Local

Jacksonville doctor fixes eyesight of woman blinded after surgery to change her eye color

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — People are changing the color of their eyes, permanently through surgery.

A Jacksonville ophthalmologist said it is referred to as an iris implant, where the surgeon places an artificial implant over the patients' iris.

Dr. Arun Gulani is sharing how he fixed a woman's eyesight after she had complications from this procedure.

For months, this young woman from California said she had physical and mental suffering from a bad iris implant. She asked to remain anonymous.

TRENDING: 

Action News Jax will only show her eyes after the iris implant procedures.

She said she originally had the cosmetic procedure in Los Angeles, to make her brown eyes green.

When she woke up, she said she had blurry vision in one of hers eyes that progressively got worse.

Last week, she had trouble writing and seeing her hands out of that eye.

She said three surgeons from California and another from Texas were not hopeful for her to regain her vision in this eye.

She was referred to Dr. Gulani with Gulani Vision Institutes in Jacksonville.

"I was just told by surgeons nothing could be done, I would lose my eyesight and it was the cornea transplant that they could perform," She said. "So I researched doctors and heard of Dr. Gulani."

She said they originally had a consultation via Skype.

This week, she flew out to Jacksonville for the procedure on Thursday. Dr. Gulani shared some of the video from the procedure with Action News Jax.

He said it took less than five minutes to restore her vision.

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories

Download WJAX Apps

"Right then, the patient is crying that she can see.," Dr. Gulani said. "So it's like unveiling something even though it was difficult to understand pre-op how fast we could do it. So that being done was just amazing to all of us."

Through innovated technology patented by the ophthalmologist, Dr. Gulani discovered a new technique to fix this young woman's eyesight.

"I could tell that if I go at a certain depth of her cornea, I don't have to change the whole cornea and do a transplant," Dr. Gulani said. "I could just clear that area."

With this machine, he said he was able to see each level of the patient's iris, which revealed a layer of scar tissue on the eyeball.

He said he was able to point the depth of this scar and surgically remove it within minutes while leaving her initial implant intact.

"My eyesight is much better," she said. "I think it will get better as it continues. I do have a few more surgeries down the line anyway. But at the moment, it's unbelievable that he was able to fix it."

Dr. Gulani said he has many requests for an iris implant and conducted other procedure abroad. However, he also warns patients about the risks.

"Numerous patients who underwent this technique and technology without FDA approval, have gone with bad vision and been blinded in many cases," Dr. Gulani said. "We've received a number of inquiries and we do correct complications for this and this patient is another example of that."

This young woman was able to walk out of the office Thursday, a day after her procedure.

Find more information about Gulani Vision Institutes HERE.