Insha Mushtaq, the 14-year-old girl from South Kashmir’s Shopian district whose both eyes were devastated by the deadly pellets, has undergone one more surgery at Aditya Jyot Hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday as the “last hope” for her and her family that she would see the world again. But so far, there has been no improvement in her vision.
A team of doctors, led by Dr. S Natarajan carried out a three-hour-long surgery on Insha at the Aditya Jyot Hospital, one of the most premier eye-care institutes in India, on September 13.
“There is no improvement in her vision after the surgery,” Dr Natarajan told .
Elaborating, he said the surgery that retina surgeons performed on Insha was discussed and cleared by the Society of Ocular Trauma. “We knew there was minimal chance but we decided to take a chance,” he said. “If you take the chance there is a hope. If you don’t, then there is none.”
Giving details of the surgery, Dr Natarajan said: “Half of the retina in her left eye had been destroyed by the pellets; the remaining half had blood stuck to it.”
Describing her retina as a “crumpled paper”, a leading retina surgeon Natrajan said: “We removed blood from her retina. It was stuck strongly to it.”
Doctors said even after a series of surgeries on Insha’s only eye in the past three months, she still has no ‘perception of light’ in it.
“This is the worst sign,” they said. “The only positive outcome of the surgery has been that cosmetically her eye looks better.”
Insha’s right eye had ruptured entirely when an entire cartridge of pellets had been fired at her on forehead, eyes and face by forces while she was in her home in Sedow area of Shopian. The pellets had also caused multiple fractures and lacerations in her skull as a result of which Insha suffered brain infection too.
However, doctors said, she was doing well now. “Medically she is alright. Her brain infection has also been treated,” a doctor at Aditya Jyot Hospital said.
Doctors said there was no option left to improve her vision. “Neither an electronic device like Bionic Eye or Argus II nor a human eye can help Insha see,” Dr Natarajan said.
He said the Bionic Eye and Argus 2 cannot be fitted into eyes that have lost vision due to trauma to retina.
“The retina needs to be intact for any such a device to work,” he said.
Bionic Eye is a visual prosthetic device with many models being floated by innovators. ARGUS II is one such device manufactured by Second Sight and approved by the FDA. However, Dr Natarajan said, such devices will not be of any help to Insha. “We have discussed the case with eye surgeons from John Hopkins Hospital, and that is the final opinion. There is a consensus among retina surgeons world over about who can get an electronic implant,” he said.
Doctors said a human eye can be donated to people who have all eye functions intact but a damaged cornea. “Eyes cannot be donated to people whose eyes have been blinded due to trauma to retina, and vitreous hemorrhage,” they said.
“Whatever could have been done for her eye has already been done,” Dr Natarajan said.