Desperate to continue his teaching career, he traveled from North to South in search of a hospital that could perform a corneal transplant to restore his sight—but found no hope until he arrived at FV Hospital.
The journey back and forth from South to North to restore sight
After more than 40 years of working as a teacher, at the age of 69, Mr. Tran Hoang Tuy, a resident in Vinh Long Province, has continuously proposed initiatives to stimulate students’ passion for learning. He is respected by his colleagues, parents, and students for winning numerous awards for excellence in innovation. Not only that, he also actively participates in preparing textbooks.
In recent years, his eyesight has deteriorated, making it very difficult for him to read. He went to a hospital and was assigned cataract surgery. However, after surgery, Mr. Tuy’s left eye became more blurry, irritated, and continuously teary. Doctors prescribed medicine for him, but the blurred vision worsened.
Longing to return to teaching, Mr. Tuy sought eye exams at many medical facilities. Diagnoses at previous hospitals suggested that the teacher’s left eye had corneal scarring and the most optimal treatment was corneal transplant surgery.
From these diagnoses, Mr. Tuy and his family spent a lot of time in hospitals from South to North looking for corneal transplant opportunities, but it was hopeless because the donated cornea resources were scarce, many patients had to wait decades for the opportunity to receive treatment.
Following an acquaintance’s recommendation, Mr. Tuy came to FV, the only private hospital in Vietnam with access to quality corneas imported from the U.S.
During the first examination of Mr. Tuy, Specialist Doctor Level II Nguyen Thi Mai, Head of the Department of Eye and Refractive Surgery, FV Hospital, observed that his condition was more complicated than previous diagnoses. He has congenital Fuchs corneal endothelial dystrophy syndrome – a syndrome that needs to be carefully screened and evaluated before beading surgery.
“Beading surgery has made missing corneal endothelial cells even more lacking, leading to corneal edema, cloudiness, blurred vision, and even blur before surgery, accompanied by symptoms of stinging, fluttering, tears, fear of light, blinding when encountering light,” Dr. Mai explained.
Fuchs syndrome is mild with almost no symptoms, mainly due to genetics, but ophthalmologists can detect a decrease in the number of corneal endothelial cells in the patient’s eyes using a cell counter. endothelial cells. He was arranged to receive a direct corneal transplant from Professor Doctor Donald Tan – top 10 corneal transplant surgeons in the world.
Endothelial corneal transplant, helping the patient’s eyes find the light source again
On October 29, 2024, Dr. Donald Tan had corneal transplant surgery with the support of Dr. Nguyen Thi Mai. Properly assessing the patient’s condition, Dr. Donald Tan chose the corneal endothelial transplant (Descemets Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty – DSAEK) method, which only replaces the inner corneal endothelial, while the front cornea is intact. This method is more complicated, but the clinical results are better with a low graft rejection rate and few complications, giving very good vision recovery results compared to the perforator corneal transplant technique.
The corneal transplant was completed successfully in 40 minutes. After surgery, Mr. Tuy was asked to lie still for the first 24 hours to allow the graft to stick as firmly as possible. He was cared for by a nurse and thoroughly examined by Dr. Donald Tan while at the hospital, as well as specific instructions on the steps to keep in mind when caring at home.
Just 8 days after the surgery, Mr. Tuy’s vision reached 6/10 and 2 months later, during a follow-up examination in early 2025, tests showed that his vision had reached 8/10. “If before, I only saw a blurry scene for about an arm’s length, now I can see everything clearly from afar. From the bottom of my heart, I want to express gratitude to Dr. Tan, Dr. Mai and all the staff of the FV Hospital Eye department. Finding a light source for my eyes feels like I have rediscovered my previous life of optimism and love,” Mr. Tran Hoang Tuy emotionally confided.
Opportunities for domestic patients to access imported corneal resources
Corneal transplant surgery is the optimal treatment for vision restoration for patients with corneal pathologies such as traumatic corneal scarring, corneal dystrophic degeneration, corneal ulceritis, delayed-stage keratoconus, congenital Fuchs Corneal Endothelial Dystrophy Syndrome,… However, the majority of patients have to wait a long time for the cornea to be donated or have to spend a large amount of money abroad for treatment.
Since May 2016, FV Hospital has deployed corneal transplant surgery in coordination with leading eye pathology treatment expert, Prof. Dr. Donald Tan of Singapore. All quality corneal sources at FV are imported directly from reputable eye banks in the U.S., thereby shortening the waiting time for patients.
FV is one of the few hospitals equipped with an endothelial cell counter, a corneal mapping survey machine that combines measuring corneal biomechanical endurance using the Oculus Corvis ST and Oculus Pentacam AXL machines to help doctors determine accurate indicators of corneal persistence, stiffness and protrusion, etc and problems can be immediately detected at a potential stage. In particular, FV hospital is equipped with the first “MS39 Anterior Segment OCT Machine” in Vietnam, allowing accurate measurement of corneal damage thickness (strokes, scars, degeneration) to every micrometer.
Investing in the most modern ophthalmic technologies not only helps doctors make accurate diagnoses, but also increases efficiency in planning thorough, accurate surgery, thereby providing patients with satisfactory explanations, increased trust to cooperate and achieve optimal treatment results.
To make an appointment and have a corneal transplant with Dr. Donald Tan, patients can contact Ophthalmology & Refractive Surgery – FV Hospital: (028) 3511 3333, extension 2000.
