Eye Donation: A Community Need

Eye Donation: A Community Need

• Rotary Eye Hospital is considered one of the best eye care facilities in India. Eye donation is an act of donating one’s eyes after his/her death. Only corneal blinds can be benefited from this process, not other Blinds. It is an act of charity, purely for the benefit of society, and is totally voluntary, Eye donation should be encouraged on a large scale, as one of the best means of social service. Enabling another person, to obtain vision is one of the best forms of charity. Even after death, the donor lives in the eyes of the recipient. Eyes from a dead person can enable two blind people to acquire vision.

Facts about eye donation:

• Eyes can only be donated after one’s death.
• Eyes have to be removed within 4 to 6 hours after death.
• The donor need not be taken to the eye bank. The Eye Bank Officials will visit the home of the donor for no extra charges.
• The entire procedure of eye removal does not delay the funeral, as it takes only 20-30 minutes.
• People of any age can donate their eyes.
•  Eyes can be donated irrespective of whether the person had pledged his eyes or not.
• The face is not disfigured by the removal of the eyes.
• A small quantity (10 ml) of blood is taken from the donor’s body for testing.
• The eyes are evaluated by the eye bank personnel and the cornea is used for transplantation by a trained corneal surgeon.
• Eye Banks are non-profit organizations. You cannot buy eyes. Patients are called in strictly according to the waiting lists.
• The identities of both the donor and the recipient are kept confidential.
• Each person can give sight to two individuals.

You can donate your eyes even if you:

• Have undergone cataract surgery.
• Wear spectacles
• Suffer from diabetes, high blood pressure, asthma, tuberculosis, etc.

Cornea cannot be used for transplantation if the patients are identified to be suffering from:

• AIDS or HIV
• Active Viral Hepatitis
• Active Viral Encephalitis (Inflammation of the brain)
• Rabies
• Retinoblastoma (A cancer of the eye)
• Septicemia (Bacteria in the Bloodstream)
• Active Leukemia (A type of blood cancer)
• Another Infectious disease

If there is a death in your family and you wish to donate their eyes:

• Switch off the fan
• Close the eyelids of the donor
• Raise the head of the deceased individual slightly by placing a pillow below their head
• Contact the nearest eye bank as quickly as possible.

Rotary Eye Helps donated eyes and can be used to restore vision in people who are suffering from corneal blindness. The front, clear and transparent tissue of the eye called the cornea can be used to restore vision in a corneal blind person.

While whole-eye donations cannot be used for transplants, they can be used for research and education. Whole eye research has led to advancements in the understanding of the cause and effects of conditions such as glaucoma, retinal disease, eye complications of diabetes, and other sight disorders. Eye donation involves the recovery, preparation, and delivery of donated eyes for corneal transplants and research. The first successful corneal transplant was performed in 1905, and the first eye bank was founded in 1944.

The eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enable several photo response functions that are independent of vision. The eyes detect light and convert it into electrochemical impulses in neurons (neurons). Eye donation involves donating your corneas – not your iris. Sometimes called a keratoplasty, or a corneal graft, a cornea transplant could give someone back the gift of sight. When you register as an organ donor, you can choose to be a tissue donor too. Blindness is one of the major public health problems in developing countries. According to World Health Organization, corneal diseases (Damage to the tissue covering the front of the eye called the cornea) are among the major causes of vision loss and blindness, after cataracts and glaucoma. Practically anyone from the age of 1 year. There is no maximum age limit.

From each pair of donated eyes, two blind people will get vision and light into their life, thus making it more divine. Eye donation is an act of donating one’s eyes after his/her death. It is an act of charity, purely for the benefit of society, and is totally voluntary.

Eyes are removed at the hospital or at the home of the patient. The eye bank collects these eyes and checks and evaluates them. These are distributed to corneal blind people. Eyes not suitable for donation are used for Medical Research.

Usually, two corneas from a deceased individual are transplanted into two corneal blind patients. But in the case of actor Puneeth Rajkumar, his eyes were used to restore the vision of four patients. “Each eye was used to treat two patients by separating the superior and deeper layers of the cornea.

For the most part, the corneal donation comes from people who are dead. In very rare circumstances, a donor may be living. For example, a patient who has an ocular tumor in the back of the eye may be able to donate the eye at the time the eye is removed.

• Eyes should be donated within 6-8 hrs of death.”
• Anyone can be a donor, irrespective of age, sex, blood group, or religion.”
• Anyone with cataracts or spectacles can donate eyes. ”
• A person suffering from hypertension, or diabetes can also donate eyes.”
• Total procedures take 15-20 minutes. There is no disfigurement of the face of the donor.”
• Anyone can be a donor, irrespective of age, sex, blood group or religion.”
• Eyes can be donated even if the deceased had not formally pledged their eyes during their lifetime.”
• The Eye Bank team will rush over to the donor’s home or any other place where the body is available after death. This is free service in the public interest.”
• After pledging, please inform your family about your wish to donate eyes, so that they can fulfill your wish.”