EYE SURGERY.

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19461, 28 December 1934, Page 2

EYE SURGERY.

MODERN MIRACLES. RESTORING SIGHT TO THE BLIND. Describing to doctors and students at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School the amazing work he has accomplished in the last twelve years in restoring sight to the blind, Mr J. Tudor Thomas, the famous Welsh eye surgeon, startled his hearers by disclosing that at least twelve people had volunteered to lose the sight of one eye for the purpose of its cornea being used on behalf of a patient. Some, he stated, were desirous of helping relatives; others were making a self-sacrifice, while the remainder were making the offer, quite frankly, for money. He had not accepted any such offers. Mr Thomas’ method consists of removing the opaque cornea —the external transparent skin of the eye through which light passes—and replacing it with cornea taken from the eyes 'of people who are quite hopelessly blind. There was a poignant note in one of the cases under his care. A little more'than eight years ago a London workman was engaged on a refrigerating plant when an ammonia compressor burst. The man, for all practical purposes, lost his sight, and it was decided last year to try cornea transplanting. The operation was splendidly successful. After the eighth day, when the tiny stitches were removed, it was seen that the grafted cornea was holding satisfactorily. Op the 16th day the patient was able‘to describe all that he saw in the ward. Later, however, the man died from cancer. Strange Reactions. Detailing other cases, Mr Thomas related that of the 16 he had conducted several were unsuitable. In one that was definitely in this category, the patient, who had suffered from goitre and a severe ulceration of the cornea, had eyes so large that the lids would hardly cover them properly. 1 Eight days after the operation, however, When he was doing well, his father died. The news made him cry —with disastrous results. One of the most remarkable patients, however, was a woman from Canada, whose eyes were white. Her condition was caused because, when very young, silver nitrate was applied to them.

She did not regard herself as blind. She thought, she could see mountains and trees and people, hut she was in fact seeing only through her imagination.

, When after the operation she actually began to see, her reactions were strange. Although she got 'to the stage at which she could find her way about a room without bumping into anything, when a man’s face was drawn in profile she had no conception whatever of what it meant. After a whole morning’s explanation she came, however, to understand. A week later she was again shown a drawing of a man's face in profile, and she failed cpmpletely to understand what it was. “ I had drawn it from the other side,” explained Mr Thomas, “ and she said It made an ‘ enormous difference.’ ”