BROWN EYES TO BLUE

Surgery went wrong

A British mom came to Panama to have her brown eyes made blue

STAFF
mherrera@laestrella.com.pa

PANAMA. Panama’s Medical tourism got unwanted global recognition for the second time in three months with the news of a failed eye procedure.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health said an investigation is under way as the clinic was not registered at the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

In May, a 30 year old woman from Texas died after receiving lipo-suction.

Shenise Farrel, a British single mom, traveled to Panama for surgery to change the color of her eyes after reading about the procedure on the internet, under a heading “Life changing procedure and a vacation”

Farrell called the US number advertised in the New Color Iris company's website linked to a Clinic in Panama city run by Dr. Delary Alberto Kahn, ophthalmic surgeon and inventor.

She withdrew her $10,000 savings to pay for the procedure and underwent five tests with opticians in the UK to check that she was suitable for the procedure.

She had to pay a $3,000 deposit and provide proof of airfare and hotel. She arrived in Panama in June.

The operation consists of inserting a colored lens inside the eye over the iris and it’s not licensed in Europe.

The company's website claims the operation is patented in the US.

”The procedure was unpleasant and painful. I screamed out at one point. But it was over within ten minutes and I was taken back to my hotel with just some eye drops and told to buy my own painkillers,” Farrel said.

For the next eight days her vision remained blurred, although the website says the blurriness would only last four days after the procedure.

Back in England, her vision was still blurred and had developed a painful sensitivity to light. Four days later, Farrel went to the Western Eye Hospital in Paddington which inmeditately referred her to ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Ali Mearza at the Charing Cross Hospital.

“She could barely make out the top letter on the eye chart,’ he said. 'We could have registered her as blind. There was no question but to remove the implants which in itself was quite a challenging procedure. I would strongly advise people not to undergo this process” Dr. Mearza said.

A spokesman for New Color Iris clinic said that while it sympathized with Miss Farrell, it has carried out more than 600 operations since 2002 with only a handful of complaints. ‘No procedure is perfect,’ he said.

Farrell might develop cataracts in later life and is at increased risk of glaucoma. “To think I could have never been able to see my children again” said the single mother of three from Ealing, West London.

New Color Vision advertises the life changing procedure and a vacation along with a picture of the Panama bay. The website also says that the high incidence of ocular albinism in Panama among the Kuna Indians is one of the main medical indications for this procedure.

Earlier this year, a Texan woman, who came to the country as a tourist and went to a private clinic in David for cosmetic surgery, died later of complications.

According to the First Prosecutor, Franklin Amaya, Patrice Lahon, 30, from Houston, Texas, died after she suffered cardiac arrest following her liposuction operation.

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