On the day of "national eye love day", the China Blind Association held a seminar on the technical achievements of the Mach artificial cornea and the launching ceremony of the China Blind Association's corneal blind sunlight recovery action at the China Braille Library in Beijing.
Keratopathy is a blinding eye disease with high incidence rate and difficulty in treatment. According to statistics, there are about 4 million patients in China, which is the second most common blindness after cataract. Due to the lack of living corneal donors, many patients can't get timely treatment and become blind for life. Using medical polymer technology, Beijing Mihe Medical Instrument Co., Ltd. has developed artificial cornea to replace living cornea. So far, more than 300 patients with binocular blindness have been operated with artificial cornea, and all of them have recovered their vision.
The following is the speech of corneal blindness patients at the meeting——
People who have committed suicide several times see light again
My name is Zhou Tianlin (pseudonym). I am the former director of national important scientific research projects. My R & D team has won the highest awards in science and technology in China. It can be said that my life was full of spirit and contentment before October 20, 2010. I will never forget the day when I was severely burned by sulfuric acid at work, severely burned my face and lost my sight. During the 594 days of blindness, my relatives helped me find out the hospitals where I could do corneal reconstruction through various relationships. At that time, I thought, I'm not afraid of disfigurement, just let me see it again. For this reason, I went all over the country and even the United States, Germany, Russia and Japan to seek medical treatment. My hopes turned into disappointment again and again. During this period, I committed suicide several times, and the people who took care of me changed from two to four. I'm afraid I can't think about it any more.
Until 2012, my friend introduced me to Beijing 301 Hospital. Director Huang Yifei gave me an examination. After confirming that my eye condition met the requirements of artificial cornea, he introduced me to the operation process and the risks to be taken. As far as my situation was concerned, after hearing that I could have an operation, he didn't hear what he said. I was too excited! We quickly determined the date of the operation, and successfully installed a monocular artificial cornea 594 days after blindness. After the operation in the afternoon, we regained light the next morning, and the vision returned to 0.5. The joy at that time was not clear in one word or two!
From seeing to not seeing to seeing again, people's psychological changes can't be described by words. Many friends around after the operation asked me how much it would cost? Is there any risk? I think it's very funny. The condition of my eyes at that time has been sentenced to death by most doctors. There's no hope for my eyes to recover. What's the risk? So in my opinion, keratoplasty is a zero risk procedure for people who are completely blind. Economically, the chief surgeon will check the patient's eye condition carefully before the operation. If he can do it, he will do it. If he can't, he won't do it. Therefore, there is no economic risk. Some people who want to do it will say "you have money, you can do it, but I can't", so I gave them a detailed count of all my expenses in surgery: the total expenses from hospitalization to surgery and then to discharge are less than 50000 yuan, and the monthly drug cost after surgery is 200 yuan, which I believe most people can afford.
Because of the particularity of my work, there are many colleagues who are also seriously injured at work, as well as people who are almost blind. After the operation, when I was stable, I told one of my colleagues who had been blind for 30 years. For 30 years, he missed the golden age of reform and opening up. His depression is beyond the imagination of a man who has been blind for 594 days. After listening to me, he came to Beijing for the first time. During the examination, the doctor said that his condition was better than mine. Before he said that he could recover completely, he jumped up from his chair excitedly The doctor soon completed the operation successfully. Now my old colleague is happy every day. He seems to travel through time and space, and the 30-year gap is disappearing. Finally, I saw what my son looked like, and I learned how to use smart phones. Last year, my daughter-in-law added a big grandson. This is a double happiness for him. He used to be taken care of by others, but now he takes care of his grandson and his family. Life is as beautiful as honey.
As a beneficiary of artificial cornea, I would like to share my experience with you. First of all, postoperative vision recovery is very good, at least no one else to eat food, you can eat what you want to eat. Then again, I found the limitations of artificial cornea technology after the operation. I couldn't see clearly in backlight, strong light and at night. I think the artificial cornea is like a camera installed in the eye. It can only be planar imaging, and the stereo sense is not strong. It's OK when going up the steps, but it's very difficult when going down the steps.
Then there is the social effect. I need four people to take care of me after the accident. Now I only need one person, which reduces the burden of society, unit leaders and family members. After I became blind, I became a useless person. Now I can create value for the society again. I use my spare time to do some good things that I can, and help the poor blind people in mountainous areas. I hope that good people will be rewarded and I can live a healthy life in the future.
Then there are some suggestions: first of all, manufacturers should speed up the approval procedures of artificial cornea project, so that it can be regularized and legalized in the market promotion, and then it can become active in the operation. I saw a lot of patients kneel down to the doctors to show that they did not pursue the responsibility of the doctors and corneal prosthesis manufacturers, just to ask the doctors to arrange the operation quickly. My personal experience made me understand these patients who urgently need the operation. Secondly, people want to be better when they are all good. Now that one eye is good, I want to think about the other eye. So can the hospital consider making the other eye good for the people in need? Isn't the economic benefit of the hospital better? Finally, I hope that the community can make greater efforts to publicize this project. After my eyes were injured, I went to many hospitals. Many doctors and staff of the disabled persons' Federation in other places didn't know about the technology of artificial cornea, not to mention giving me a post-operative examination and a disability certificate. When the staff of the disabled persons' Federation knew that I had done artificial cornea, they said, "it's impossible. I can't even put sand in my eyes. What else can I put?" The fact tells us that we can put other things in our eyes, and the effect is very good. If this technology is popularized, how many people who are similar to me will be able to see the light again, and how many blind people and their families will be changed
Artificial cornea is the Chinese dream of the blind
My name is Yang Jianwen, a former member of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference and a teacher of Huiwen Middle School. During the "Cultural Revolution", serious corneal lesions were caused by the sequelae of drug allergy, which lasted for more than 30 years. Although I had been working with the disease, I was completely blind in 1999. After that, I had three corneal repair operations, each of which failed due to various rejection reactions. Until 2007, my eyes were completely blind, and there was no chance of corneal repair. Under the chance meeting, Director Zou of Tongren Hospital introduced me to 301 Hospital. After the examination, the doctor told me that I could do artificial cornea operation, so I signed the operation consent without hesitation and performed the operation on September 28, 2010. After the operation, my right eye vision reached 0.4.
There is an old Chinese saying "the eye is the seedling of the heart". Once a person's eyes are blind, the heart seedling will not be prosperous. My mentality is still good. I always hold the idea that I can see in the future in my heart, and have been looking for it. God treats me very well, and let me successfully complete the artificial corneal surgery. When I opened the gauze to make sure I could see it, I immediately wrote a poem: "it's sad to be blind in the face of bad luck. The artificial cornea can bring down the gospel and restore the vision
In my opinion, artificial cornea has limitations, but this limitation can be self-regulated. For example, the field of vision is only 45 degrees, so you can rotate your neck a little bit more. Many people think that the stereo sense is poor. Originally, stereo imaging needs cooperation of both eyes. Now only one eye operation has been done, so it's reasonable to have poor stereo sense. For the problem that you can't see clearly in the dark and there is an aperture in the bright, my solution is simpler. Wear sunglasses in the bright place, Take a flashlight in the dark, so I can simply solve all the problems.
I'm engaged in education. I can't see anything for three years. I'm bored. So after the recovery of vision, I thank the doctors and the researchers of artificial cornea from my heart. Restoration of sight is the "Chinese dream" of the blind.
From being taken care of to being needed
My name is Yan Weiping. I'm 52 years old. A serious illness at the age of 10 made me blind. For more than 40 years, I have been living in the pain of blindness. My family broke their heart for my eyes. When they heard that the disease could be cured, they ran to where they could. When they heard that the disease could be cured, they took me to where they could. We almost went all over the country, and all the doctors who had seen my eyes sentenced me to death. Until 2010, by chance, I came to Beijing 301 Hospital through a doctor's introduction from a hospital in Wenzhou. I was worried and accepted the doctor's examination. When I heard that my eyes could be operated on and there was hope of recovering my vision, I was too excited to say a word. I just asked the doctor to arrange the operation for me as soon as possible. I wanted to see something earlier. The next day after the operation, I saw the light again, my heart came back to life, and life opened a window for me again.
Now, I can go out on my own by bike, wear my watch, and learn to use my smartphone to take photos, send wechat and chat QQ. I married my daughter-in-law the year before last, and this year I have a little granddaughter. Now I take care of my little granddaughter at home every day, and I have to go out to buy vegetables in my spare time. It can be said that in the past five years after the operation, I have been taken care of by my family and now I am needed by my family. It has changed a lot.
I have nothing to introduce to the operation of artificial cornea, which I don't understand the principle at all, and even looks like a miracle. I just want to thank this era for allowing us blind people to see it again. I will introduce it to more blind people around me, so that more corneal blind patients can know that there is such a technology, so that more corneal blind patients can see it again and have a good life.
Source: blind monthly