Dubai: The Dubai branch of Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, working with the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), has successfully fitted an artificial eye for a young Palestinian patient — Baha'a Salim.
The fitting represented an important milestone for Salim on his long road to recovery, having lost an eye six years ago.
Salim has been in Dubai since January for additional surgery to finalise preparations for the fitting.
He underwent reconstructive surgery to his eyelid prior to the fitting which was performed by an ocularist (artificial eye-maker) based at Moorfields.
Progress
Before the operation, Salim had no eyelids and his eye socket was closed, so the procedure represents significant progress for the patient.
Following the fitting of the artificial eye, Salim said: "This is not the final result, but most of the work has been done and now it needs to heal."
In Dubai, Salim's home is with the locally based Dajani family, which helps children through its contact with the PCRF.
Salwa Dajani said: "We first made contact with PCRF through my children's school in Dubai, when students were asked to host Baha'a and he came to stay with us in September 2009, for one month. He has become close friends with our own three children now. We are very happy for him and eager for him to have a good result from the treatment and be able to return to his homeland, with his new eye. He will need three to six months' healing but we are seeing real improvement."
The ocularist created the orbit (eyeball-shaped prosthesis), shaping and sculpting the prosthesis to fit in the eye socket. He then took about one working day to paint and match the artificial eye, which fits over the new eyeball, to the remaining natural eye.
