Meet Nita, an 18-month-old girl who lives in Cambodia with her mother. Nita has a condition called left eye exotropia, or an outward angled left eye. “This causes her blurred vision and occasional discharge from her eye,” shares our medical partner, Children’s Surgical Centre (CSC).
“Nita is the only child in her family. She enjoys playing with her dolls and playing games,” CSC explains. “Nita’s uncle had surgery at CSC and recommended CSC to her mother. Nita and her mom traveled three hours to reach CSC.” CSC is one of the few hospitals in Cambodia that treats this condition free-of-charge and many patients travel from far provinces because they cannot get this care locally.
$290 will provide Nita with surgery to improve her sight. This surgery consists of identifying and loosening/tightening eye muscles in order to change the alignment of the eye. The surgery usually takes 1-2 hours and recovery is relatively fast, taking only 1-2 weeks to heal the incisions.
Nita’s mother says, “I hope my daughter’s eye can be good looking and straight so she can go to school when she grows up without any problems. She won’t have to be shy with anyone in the future and she can do well in school and get a good job.”