Meet Doraswamy, a tailor by profession, the breadwinner of a family of four. Being a tailor, his skills and his eyesight were once his greatest asset. For many years he seemed to be living a normal life and doing well providing for his family.
But unbeknown to many, for more than fifteen years Doraswamy was suffering from an eye problem that he was treated with medicines and drops. Over time these treatments stopped working and his vision got worse, with complaints of blurred vision and inability to open his eyes in bright light. As his vision got compromised, he was no longer able to work as a tailor. He could not even thread a needle by himself.
Doctor Jagdesh C. Reddy from Tej Kohli Cornea Institute discovered that Doraswamy has developed corneal scarring in the front part of the eyes, which was causing intense blurring and watery eyes when exposed to bright lights. The epidemiology of corneal blindness encompasses a wide range of inflammatory and infectious eye diseases that leads to corneal scarring, which ultimately causes blindness. Both of Doraswamy’s eyes had developed black spots, so the anterior layers of the cornea needed to be removed.
With technological advances in the diagnostic, surgical, and nonsurgical treatment available in Swarna Bharat Eye Centre in Nellore district, a secondary centre of Tej Kohli Foundation, Doraswamy was, fortunately, able to receive treatment from experts. The bumpy irregular layers from his eyes were removed with extreme caution and precision to avoid any sort of perforation.
Doraswamy is fine now and as his vision continued to improve as a result of intervention by the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, he wishes to resume his tailoring services and earn money for his family.
The story of Doraswamy is not an isolated one. There are millions of Doraswamys out there, who are fighting against needless blindness and desperate to get treated so that they can get back to living a normal life.