Acrylic eyes for little Zain is a blessing says mother

Children's relief fund flies girls into Dubai from Palestinian Territories for specialised treatment.

:Rola Al Dalo sits with her 20-month-old daughter Zain, who is listening to the Quran on her mother’s mobile phone, after moulds were made to fit the little girl with a pair of prosthetic eyes.

DUBAI // Rola Al Dalo discovered just two days after giving birth to her daughter why her baby never opened her eyes.

"She would keep them closed all the time and I couldn't understand why," said Ms Al Dalo, from the Palestinian Territories.

It was not until little Zain finally opened her eyelids that her mother realised her daughter had been born without visible eyes.

Zain has microphthalmia, a rare genetic birth defect where a child is born with underdeveloped eyeballs.

Now 20 months old, she has undergone 13 procedures in Gaza and Jerusalem, nine of which were surgeries.

Zain was fitted with plastic eyes in the Palestinian Territories, but there were no facilities available to develop eyes that looked real.

During summer last year, Ms Al Dalo contacted the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), and Zain was one of five children chosen to have treatment in the UAE.

Last week, mother and daughter made their way to Dubai. And yesterday, just before World Sight Day today, Zain was at Moorfields Eye Hospital being fitted for acrylic eyes.

"The plastic eyes that she was fitted with [in the Palestinian Territories] were too small," said Dr Andrea Sciscio, Zain's doctor and a consultant oculoplastic surgeon at Moorfields. "So we needed to take a mould of her eye sockets to ensure that her new pair of eyes are an appropriate size."

Lana Suleiman also made the trip from the territories for treatment. After the little girl was born, her mother, Iman Suleiman, looked into her eyes and noticed something curious.

"One eye was green and the other was blue," Ms Suleiman said. "They just didn't look natural."

After consulting a doctor in Gaza, she was told Lana had glaucoma, which was triggered by high blood pressure, and had low vision.

This year Lana, 2, received a corneal transplant. The surgery improved the vision in her right eye and there were plans to repeat the procedure on her left.

But a complication occurred.

"A virus erupted in her right eye and the infection was progressing so quickly that the doctors could not handle it," Ms Suleiman said. "Suddenly our priority shifted from treating the left eye to saving her right."

Within weeks, Lana lost all colour, pigmentation and vision in her right eye. Ms Suleiman appealed to the PCRF for assistance. The decision was made to place an opaque contact lens painted to resemble a natural eye on Lana's right eye.

Yesterday, doctors made moulds of Zain's sockets and the surface of Lana's eye.

"The process is cold and unpleasant but not painful," said Dr Paul Geelen, an ocularist at the hospital. "The paste for the impression is applied with a syringe. This usually frightens the children, which is why we used a quick anaesthetic."

Both prosthetics must be replaced as the girls age. The doctors will provide the girls with a series of lenses and acrylics that can be used as they grow.

Despite their vision problems, the girls remain playful and in good spirits.

After waking from the anaesthesia, Lana quietly lay on her mother's lap. Zain smiled and waved goodbye to the doctors.

"It truly is a blessing," Ms Suleiman said. "All I want is to see my daughter happy and healthy, and everything else will fall into place."