Xiaotian is only 19 years old, but he has been suffering from a "strange disease" for 16 years. Due to the delay in identifying the cause, he has completely lost the sense of light in his left eye and nearly lost his sight in his right eye... When he was desperate, he met Xie Lixin, an academician of the CAE Member and head of the Qingdao Eye Hospital affiliated to Shandong First Medical University. The academician personally performed the knife and successfully completed this highly difficult and high-risk complex penetrating keratoplasty surgery, further identifying the underlying cause that has plagued the patient for many years.

It is understood that Xiaotian had developed joint deformities at the age of 3, and his vision in both eyes decreased at the age of 10. He went to major hospitals in Guangzhou and Wuhan for examination, but the cause was never found. On April 24th this year, when Xiaotian went to Qingdao Ophthalmology Hospital for treatment, his left eye had completely lost its sense of light, and his right eye could only see about 40 centimeters in front of him, which was very blurry. Without a clear diagnosis, precise treatment cannot be achieved. Professor Lixin Xie gathered experts from the Corneal Disease Department, Glaucoma Department, Cataract Department, and Fundus Disease Department of the Hospital to conduct multidisciplinary consultations. The experts highly suspected that Xiaotian had a rare autosomal dominant genetic disease Blau syndrome. Half a month later, the conclusion of the genetic test confirmed this diagnosis.

At present, Blau syndrome cannot be cured, but after a clear diagnosis, methods such as injection of immunosuppressants and oral steroids can be used to avoid further exacerbation of the disease and ensure the patient's basic quality of life. Professor Lixin Xie led a team of experts to study the surgical plan: Blau syndrome causes recurrent uveitis, corneal opacity, secondary glaucoma, and concurrent cataracts in patients. The chief surgeon not only needs to transplant the cornea, but also needs to deal with more complex eye diseases that may occur. Moreover, the patient may experience an inflammatory storm in the eyes after surgery... The difficulty and risk are high, so Professor Lixin Xie decided to personally perform the surgery.

In the end, the surgery only took one hour and the new cornea was successfully implanted into the patient's right eye. Due to sufficient preoperative preparation and precise intraoperative procedures, there were no accidents during the surgery, and the patient did not experience severe inflammation after surgery. The right eye vision steadily improved from 0.02. On August 1st, two weeks after Xiaotian's surgery, a follow-up examination revealed that his right naked eye vision had recovered to 0.12, which allowed him to basically take care of himself in daily life, exceeding his and his family's expectations.

Professor Lixin Xie is a renowned ophthalmology expert and academic leader in the national key discipline of ophthalmology in China. He has been steadfastly on the clinical front line for many years, completing hundreds of treatments for various difficult ophthalmic cases every year.