thirds of the country west of Kathmandu, there were no corneal transplant services.

One of the goals of launching a corneal transplant service in western Nepal was to help individuals like 14-year-old Maya.  She had a form of irregular astigmatism called keratoconus that left her too poorly sighted to attend school. 

She had taken several 14-hour bus trips with her father to Kathmandu for a corneal transplant on her right eye.

She hated the whole experience: the long journey, strange dialects, food, and accommodations. In addition, she did not get a stable result with her standard penetrating corneal transplant. In addition to a mediocre vision result, she had constant battles with immune rejection. 

My family and I brought with us 12 corneal transplant tissues. My remarkable Nepali colleague Dr. Bidya Pant, performed a more appropriate “deep lamellar transplant” with an excellent result on her other eye. 
 

On a subsequent visit, I brought a top-quality corneal transplant tissue more suitable for penetrating corneal transplant in a 14-year-old. She successfully had the right marginal original transplant replaced. 

Maya has now re-enrolled in school. 

Between visits, Judy and Craig Schulz heard about Maya’s schooling troubles and supplied some gifts from the Snoopy Shop. As she began to learn English, the cartoon book would become a terrific educational companion.