Performed Live Surgery at Bali in Indonesia

The annual conference of Asia Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology (APAO) is a supranational prestigious meeting. The most prominent eye doctors of Asia and Australia gather in this 4 day conference. The best of the doctors from Europe and North America are also invited for this meeting.
This year the meeting was held at Bali in Indonesia between 14th and 17th May 2009. Dr. D. Ramamurthy, (3rd from left ) Chairman, The Eye Foundation, Coimbatore & Tirupur was invited to perform live surgery in this prestigious meeting attended by over 3800 ophthalmologists from around the world. He was one of the two doctors from India who performed live surgery there. Using the most advanced Signature Fluidics Phacoemulsification System he performed two cataract surgeries. In one a new revolutionary design Multifocal intra ocular lens was implanted for the first time in Asia while for the other surgery he used a high definition aspheric intra ocular lens.
Apart from performing live surgery Dr. Ramamurthy and Dr. Chitra Ramamurthy were involved in various other sessions. Dr. Ramamurthy chaired a session apart from delivering 3 lectures. As the Chairman, Scientific Committee of All India Ophthalmological Society, he was also involved in various official deliberations to advance mutual cooperation and the science of ophthalmology in the Asia Pacific region.

Cataract operation for a two month old baby, yet to be named @ The Eye Foundation

A rare operation of Cataract for a Two month old child was performed at The Eye Foundation, D.B.Road, Coimbatore, by Dr.D.Ramamurthy. Ms.Kavitha (names have been changed for privacy reason), the mother of the child was happy that the right eye of the child is successfully operated. The other eye would be operated after a week. It seems that the child’s father and her grandmother had the same problem in their childhood. Since this congenital cataract has an hereditary basis the same was suspected in this new born child too. After a thorough examination the baby was found to have the same problem. Hence the mother of the child Ms.Kavitha, her mother and mother-in-law prevailed upon the elders in the family to get the operation done for the two month old baby, yet to be named.
“Statistics shows that one in 12,000 children, cataract of this type is often manifest. Even a normal new born is born with very poor vision and vision slowly develops over a period of time as the child starts seeing things around it. If vision is impaired at this age the eye becomes functionally weak and even an operation at later stage does not restore vision. Thus early surgery is very important to help the vision develop normally. If delayed there is a chance for lazy eye or loss of vision.
If the child had been above one year of age an Intraocular Lens would have been implanted at the time of primary surgery itself. As this child is just two months old and implanting a lens at this stage would impair the growth of this very small eye, the intraocular lens will be implanted after about an year in both the eyes.” says Dr. D. Ramamurthy, Chairman of The Eye Foundation, who performed this surgery successfully. The baby’s mother and grandmothers were beaming with smile, as they have found the excellent facilities in The Eye Foundation for such an operation, for their loving baby. It was the determination of these ladies that resulted in saving the vision of the new born.

An Awareness Program: World Glaucoma Day - March 12, at The Eye Foundation, Coimbatore, India

GLAUCOMA - May steal your vision

A peep into the glaucoma incidence in our country reveals statistics of 3% to 5% of Indians at risk of glaucoma. The alarming equation is that over 90% of them are yet to be diagnosed. Glaucoma is silently steals vision with irreversible loss, if undetected and untreated. This raises the alarm signals to evolve strategic protocols, adopt screening programs to detect the disease at its early onset. It demands an increased awareness to be created to educate the public encouraging them to undergo routine and complete eye evaluation with stress on glaucoma detection.
“Approximately, 12 million Indians between 2% - 5% of the population, above the age of 40 years are likely to be inflicted with this disease entity by 2010. Glaucoma now stands as a second leading cause of preventable blindness and early detection plays a key role.
Glaucoma, most simplistically understood, leads to gradual, painless loss of vision with raised eye pressure being the triggering factor. This symptomless trend of the disease if undetected could lead to progression of this condition. Hence the progressive stress on regular thorough eye examination more after the age of 40 years becomes a mandatory issue. Associated risk factors are diabetes, high myopia, injury, inflammations, steroid intake and associated congenital disorders” says Dr.D.Ramamurthy, Chairman of The Eye Foundation.
World Glaucoma Day was conceptualized to bring about a widespread dissemination of information, educate people about this condition, screen many more of them and prevent a manageable catastrophe.
When quizzed about the World Glaucoma Day, Dr.Chitra Ramamurthy, Medical Director of The Eye Foundation stated “We, at The Eye Foundation on this momentous day, 12 March 2009 have reached out to the glaucoma population at our hospital base and beyond to create a increased awareness programme, more intensive than what is already ongoing and contribute to early detection if not eradication of this killer eye disease.
Glaucoma with its investigative and diagnostic approach has a strategic niche at our hospital. All patients, as a routine are screened for glaucoma, irrespective of their complaint. Vision screening, intraocular pressure evaluation, gonioscopy to evaluate the drainage areas specific to glaucoma, automated perimetry to analyze the visual field defects, imaging modalities like OCT to further once assessment of the retinal nerves fiber status, stereoscopic picture of the optic nerve all are intricately enmeshed to arrive at a complete, wholesome diagnosis of glaucoma, stage the disease and individualize treatment strategies with topical antiglaucoma drops or a surgical intervention, when the situation demands.
The disease by its natural course is slow and progressive and demands frequent follow ups. We have a continued educative approach with which we guide our patients to a longer lasting quality of life”.
Let us all join hands to realize the significance of this World Glaucoma Day at The Eye Foundation.

Free Camps and Eye Surgeries

Every third blind person in the world is an Indian and almost 80% of this blindness is due to cataract. Majority of our poor patients affected by cataract are unaware of their disease and the fact that they can be permanently cured by a simple surgical procedure. If left untreated, an advanced mature cataract can prove disastrous and can lead to permanent blindness.

NETHRA JYOTHI TRUST, the charitable wing of The Eye Foundation has conducted numerous eye camps and school health camps through its charitable hospitals Thirumurthi Nethralaya at Triupur and Rajalakshmi Nethralaya at Coimbatore. The hospital at Thirumurthi Nethralaya located at Tirupur came into existence in March 1985 to provide critical eye care to the poor patients in and around Triupur, Palladam and Avanashi Taluks. Dr R. Chitra, the Managing Trustee is carrying out the ideas of late Dr K S Thirumurthy a leading physician in Tirupur and Grandfather of Dr. D. Ramamurthy. It was originally started as a clinic and it became a full fledged Eye Hospital with in-patient facility in the year 1992. The Hospital caters to the weaker section of the society by providing free and concessional treatment in Ophthalmology. In the year 2008, 3884 economically deprived people have been examined in the outpatient department of Rajalakshmi Nethralaya itself.

"PHACOEMULSIFICATION" with intraocular lens implantation is done for the poor patients free of cost in our charitable hospitals. 405 free cataract surgeries have been performed so far in this year (2008).