Argentine doctors participated in an expedition that returned the vision to 1062 blind people

Elena Barraquer Compte es una oftalmóloga española especializada en cirugía de catarata y trasplante de córnea.In 2012, he was recognized with the Medal of Honor of Barcelona and, in 2018, with the Queen Sophia Spanish Institute award in its excellence awards category.In 2017, he created a foundation to carry out expeditions to Africa and operate cataracts.This year, the support of the Leo Messi Foundation was added to solve pediatric surgeries.

Gerardo Valvecchia is Argentine and recognized as an ophthalmological surgeon specialized in cataracts, high myopia and cornea transplantation. Conoció a Elena Barraquer y quiso formar parte de su comisión humanitaria.They soon accept it.

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In our country, he is Head of Surgery of the San Camilo Municipal Ophthalmological Center in Berazategui and is associate director of the Quilmes Center. También participa de campañas solidarias en diversas provincias de la Argentina.The last experience was in Salta and the next one will be at the end of March in Buenos Aires, where they will receive patients from all over the country.

Blindness caused by eye cataracts

In developing countries, 4 out of 5 people who are blind might not be.Falls are the main cause of blindness in the world.

"It is a shame, not to say a shame, that there are 25 million blind people in the world for a cataract that we could take away and solve their problem," explains the Spanish ophthalmologist Elena Barraquer.

“I am motivated to take medicine to the patient, instead come where I am.I always wanted to do it in my country and sometimes it is easier.All were made in the course of five days.

One day is used to assemble the operating rooms and another to disassemble them so the mission lasted in total one week.The costs of the stay were borne by each doctor, where they also carried all their instruments.

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“We load more than 80 bags because we have to take from gauze to the needles, the sera we use, the lenses... no puede faltar nada porque habitualmente cuando llegamos a África contamos solo con el espacio físico”, relata el experto que cada año también encabeza Faco Extrema, un encuentro de oftalmólogos de todo el mundo que muestran en vivo cirugías oculares ”en ojos muy dificultosos”.

The vocation of Valvecchia has no limits and stimulates its colleagues, students and auxiliaries in this initiative to return vision to the most humble people.So two other ophthalmologists traveled: Manuela Masseroni and Leonardo Ferlini.Also the Surgical Instruments Andrea Corbeira, Susana Braverboin and the anesthesia technician Carlos Aguiar.The team in total was composed of 31 people, among which there were specialists from Spain, Venezuela, Italy and South Africa.

Life stories that expand humanitarian vision

- Do you know Messi? He asked Gerardo Valvecchia to his eight -year -old patient who was about to be operated on birth cataracts.

- Yes, the child answers.

- Well, he is listening to you, the surgeon surprised him who then operated him from one eye and, the next day, on the other.

“It is very sad to see how they live, in a corner of the house because not seeing cannot move easily.We left this boy with a recovered view.A person's life is changed in a few minutes, ”he summarizes enthusiastic.

Las cataratas se curan con una simple cirugía, si no se soluciona a una corta edad dejan secuelas para toda la vida."Cataracts are like a magnifying glass inside the eye and the idea is to get everything that is opaque to put a new lens," says the surgeon.

"Strong things happen on each trip.One of the patients said he was a carpenter and that he had sold all his tools.Returning his view meant to return his work capacity.He was a young man, about fifty, with cataracts in both eyes, practically blind, ”he describes."Surgery in children of course that mobilize even more because you think about your children," he reflects.

Valvecchia rests this week with her family, but does not stop thinking about the initiative she will realize in March locally.In Buenos Aires, in Salta or in Africa, he is a doctor who cannot stay still knowing that, with what he knows how to do, he can return the view to people who without resources suffer from avoidable blindness.“It's part of my life, I'm always going to do it.You have to return something that you receive ".