30 December 2018 (Dubai – United Arab Emirates): Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (Moorfields) will host a two-day, international scientific conference for eye care professionals, featuring 16 world leading specialists and focusing on innovation in ophthalmology. The conference, which offers 10 Certified Professional Development credit points by Dubai Health Authority will take place on January 10-11 2019 at Mohammed Bin Rashid University, Dubai Healthcare City.
The Moorfields Scientific conference (entitled Moorfields Dubai 2018: A Year in Focus) is concentrating on innovations and breakthroughs that took place in 2018, and will feature 16 leading International speakers from Moorfields London, Abu Dhabi and Dubai and other leading institutions in the region. They will cover eight major areas of ophthalmology – refractive surgery; uveitis and medical retina; genetic disorders of the eye; cornea; surgical retina; glaucoma; ocular oncology; and paediatric ophthalmology.
Moorfields 2018: A Year in Focus – International Scientific Conference
At this international conference, world renowned speakers will focus on the revolutionary innovations in ophthalmology which have taken place in 2018, with an eye on the expected breakthroughs in the new year 2019.
Date: Thursday, January 10th (from 5:30pm) and Friday, January 11th, 2019.
Venue: Mohammed Bin Rashid University, DHCC, Dubai, UAE.
Spaces are limited, and are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, prior registration is required at
https://moorfields.ae/–dubai/invite.
Commenting on the conference, Dr. Ammar Safar, Medical Director of Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, said: “Moorfields is very proud to host this international scientific conference which will bring together some of the world’s leading experts in their specialist fields of ophthalmology to focus on innovation, for the benefit of eye care professionals attending from across the region. It will help put Dubai and the UAE at the centre of international ophthalmology innovation and is part of our regional mission to research and teach, in addition to our focus on treating patients. The support of Dubai Healthcare City has been invaluable in bringing this conference to Dubai and we thank them for this.”
Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai appoints Specialist Ophthalmologist to its permanent team of specialist consultants
23 December 2018 (Dubai – United Arab Emirates): Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (Moorfields) has announced the appointment of its latest specialist ophthalmologist to its growing team of medical specialists based permanently in Dubai. Dr. Luisa M. Sastre, MD, PhD, is a highly experienced Ophthalmologist with a special interest in retinal diseases and especially diabetes-related disorders.
Dr. Luisa M. Sastre, MD, PhD, Specialist Ophthalmologist in Medical Retina, has performed many intravitreal injections for diabetes patients and a large number of surgeries for cataract patients, as well as other procedures including pterygium and minor lid surgeries. Her experience extends to the treatment of other eye diseases such as glaucoma, in addition to her extensive experience in treating children.
Dr. Sastre studied medicine at the Universidad Autonoma Medical School in Madrid–Spain, and was awarded Board Certification in Intensive Care Medicine, and in Ophthalmology. She also holds a PhD in Medicine, and a Masters degree in Healthcare Organisation Leadership from ESADE Business School in Spain. She held a number of posts as a Consultant Ophthalmologist and as an Intensive Care Specialist in several leading private and public hospitals in Madrid, Spain, before relocating to Dubai. In addition to these posts, Dr. Sastre has undertaken medical teaching and charitable activities related to her clinical work.
Commenting on the new appointment, Dr. Ammar Safar, Medical Director at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, said: “Medical Retina is a vital service area for us and meets a growing need among the community where we commonly see potentially serious retinal diseases, including those related to diabetes. We are very pleased to welcome Dr. Sastre to Moorfields and her substantial experience and expertise will be of enormous value to the medical retinal team and our patients.”
Dr. Luisa M. Sastre
MD, PhD
Specialist Ophthalmologist in Medical Retina and Cataract Surgery
GCAA Approved Specialist Aeromedical Examiner
Dr. Luisa Sastre is a Specialist Ophthalmologist in Medical Retina and Cataract Surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai in Dubai Healthcare City.Dr. Luisa holds a Spanish degree in medicine from the Universidad Autonoma Medical School in Madrid, Spain and completed her ophthalmology residency in at Hospital Universitario Gregorio Maranon Madrid, Spain. She is board certified in Intensive Care medicine and in ophthalmology. She also holds a PhD from Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, and a Master’s degree in Healthcare Organisation Leadership from ESADE Business School in Madrid, Spain.
She has more than 20 years of combined regional and international experience in countries including Spain and UAE.
In her career she has practiced in leading medical institutions such as Hospital Universitario Fundación Jiménez Díaz and Hospital Universitario El Escorial, Madrid, Spain.
She has presented various papers in national and international congresses and journals, and organised educational courses on cataract surgery and medical retina for peers and opticians.
She is a member of “Surgical Eye Expeditions International”, a nonprofit humanitarian organization, which hosts clinic sites around the world. She is also a member of Sociedad Española de Oftalmologia (SEO).
In addition to her clinical work, Dr. Luisa volunteers in various charitable campaigns around the world to treat patients that suffer from cataracts, who otherwise have difficulty to medical access.
Moorfields Dubai performs complex high-risk surgery to bring maths professor back from the brink of blindness
5 December 2018 (Dubai – United Arab Emirates): Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai (Moorfields Dubai) has performed a complex and high-risk surgical procedure as a last resort to prevent a patient losing his vision. The patient, a 68-year old university mathematics professor from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was becoming blind in his one sighted (left) eye after he had already lost vision in his other (right) eye, following unsuccessful cataract surgery in his home country. He was unable to work. Dr. Sohaib Mustafa and the Moorfields team performed complex cataract surgery to save the sight in his good eye, and a glaucoma laser procedure to the blind eye to make the eye comfortable. There was an immediate improvement in vision and the patient was able to return to the classroom after a one-month recovery period.
68-year old maths teacher Mr. Francois Ngilambi from DRC presented to Moorfields Dubai with advanced cataract – clouding of the eye’s natural, clear lens – and glaucoma in his one good eye. He had undergone surgery and treatment in his native country, which had not been successful and he was almost completely blind. His condition meant that he was unable to teach and he was losing hope of reversing his loss of sight and recovering.
Mr. Ngilambi had already lost the sight in his right eye following a previous complicated cataract surgery and the eye continued to be painful, with high intra-ocular pressure (glaucoma). The left eye was virtually blind due to cataract and glaucoma. Moorfields Dubai performed the complex cataract surgery to the good left eye and micropulse laser (new technology for reducing eye pressure) to the blind right eye. The cataract surgery was especially challenging because it was the patient’s one remaining sighted eye, with a combination of a dense cataract and glaucoma. Six months after surgery, sight in the left eye has improved to 20/40 6/9 vision.
Dr. Mohammed Sohaib Mustafa, Consultant Ophthalmic Surgeon, Specialist in Glaucoma and Cataract Surgery, Moorfields Eye Hospital Dubai, who performed the surgery, commented: “This was a very challenging and complex case as the patient had multiple complications in his blind eye, and so this was a high risk procedure with no room for manoeuvre during the surgery on the good eye. The cataract procedure went very well and the glaucoma is now stable and just requires a single daily eye drop to manage the pressure. We were very pleased with the results and just a day after surgery Mr. Ngilambi was able to move around without help and was happy and smiling, which was a wonderful experience for the Moorfields team. We are very happy to learn that he is now able to go back to teaching his students.”
Moorfields patient, Mr. Francois Ngilambi, added: “I had almost lost hope of finding treatment to reverse the loss of vision in my left eye but after the surgery my vision improved immediately. Now, after the recovery period, I can see very well and I am able to go back to teaching and so I am very happy with the results. Dr Mustafa and the Moorfields team changed my life.”
A cataract is the clouding of the naturally clear lens in the eye, behind the iris and the pupil, which reduces vision. Cataracts are linked to aging and are very common in older people – the most common cause of vision loss in people aged over 40 and is the most common cause of blindness worldwide. There are three principle types of cataracts, which are caused by a build up of protein in the lens and blocking light entering the eye, over time. Cataract surgery (to replace the cloudy lens with a clear, plastic intra-ocular lens – there are different types available) is generally very successful for almost all patients, who usually regain good vision, and it is one of the most frequently performed eye surgeries.
Eye Colour
This week’s blog on The Risks Involved in Permanently Changing the Eyes Colour has been contributed by Dr Osama Giledi, Consultant Ophthalmologist, Specialist in Cataract, Cornea and Refractive Vision Correction Surgery
Eyesight or eye colour?
Artificial iris anterior chamber implants were originally developed for therapeutic purposes but have been used more recently for the cosmetic alteration of eye colour. Initially this was done in Panama in Central America but now they are also inserted in some African and Asian countries. However, there is now growing evidence about the risks and associated problems of using these implants for cosmetic effect.
Cosmetic intraocular implant is when a colour implant is placed in the anterior (front) chamber of the eye to change the appearance of the iris for cosmetic reasons. The iris is the part of the eye responsible for controlling the diameter and size of the pupil and so how much light reaches the retina at the back of the eye. The iris is coated with the pigment melanin and this is what determines the colour of the eye.
Ophthalmologists use clinically proven functional colour implants for patients with iris abnormalities as a form of treatment to improve the vision and appearance of the patient. Cosmetic implants are used purely to change the colour of the healthy iris just to suit the preference of the patient. People who do want to alter their eye colour for some reason should use daily coloured contact lenses (but with care) and should not put themselves at risk from these cosmetic anterior chamber implants.
In addition to the normal risks of any eye procedure, such as infection or inflammation, these cosmetic colour implants inserted in healthy eyes must be positioned in front of the natural iris and lens, which tends to raise the intra-ocular pressure in the eye (glaucoma), and corneal damage and lens opacity (cataract). There is also the risk of iris atrophy, irregular pupil and inflammation of the eye (uveitis).
The risks are real and I have personally seen some cases in which patients had undergone the procedure in the region and then had a problem with them, leading to some loss of vision and the need to have the implant removed through another surgical procedure. Some patients may suffer permanent damage to the eye with these implants and a poor cosmetic appearance, which was the initial reason for the procedure.
There are now many reports around the world about serious problems from using these implants and almost all the major ophthalmic societies – for example, The American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS), The European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS), The Asia-Pacific Association of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons (APACRS) – and other professional bodies advise against the use of this cosmetic iris implant in a healthy eye. The procedure is not licenced in the USA or Europe. There are no professional clinical trials underway to study the safety or efficacy of these implants for cosmetic use and medical publications only describe their potentially devastating complications.
There is no question about the use of approved functional colour implants for patients who need them for medical reasons but with cosmetic implants, there is the risk of potentially severe and irreversible complications and even the loss of vision. These complications develop slowly over months and even years after the cosmetic iris implantation, so a patient may not feel any change or be aware of any damage to the eye, until it is too late.
As a health professional, I believe it is essential to educate patients on the risks and dangers associated with these unapproved cosmetic implants and strongly discourage their use.
Statement from the American Academy of Ophthalmology (October 2014):
Following recent media reports about a cosmetic iris implant surgery to change eye color, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the world’s largest association of eye physicians and surgeons, is warning consumers not to undergo the procedure, which has the capacity to cause serious eye damage, vision loss and blindness. Cosmetic iris implants have not been evaluated by any U.S. regulatory agency or tested for safety in clinical trials. While the implants are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it has been reported in the media this month that the surgery is being performed overseas.