Operation Eyesight: Elephant Fitted With Contact Lens

After Win Thida damaged her cornea playing with her pachyderm pals, she became the first elephant ever to be fitted with a contact lens.
By Jocelyn Heaney
February 2, 2012
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elephant eye surgery, eye of an elephant
An animal ophthalmologist inserts a contact lens into Win Thida's eye. (Photo: NAtura Artis Magistra)

When Win Thida, an elephant at Amsterdam’s Artis Zoo, started closing her eye in pain, zookeepers applied ointment and gave the 44-year-old pachyderm a round of painkillers, MSNBC reports.

But when she showed no signs of improvement, zoo officials decided to fit her right eye—which is about eight times the size of a human eye—with a giant contact lens.

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An opthalmologist at the Amsterdam Zoo fitted the lens by administering a light sedative and eye anesthetic and then enclosing the elephant in her stall so she couldn't move during the fitting. It is dangerous to put elephants completely asleep during operations, as they can have trouble breathing when lying down. 

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The opthalmologist, who has fitted horses with contact lenses, may have to return to Win Thida if the lens falls out in a few weeks.

As for Win Thida's sight: zoo officials say it was "instantly better" after her fitting.

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