Corneal transplant surgery is the optimal treatment to help reduce the rate of blindness caused by corneal diseases. However, in most corneal transplant cases in Vietnam for the time being, patients have to wait for donor cornea tissue to become available, or spend money seeking treatment overseas.

Since May 2016, FV Hospital has launched its corneal transplant surgery service, performed by the world’s leading expert, Prof. Donald Tan, in cooperation with a team of specialists in FV’s Ophthalmology and Refractive Surgery Department, headed by Dr Nguyen Thi Mai.

Through this programme, FV is the first private hospital to perform corneal transplantation in Vietnam for patients with long-term vision impairment due to corneal diseases, such as corneal ulcers, corneal dystrophy and corneal scarring. All donor corneal tissue at FV is imported from reputable eye banks in the US, thereby shortening the waiting time for surgery for patients.

FV has applied many worldwide advanced corneal transplanting methods to help increase its transplant success rate as well as ensure less complications after surgery. These include:

• Penetrating keratoplasty – removal of the whole cornea
• Anterior lamellar keratoplasty – removal of the damaged part of the cornea, retaining the heathy part
• “Tooth in eye” surgery – for those with severe corneal damage
• Corneal surface reconstruction
• Artificial corneal transplants
• Endothelial keratoplasty

After nearly 3 years of implementation, the corneal transplant surgery service at FV has helped many people restore their eyesight, including cases of long-term vision loss.