November 18, 2003
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Ten-year-old Oran Almog has returned home to Israel following surgery in Birmingham to repair his right eye, damaged during a terrorist attack on Oct. 4 in Haifa, Israel. UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) eye trauma surgeons who reconstructed Oran’s eye say he has regained some vision and is progressing normally. Oran suffered multiple injuries during the attack, including extensive shrapnel injuries, the loss of his left eye and considerable damage to his right eye. His father, brother, cousin and paternal grandparents were killed in the attack, and his mother and sister were injured. Oran and his maternal grandparents left Birmingham Nov. 16.
Dr. Robert Morris, UAB associate professor of ophthalmology, says Oran can recognize shapes and count the number of fingers held before him. He has color vision, and was able to kick a ball during a rehabilitation session. “We’re very pleased with his progress so far,” said Morris. “He will be monitored by ophthalmologists in Israel and we hope to see continued improvement in his vision over the next year.”
Oran’s maternal grandparents, who accompanied him to Birmingham, expressed thanks to the community. “We want to thank all the doctors, nurses and the entire staffs of the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital at UAB and Children’s Hospital for taking such wonderful care of Oran, said Adina Klebanoff, his grandmother. “We are grateful to the eye doctors who have given us hope that Oran will see again. And we wish to thank the entire Birmingham community for welcoming us so warmly. We have never once felt like strangers here.”
UAB eye trauma surgeons reconstructed the boy’s eye using a procedure known as temporary keratoprosthesis and vitrectomy during a nine-hour surgery on Oct. 21 at the Callahan Eye Foundation Hospital at UAB. They removed his clouded cornea and replaced it with a temporary artificial cornea — which allows surgeons to see into the back of the eye. The surgical team removed scar tissue and blood clots from within the eye and re-attached the retina to the blood vessels that support it. After restoring pressure to the eye, a donor cornea was transplanted to complete the procedure.
Morris, with his colleague Dr. C. Douglas Witherspoon along with cornea specialist Dr. Robert Phillips, who performed the cornea transplant, have done more than 200 of these procedures, more than any other team of surgeons in the world.
“There is still a long recovery road ahead, but there is certainly a reasonable chance of useful vision,” reported Morris. “We don’t expect he will ever be able to read fine print or see details up-close because the macula, the part of the retina that helps us focus, was destroyed. However, we do expect there’s a chance he will have walking around vision, which is better than the alternative before surgery,” he said.
UAB is internationally renowned in the treatment of severe eye injury. Morris and Witherspoon founded the United States Eye Injury Registry (USEIR) at Birmingham in the 1980’s. Morris is president of the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education in Birmingham and is also president of the International Society for Ocular Trauma. Witherspoon is the past-president of the USEIR.