Vagh Eye Centre, Shivaji Nagar

I was referred to Dr. Mushtali Vagh by another renowned ophthalmologist in the city. A brief history of my condition when I paid him a visit would probably help you to understand this doctor’s treatment better.

I was a user of soft, disposable contact lenses for more than 10 years when one unfortunate morning, I woke up to red, swollen eyes and hazy vision. I would rate the accompanying pain that particular day as 2 on a scale on 10. Through my consultation with 4 ophthalmologists, my condition continued to roll downhill and my vision got hazier. One would put me on strong steroids while another would ask me to exercise my eye muscles while the other would just want me to stop bothering. Whatever I did, my discomfort started to overwhelm me. Thankfully, a friend recommended a great ophthalmologist at Manipal Hospital who happened to be the Head of the Department of Ophthalmology too at that time. To say the least, she had her eyes were on stocks when she first saw me. She immediately decided I needed counselling more than anything else to overcome my trauma and she was right. She put me on high doses of medicines, right from eye drops to strong painkillers, to relieve me of the pain and thankfully, they were working. At this stage, I would rate my pain and discomfort as 6 on a scale of 10. Just when I thought things were finally looking up, a friend pointed out a greyish-blue circle – like a little halo – on the black portion of my eye. No prizes for guessing, I was at Manipal at 8 the next morning to check what’s wrong this time around. They immediately did a test on my eye – scraped tissues with a surgical knife – and ran a lab test to find out what’s wrong. Fortunately, the results were negative for acanthamoeba keratitis – an extremely painful eye infection – but that didn’t explain why the pain I was undergoing at that moment was close to crossing the threshold of 10. The ophthalmologist at Manipal Hospital wanted me to immediately connect with Dr. Mushtali Vagh as she deemed him better equipped to treat me. Enters Dr. Vagh in the picture.

Summarizing what I said above, when I visited Dr. Mushtali Vagh, I had red eyes that were made worse with excruciating pain and so swollen that I couldn’t wear my glasses. Though there was a long queue of patients waiting, he took a call to see me before anyone else looking at my condition and only after duly taking each waiting patient’s permission. To be frank, I couldn’t stand still and never knew an eye infection (or whatever that was) would make me suffer so. I was half healed the moment I stepped into his chamber such positivity he exudes. After patiently examining my eye for over twenty minutes, he immediately expressed his idea of taking me off all the dozen drops that I was on and substituting it with with just two drops – a clinic made antibiotic and a lubricating drop. He prescribed painkillers as an SoS. Without beating around the bush, he assured me that he knew what exactly I was going through and borrowed ten days from me to heal me and bring the pain and swelling down. Then on, started a series of daily trips to his clinic to treat my eye. Oh, the greyish-blue circle that my friend had noticed on my eyeball had now turned opaque white and blocked my vision completely. Dr. Vagh was frank enough to admit that he may not be able to bring back my vision completely but he will certainly provide relief and riddance from the painful infection as soon as he can. What had affected me later turned out to be a serious bacterial infection due to extended-wearing of soft contact lenses as per his examination – I’d like to take a second at this point to bring to your point that the 5 doctors before Dr. Vagh failed to conclude this. What continued was regular medication, visits to his clinic, mandatory tests and then almost a week later, the pain that had left me almost immobile and paralysed for over two months finally subsided or should it say was considerably less. I was off painkillers and steroids and instead put on on a simple, preservative-free lubricating drop – Dr. Vagh believes in combining medicines with the body’s natural healing potential and alleviating the patient from his/her discomfort. He suggested changes in my diet too and included lemons, sweet limes, oranges, curd, yoghurt and other foods rich in protein and Vitamin-C which will enhance my body’s natural healing capacity and acted as a dietician too in the process, besides being a great counsellor. He tirelessly assured me that I’d soon be okay and that he’ll try his best to restore my vision without any surgical intervention.

After he successfully treated my infection and relieved me of the suffering, it was time to put our heads on my vision. Because of the scrape test already damaging some of my tissues and continued use of steroids, I had lost my vision in my left eye by the time the infection subsided. Dr. Vagh first put me on muscle exercises after which he advised me to wear hard contact lenses that would mould back the shape of my cornea and may in the process disperse the patchiness and restore my vision to the minimum possible extent – oh, my cornea looked like a shapeless crater under a microscope according to my husband who’d had the fortune to have a look at it at the clinic. Hard lenses didn’t prove to be much helpful and eventually Dr. Vagh broke the news to me – I had to undergo a cornea transplant in order to restore hundred percent vision.

Today, I’m free of any infection and the white patchiness around my cornea has also almost disappeared – I can safely say I look forward to the surgery when I feel the time is right. Since I’m expecting my first baby, I plan to undergo the life-changing surgery only after a year after delivery because again then I’d have to be on steroid drops and ointments for a year.

To me, Dr. Mushtali Vagh is a messiah who was sent to take care of me at the right time and the right place.

Treatment

10/10

Waiting time

8/10

Patience/Time taken to consult each patient

10/10

Dr. Vagh has been my ophthalmologist since I was a child and he's one of the kindest doctors I've met. I've had various recurring issues but he's always very patient, and has made me feel welcome every time I've gone. I would highly recommend him!