Eye Diseases

HUH Eye Diseases is the largest unit treating and carrying out research on eye diseases in Finland. The department is responsible for specialised medical care for eye diseases and vision rehabilitation in the HUH hospital district and, according to the agreed distribution of work, for that of the entire HUS district. The department is the only unit providing 24-hour emergency services for patients with eye diseases in the hospital district as well as the only retinal unit providing emergency surgery in Finland.
 
The department also provides special-level services nationally. At European level, the Department of Eye Diseases is a renowned centre of treatment and research on eye cancer, and research and treatment of eye cancer and ocular pathology in Finland has been concentrated there. It is also the only hospital in the public sector that carries out excimer laser refractive surgery, although only with strict indications. The department is also the only one to perform partial thickness corneal transplants, through which one donor may restore vision to four different eyes. 
 
Cataract operations constitute the largest number of individual procedures at the Department of Eye Diseases. The share of vitreoretinal surgery is on the increase and there is also further need for increase. The department has developed laser treatment on the red wavelength for treating the ciliary body in severe glaucoma. Thanks to this, having to remove an eye due to blindness and pain caused by high eye pressure is very exceptional today. The department has the only outpatient clinic for hereditary eye diseases in Finland with an internationally renowned research group studying hereditary hearing and vision impairment. The department’s Diabetes and Vascular Obstruction Outpatient Clinic was the first of its kind in Finland and its research on macular degeneration and diabetes is internationally recognised.