Patient Stories

Acid assault is a premeditated and heinous criminal act with the deliberate intent of inflicting pain and causing disfigurement. Whilst acid attacks in India are most often seen as gender-based violence against women, many acid attack victims are men. Many cases go unreported, and many stories are left untold, such as the story of Rahul Deepak from Mumbai, India.

Rahul Deepak, a bouncer by profession, became a victim of a vicious acid attack in 2013 and was completely blinded after the deadly corrosive substance was thrown all over his body. The impact of the attack was concentrated on his eyes and face. The person and the motive behind the attack remains a mystery to Rahul. But the damage is already done. He has lost his eyesight for good. 

Rahul consulted a local doctor in Mumbai and underwent a month-long treatment but the results of recovery were hopeless. The doctor felt that Rahul needed advanced treatment and recommended that he visit Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, where Dr Bhupesh Bagga conducted a detailed examination and found out that Rahul’s eyes were damaged severely due to chemical injury.

Rahul’s cornea was melting. He wasn’t able to open his eyes. Post the examination, doctors informed Rahul that an operation was needed to treat him. The recovery chances were thin, but doctors were ready to give it a shot. Rahul had lost all hope. However, the counsellors at Tej Kohli Cornea Institute motivated Rahul with reaffirmation and positivity and convinced him to proceed with the surgery.

Rahul regained his eyesight.  

Rahul’s mother fondly remembers his days as a bouncer where he was able to earn and live a good life. After the attack, she too had lost hope of seeing Rahul lead a normal life ever again. Thanks to the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, her hopes are alive again.  

Dealing with sight loss in a developing world that is built for the sighted means increased dependency and reduced confidence. Blindness segregates those who have lost their sight from everyone else. Visual impairment often limits the ability of the person to perform everyday tasks and to move about unaided.

The story of Narashimhulu was no different. His vision loss affected his quality of life, his work, and the ability to interact with the surrounding world.

Narashimhulu worked for many years and provided for his family. But one-day tragedy struck him badly. While chopping wood, a wood particle struck him in his eye. Grappling with pain, he visited multiple hospitals for over a month, trying to find some form of pain relief and a solution. He was informed that his entire nerve system had been damaged.

Unfortunately, Narashimhulu had already sustained a similar injury a few years before, when a small stone had hit his eye whilst working. This further complicated his new injury, and he started losing his eyesight at an alarming pace. During one of his hospital visits, one of the staff members told Narashimhulu that he should consider going to the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute.

Dr. Somasheila at the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute remembers her first diagnosis of Narashimhulu. She recollects that he complained of an infection in his left eye, however he actually had a rampant viral infection in both of his eyes, which had been there for a few years. Whilst his right eye was stable, the infection in his left eye was so severe, that the doctors had to perform an emergency corneal transplant, which was done free of cost.

Narashimhulu is now able to see on his own and isn’t dependent on others to perform daily tasks. Dr. Somasheila believes that he will be able to find employment again once that he fully recovers from his condition.

Quality healthcare still isn’t a complete reality in developing countries like India. However, the problem of gaining access to quality healthcare is a bigger challenge for India’s large marginalized population. Against this backdrop, doctors at Tej Kohli Cornea Institute are helping patients regain their vision and win their independence back.

Visual impairment can have multiple causes. While many individuals find themselves visually impaired after mishaps or accidents, many genetically inherit certain eye diseases.

One such genetic disease is Brittle Cornea Syndrome, in which a person may experience tearing or rupturing of the cornea even after minor damage. With Brittle Cornea Syndrome, the outer layer of the eye, better known as the cornea, becomes excessively thin, making the eye easily prone to severe and irreversible harm.

Six-year-old Keerthana suffered from this rare and challenging disease when she presented her case to the esteemed team of doctors at the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute. Dr. Pravin Vaddavalli examined Keerthana and recognized that her case had to be dealt with sensitively and carefully. Even a slight tap of a finger could cause Keerthana’s cornea to break.

Dr. Pravin found Keerthana’s case quite challenging since she had already lost one eye and her second eye was vulnerable to the same condition. Keerthana also suffered from Ehler’s Danlos Syndrome, which causes cardiac and joint-related problems. After assessing Keerthana’s case, the team of doctors decided to perform a surgery called Epikeratoplasty, wherein they put a new cornea on top of her existing cornea.

The surgery – which was done to strengthen her cornea – lasted for four hours. The surgery was a success and Keerthana started recovering from her condition swiftly. Two years after her surgery, Keerthana can see almost as well as anybody else. She can read letters and walk around without her spectacles, bringing normality back to her young life.

Keerthana’s surgery was done for free by the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, which was a big relief to her family. Her mother feels especially thankful towards the team of doctors at the institute, who were able to cure Keerthana’s condition successfully.

Joseph Mariyana was working abroad when a small mishap led to irreparable damage to his eyes. While washing clothes using a chemical named Clorox, a drop of the chemical fell into his left eye.

Joseph flew back to Goa and consulted with many doctors in a seemingly futile attempt to find a cure for the damage done to his eye. Doctors in Goa gave him medicines and eye drops, but none of those proved effective in improving his condition.

When Joseph first visited the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, he had already lost vision in his left eye. Dr. Mukesh Taneja, who overlooked Joseph’s case at the institute, knew that preserving Joseph’s right eye was paramount to prevent Joseph from going blind.

Dr. Taneja learnt that Joseph had a condition known as Meibomitis, which led to repeated attacks of marginal keratitis in his right eye. In such types of corneas, the success rate of corneal transplants was very low, so the doctors decided not to conduct a transplant for him. Instead, the doctors decided to perform cataract surgery for Joseph.

The surgery was difficult since Joseph’s cornea was largely opaque. However, the experienced team of doctors at the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute were able to successfully complete the surgery. After the surgery, Joseph maintained a 20/50 vision and was able to go about his normal routine once again with ease.

Joseph feels immensely grateful for the support and empathy showed to him by the team of doctors. He credits Dr. Taneja’s assistance for his ability to see through one eye today. Joseph’s son believes that the understanding of people, clubbed with the latest technology is what makes the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute remarkable.  

For a working individual, the safety and health of his or her eyes is incredibly important, especially when one’s work involves any form of manual labour, where having perfect vision becomes paramount. However, due to the dangers involved in working in factories, these same workers often have to deal with a spectrum of different injuries.

Bajrang Singh worked in a chemical factory in Mumbai. Three years ago, Bajrang’s eyes were severely injured during an accident at his workplace. On a seemingly regular day, Bajrang had asked his coworkers to move a lot of chemicals from one place to another. During the shifting, some of the chemicals started slowly leaking out.

Bajrang quickly noticed that his coworkers had taken safety precautions and had worn protective eye gear. However, he had not worn any protective gear.  When the chemicals fell onto him, Bajrang felt a severe burning and had an immediate swelling in his eyes.

Bajrang visited the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute wherein he presented his case to Dr. Sayan Basu. Upon examination, Dr. Basu noted that the chemical had burnt the cells on the surface of Bajrang’s eyes. In addition to that, Bajrang had also sustained severe corneal damage. After a thorough examination, the doctors at the institute conducted a combination of stem cell therapy and corneal transplantation for Bajrang.

Thanks to the expertise of the doctors at the Tej Kohli Cornea Institute, Bajrang’s treatment went well. Bajrang was able to recover from his condition and even returned to work again. The doctors find it heartening to witness Bajrang’s recovery and see him regain normalcy in his life.

Bajrang had lost hope of being able to see again, but he now feels a deep sense of gratitude to the team of doctors who returned his vision to him. He now recommends the hospital’s family-like environment and treatment to everyone who seeks his opinion.

63-year-old Chandrawati Harijan lives in Mahilwar, Lumbini – 15 minutes west of Maya Devi Temple, the exact place where Lord Buddha was born more than 2500 years ago. Her home is a three-room poorly constructed concrete building that she shares with her husband, son, daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren. Her cattle, one buffalo and a calf share the same space – and one can notice the blurriness in boundaries, forcing us to ask one question. What divides her home from the cattle shed?

The community where Chandrawati lives comprises mostly Harijans. Harijans belong to the Dalit caste, the lowest caste within the Hindu caste system, and are also referred to as the ‘untouchables. Years of caste-based discrimination resulting in inequality of access to social goods have perpetuated their economic impoverishment. Dalits, like Chandrawati and her neighbours, are deprived of basic social goods. So much so, the entire community in which Chandrawati lives is built upon unclaimed land. She and her neighbours are squatters – and have no property to their name.

Coming from a poor socio-economic background, when cataracts blinded Chandrawati, all she could do was curse her stars. “I lost my eyesight gradually”, she shares her experience with us. “It wasn’t instant; I could feel that I was becoming blind. And the fact that I couldn’t do anything about it made me lose hope”.

“Earlier I used to help around the house and even used to assist the local midwife during deliveries. Today, I just sit around the house. Sometimes, when they have the time, they sit down to talk to me, else I try to make out what’s happening around me”, she shares her woes.

On the day we visited her, we got a firsthand experience of the social stigma of blindness. It was Holi when we reached Chandrawati’s home – the Hindu festival of colours. While all of her family members were smeared in different colours and were busy playing with each other, Chandrawati only had a small sprinkle of colour near her forehead – applied as a form of blessing.

Luckily, for Chandrawati, her neighbour worked at the Royal Thai Monastery in Lumbini. When word about an upcoming Cataract outreach surgery camp was being staged in Lumbini by the Tej Kohli and Ruit Foundation, the neighbour duly informed Chandrawati’s family.

Two days after Holi, Chandrawati’s eyes were operated by Dr Sanduk Ruit, a world-leading eye surgeon who has cured over 130,000 people from cataract blindness. Together through their Tej Kohli & Ruit Foundation alliance, Dr Ruit and Tej Kohli plan to screen one million and cure 300,000 by 2026.

The next morning after surgery, when Chandrawati’s bandages were opened at the Maya Devi Temple, she could not believe her eyes – literally. She and her husband were so elated, they shared a small dance in the sacred garden.

Later, we visited her home once again – there she was sitting in the same corner, but was happy that she could see what her neighbours, her grandchildren and everyone else were up to.