MIDWAY through a month-long cruise of South-east Asia, retired American physician Arthur Harrison suddenly found the vision in his left eye blurring.

An abnormal blood vessel had ruptured, damaging the centre of his eye and causing vision loss – characteristic of age-related macular degeneration.

Fortunately, he was able to get an eye injection in Singapore that halted the damage and prevented him from going blind.

Four years ago, Dr Harrison, now 81, had suffered the same problem in his right eye. He was treated then with laser therapy that sealed the blood vessels and stopped the leakage.

Just a few weeks before setting out with his wife Myra, 75, Dr Harrison had his eye check-up in Miami.

“Everything had looked good, so I thought things should be okay,” he said.

The couple visited Cambodia, and then Vietnam, without any trouble. But as they were sailing to Singapore, Dr Harrison noticed he was losing his sight.

The ship’s doctor referred him to a private eye doctor here, who diagnosed his condition and then referred him to the Singapore National Eye Centre for treatment.

Last Friday, Dr Doric Wong, 43, who heads the centre’s vitreo-retina service, gave Dr Harrison an eye injection of a drug originally used to treat colon cancer.

The drug has been recently reported overseas to be able to restore sight in some patients who have regular injections.

The eye centre has also started its own study on the drug’s safety and efficacy. Since July, it has treated about 150 patients like Dr Harrison, giving them at least three monthly injections.

Dr Wong invited the Harrisons to dinner with his family last night.

He said: “It must be quite upsetting for this to happen during their vacation, and they have no one here.”

The Harrisons are cutting short their and flying home.
Dr Harrison said: “The treatment here is superb and everybody has been terrific. It’s lucky I was in Singapore, and not in Cambodia, or I might have been blind by now.”