Prof Usha Singh, Advance Eye Centre, PGIMER elected as president of Oculoplastics Association Of India(OPAI)
Prof. Usha Singh, Advance Eye Centre, PGIMER, Chandigarh has taken over as the president of the national society i.e. The “Oculoplastics Association of India (OPAI)” from 21st October 2023 for a period of two years. This national body has around 800 eye specialists.
She has been working in the field of Oculoplastics and Retinoblastoma since 1996 (for 27 years). More than two decades and she has established herself as an international expert in the field of this less opted but very much needed subspecialties of Ophthalmology.
There is a dearth of Oculoplastics specialists in North India, as a result of which many patients requiring these specialized services come to PGI. PGI has 4 such specialists catering to these patients. Oculoplastics is a branch of Ophthalmology which deals with conditions such as droopy eyelids, bulging forward of eyeballs (thyroid eye disease), watery eyes, congenital birth defects of eyelids which affect the normal growth of eye in children affecting vision and tumors and deformities left after injury to the eyes. Oculoplastics also have an aesthetic branch which caters to wrinkles, crows’ lines, droopy brows which hamper vision in elderly. These problems can be tackled only by well-trained oculoplastic surgeons. Retinoblastoma is the most common curable eye tumor occurring in children less than 5 yrs of age. PGI is the only tertiary care referral Centre in North India offering multispecialty treatment under one roof. Apart from intra-arterial and intravenous chemotherapy, local eye treatment with laser/ cryo-application/ Transpupillary thermotherapy, radiotherapy, these children need life long follow-up, psychosocial care, integration in the educational system which also cares for their special needs. Parents of these children require genetic testing if they wish to expand their family or have more than one such child. These children are provided the state of art treatment at PGI- AEC.in order to spread the training and popularize these branches, the Ophthalmology department at PGI would be conducting a midterm conference in 2024.
