Blind Uyghur man regains sight in E China’s Jinan

Mettursun Yasin (left) is a Uyghur man from northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. He received an artificial corneal transplantation with the help of the local government and the local committee of Communist Party of China (CPC). (Photo/Song Cui)

Mettursun Yasin, a 36-year old Uyghur man who has been blind for 30 years, recently regained sight after artificial corneal transplantation at the Eye Hospital of Shandong First Medical University in east China’s Shandong Province.

“I’m so grateful to our Party and government, the hospital, and Mr. Shi, the director, for helping me regain my sight,” said Yasin happily on Dec. 24. He received the corneal transplantation on Dec.19. His eyesight has so far reached 0.5.

Both of Yasin’s eyes got keratitis when he was 6 years old, which caused his eyesight to drop below 0.02, basically becoming a blind person. He had received conventional cornea transplantation for his right eye two times previously, but both failed to bring him to recovery after experiencing bodily rejection after the operations.

Over the past 30 years, since Yasin couldn’t take care of himself, he missed his time for school education and aggravated the burdens on his family, which fell into poverty due to Yasin’s illness.

Fortunately, Shi Weiyun, the director of the Eye Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, an individual that has been committed to the treatment of eye diseases for patients from regions inhabited by ethnic minorities, knew about the situation of Yasin and thought he may regain sight after going through the keratoprosthesis.

The artificial corneas transplanted into Yasin were independently developed by Chinese experts. The first successful clinical use of the artificial corneas took place at the Eye Hospital of Shandong First Medical University on July 15, 2018. Yasin is the sixth patient to have received the corneal transplantation operation at the hospital. To date, a total of 30 operations have been completed at various hospitals, with 90 percent of patients’ eyesight rising to 0.5.

“Having been blind for so many years, I’ve completely lost hope of finding a cure. I thought I would never see the light again. When I learned that our country had developed our own artificial cornea, I felt hopeful again,” Yasin said excitedly.