Five eye patients set to go home, two suffer relapse

Two of the eight patients who suffered eye infections after cataract surgery at the Apollonion hospital have undergone a relapse, their current ophthalmologist Theodoros Potamitis told the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, two patients relapsed, but we will know more about their situation in the upcoming days,” Potamitis said.

The patients have already lost about 80 per cent of vision in the eye that was operated on and were taken back to the operating theatre for further treatment, the doctor said.

Meanwhile, the five patients who each had one eye removed are set to be released from the Nicosia general hospital on Wednesday, where they have been receiving inpatient care.

One patient, who had underlying health conditions and was treated at the intensive care unit since Friday, is now on a normal ward and is out of danger.

The eight patients, aged 60 to 80, got a pseudomonas endophthalmitis infection, an antibiotic resistant bacteria that lives in the back of the eye and damages the nerve tissue. They presented symptoms a few days after their cataract operation at the Apollonion on October 20.

Since then, they have undergone corrective surgeries at two different private clinics in Limassol, with Potamitis, clinical director of Pantheo eye centre, visiting them in Nicosia state hospitals. Pantheo, not under the Gesy scheme, does not offer inpatient care.