Patient Relations
In 2024, JHAH’s Ophthalmology department celebrated 20 years of offering retina surgery. One of JHAH’s earlier retina surgery patients recounts his 16-year relationship with the department.
Saqar Al Ansari knew something wasn’t quite right after he underwent laser eye surgery in 1996. The vision in his left eye had improved but he still couldn’t see properly with his right eye. To correct his vision, he was forced to wear a hard, thick contact lens in his right eye that caused him extreme discomfort.
After suffering for more than a decade through multiple misdiagnoses, Mr. Al Ansari turned to Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare (JHAH) for the first time. In August 2008, one week after visiting JHAH eye surgeon Ramiz Al Hindi, Mr. Al Ansari was undergoing retinal detachment surgery at Dr. Al Hindi’s hands.
“Within a few days, the vision in my right eye had returned,” Mr. Al Ansari recalls. “It was so uncomfortable wearing that hard contact lens — then all of a sudden, I didn’t have to wear it at all. It was such a relief.”
It marked the beginning of a long-term relationship between Mr. Al Ansari and JHAH’s retina surgeons. In 2009, Dr. Al Hindi performed cataract surgery on Mr. Al Ansari’s right eye to further improve his vision. In 2020, Dr. Al Hindi performed laser correction on Mr. Al Ansari’s right eye, and in 2023, cataract surgery on his left eye.
After these surgeries, I feel so much more comfortable,
I’m so happy with my vision — I can see just like I did as a young man. I don’t need to wear contact lenses or even glasses except when I’m driving or watching television from a distance.
The year 2024 was a milestone for retina surgery at JHAH, marking 20 years since the first retina surgery was performed at the hospital, by Dr. Al Hindi. That first procedure, in September 2004, involved treating a patient’s vitreous hemorrhage — a condition prevalent among diabetics, whereby abnormal blood vessels in the retina bleed into the jelly-like fluid that fills the eye.
A couple of months earlier, Dr. Al Hindi had returned from McGill University in Canada, where he undertook two years of retina surgery training.
“Retina surgery at JHAH started from scratch,” Dr. Al Hindi recalls. “While I was still training at McGill, I worked with JHAH management to secure all the instruments and machines we needed to conduct advanced retina surgery. And some of these machines were very big and very expensive! But by the time I returned from Canada, everything was in place. It took a huge effort from all involved, but it was incredibly exciting to watch everything fall into place.
“Today, we conduct almost every type of retina surgery at JHAH.”
Dr. Al Hindi and his team perform surgery on as many as 100 patients per year, with diabetic vitreous hemorrhage the most common concern. The Ophthalmology department uses the Constellation Vision System, an advanced microsurgical instrument used to perform various retinal surgeries with both physical and laser tools. Dr. Al Hindi is assisted by a second specialist surgeon and three staff surgeons.
“Dr. Al Hindi has a very easy manner around his patients,” Mr. Al Ansari says. “He puts your mind at rest. He makes you feel like surgery is no big deal, and afterwards, he encourages you to get back to enjoying your life. I have friends and former colleagues who have seen Dr. Ali Hindi, and they all say the same.”