After 17-years the hospital of Guayaquil performs, once again, a corneal transplant

Byron Lopez, one of the beneficiaries of the surgery

Between 1981 to 1996, there were carried out  thousands of cornea transplants at the Abel Gilbert hospital located in the suburb of Guayaquil, yesterday after seventeen years, this House of health returned to this medical procedure.

The hospital had stopped practicing this operation since Emigdio Navia, the specialist who performed them, died in 1996 for lack of donors, and public policy, because the Act of donation and transplantation of organs was created recently in March of 2012.

This year, there have been eleven transplants of cornea, nine in the military hospital, had been made because the operating rooms of the Abel Gilbert are in remodeling, and the last two were conducted yesterday in this Center, thanks to the donation of a patient who died last Thursday; the bodies were preserved in the cornea Bank of this House of health.

The ophthalmologist Janett Bustamante indicated that this type of transplant is considered to be a simple, outpatient procedure.

The specialist explained that to be a candidate for the single transplant the patient should have the cornea affected only, the rest of the eye should be in good condition. If the patient has an associated pathology  (such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy) forecasts are not good, the procedure won’t improve their vision, and added that care is fundamental to the improvement of the patient and the vision is recovered within eight months.

The main complication of patients seeking to undergo this procedure, is the rejection of the organ, but to avoid this – besides medications during six months – they should be careful, as not bend, don’t force  or rub the eye.