The girl in the photo above was born with congenital glaucoma. By the time she was six months old, extremely high eye pressure caused her eyeballs to bulge and began destroying her optic nerves. When her mother took her to the eye clinic in Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea, she was told there was nothing they could do to help her child and that her best option was to seek specialized care abroad. Since this was impossible for the family, the girl seemed destined for a life of blindness.
Last week, Dr. Tayeri was invited to Asmara to train young ophthalmology residents in glaucoma surgery. This cohort of residents, the first in Eritrea’s history, had little experience treating glaucoma, as the country has never had any glaucoma specialists. They had set aside over two hundred of their most challenging cases for a week of intensive diagnosis and surgical treatment under Dr. Tayeri’s guidance.
The girl underwent a successful, innovative glaucoma surgery that normalized her eye pressure and essentially cured her condition. She was one of dozens of patients who received surgery during a week of many firsts for Eritrea.
During his visit, Dr. Tayeri met with officials from the Ministry of Health and the School of Medicine to explore ways the Fiat Lux Foundation could partner with Eritrean ophthalmologists to bring care to the millions of people who currently lack access to eye treatment. The events of the week were even presented on the national news!
As most of you know, the Fiat Lux Foundation has a longstanding policy that all donated funds go directly to supporting our hospital projects. Therefore, no foundation funds were used for this trip.