GIRL SAILS THROUGH EYE SURGERY; OPERATION WILL LET 11-YEAR-OLD FIJIAN CHILD FOCUS HER EYES.

Byline: City News Service

Surgeons at Verdugo Hills Hospital performed surgery Thursday on an 11-year-old Fijian girl to correct a congenital muscular defect that left her eyes crossed.

Dr. Ann Stout, an assistant professor of clinical ophthalmology at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, worked for about 2-1/2 hours on Anita Reddy, who was born with a condition called strabismus.

Verdugo Hills Hospital spokeswoman Jacqueline Forsythe said the girl has some stitches in her eyelids that will dissolve by themselves. She was expected to be released from the hospital today.

``I can't wait to see the smile on her face when she can focus (her eyes), because it will be the biggest smile in the world,'' Forsythe said.

Stout cut and repositioned muscles around the eyes, then reattached them, Forsythe said.

``She'll have some redness to her eyes for a total of six weeks,'' she said. ``The only discomfort she may have is feeling a little scratchiness to her eyes for a day or two.''

Dr. Jerald Beeve, a staff physician at Glendale Adventist Medical Center, assisted Stout in the procedure.

Anita's father, Dharham, brought her to a clinic for Fijians operated on Turtle Island by several doctors including Beeve, who founded the nonprofit Beeve Foundation for World Eye and Health Inc. in 1991 to provide medical treatment to Fijians. Beeve arranged the surgery for Anita - free of charge.

She is scheduled to return to Fiji in about a week, and she won't be leaving empty-handed. Forsythe said Anita's two brothers and two sisters have asked her to bring them lots of chocolate - a rarity on Fiji.