by Olivia Bredbenner

Created on: October 12, 2009   Last Updated: October 17, 2009

Organ transplants are one of our greatest advances in modern medicine. However, our current technology is limited in the ability to transplant an entire eye. To transplant an entire eye, the eye surgeon would have to sever the optic nerve of the recipient's eye and then re-attach it using microsurgery, to the new transplanted nerve of the donor eye. However, the optic nerve is a CNS nerve and is different than peripheral nerves. At this time there is no effective way to stimulate a CNS nerve. The biggest problem would then be the inability of the recipient's socket to receive any information from the transplanted eye.

Fortunately, there are prosthetic eyes that are realistic and without the risk of complications or rejection.

When a person decides to donate their eyes . They can choose to make them an "anatomical gift" by registering at the Bureau of Motor vehicles. This information is then collected by each state and marked accordingly on a driver's license. Or arrangements can be made as an individual donor; to a specific recipient through designated transplant centers.

Eye banking: The process from donor to recipient :

When the eye bank is notified by a hospital, or an organ procurement organization of an available eye donation. The hospital must have verified that a preliminary criteria for the donation has been met. The eye bank then gets in touch with the donor's family to obtain consent for recovery of the tissue. The eye bank will make the specific request to use the donor's corneas. Most often, this must happen within 12 hours from the time of death. After the consent from the family has been obtained. A donor's medical review is done, including a complete social and donor history, including the cause of death, the medications involved in care and, whether there was any loss of blood. A physical inspection of the eye, and a sample of blood from the donor is necessary along with a screening for any infectious disease.

There is no cost to the donor's family for the donation of an organ. However, they are responsible for the funeral expenses.

A technician that is trained in the recovery of corneas. Will examine the donor's eyes. Then prepare for recovery of the cornea in a sterile field to avoid contamination. However, the cornea itself is not considered sterile. The cornea is placed in a storage medium to keep the cornea viable and to reduce bacterial growth. The technician then transports the cornea to the eye bank for refrigeration.

The cornea must

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