When all roads led nowhere.

Shiladitya's parents found their way to LVPEI

Two and a half years ago, 11-year-old Shiladitya woke up one morning to find some black spots in front of his right eye. His vision had also dropped noticeably. Being a pediatrician, Shiladitya’s father, Dr Subhash Chandra Mandal, understood the importance of timely medical intervention and rushed him to a retinal surgeon. Shiladitya had a retinal detachment, complicated by uveitis, an inflammation in the eye. The “horrible” images of the B-scan ultrasonography gave his parents sleepless nights.Their hopes touched a new low each day as they could see no solution in sight.

At a time when most doctors in Kolkata were unwilling to take up such a complicated case, Shiladitya was brought to L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, on June 13, 2007. “The combination of uveitis and retinal detachment in a child of this age is something that most surgeons don’t want to handle. Nobody would be willing to take up such a case, as the chances of successful intervention are very slim. We too were not sure of the outcome,” says Dr Raja Narayanan, Consultant, Smt Kanuri Santhamma Retina Vitreous Centre, LVPEI.

When Shiladitya first came to LVPEI the vision in his right eye was extremely poor. He underwent a vitrectomy with silicon oil injection for retinal detachment. This surgery restored 60% of his vision which, in Dr Narayanan’s opinion, was a “dramatic improvement”. However, Shiladitya developed cataract in the same eye sometime later. He underwent another surgery for the removal of cataract in February 2008. Another surgery was performed in September 2009 to implant a lens. This one restored 75% of his vision!

Shiladitya’s mother Supriya recalls her son’s excitement after he regained his vision: “All these days I had to see Goddess Durga with one eye. Now I will be able to see her with my two eyes!” His father says, “I thank this Institute from the core of my heart. It is doing an excellent service to the poor and also to the different classes of society. Now we are recommending the Institute to a lot of people, people who have lost hope.”