The Vision Center of Hospital da Luz Lisboa first applied, on December 16, an innovative surgical technique for sclero-corneal limbal stem cells transplantation to treat a patient with chemical burn of the cornea of one of the eyes and consequent total loss of vision. The surgery, which successfully took place, was performed by Paulo Guerra and assisted by Bernardo Feijóo , both ophthalmologists at that center, directed by Filomena Ribeiro . The stem cells of the sclero-corneal limbus are the mother cells responsible for ocular surface regeneration. This technique – known as SLET (Simple Limbal Epithelial Transplantation) – can be used in cases of severe chemical/thermal eye burns, scarring chronical conjunctivitis, allergic conjunctivitis and severe cases of prolonged overuse of contact lenses. The procedure can be performed in ambulatory , where cells from the contralateral healthy eye of the patient are collected. These cells are then transplanted to the affected eye using human amniotic membrane, thus allowing healing of the ocular surface. “ SLET has shown good results in terms of sight improvement and also reducing eye inflammation ”, explains Paulo Guerra.
