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May 21, 2021 | Author: Admin
Disease in cornea may result in blindness. Approximately 6-8 million people throughout the world are blind due to problem in cornea. In India, approximately 6 million people have reduced vision due to corneal problem in one eye and the number of people with corneal disease in both the eyes is approximately 1 million.
More than 1,20,000 people are suffering from corneal blindness in India and there is an addition of around 25,000 to 30,000 patients every year. To cater such a large number of people, approximately 2,50,000 corneas are needed annually. Unfortunately, the corneal donation in India is 25,000 annually.
Anyone can pledge their eyes irrespective of their age, gender, religion or even medical history. People who are suffering from diabetes, glaucoma and cataract can donate eyes. Even the people who wear spectacles can also pledge their eyes.
The cornea is the outer and transparent part of the eyeball used for eye donation. The cornea receives a limited supply of blood hence it creates less of rejection problem in transplant.
To decrease corneal blindness the eyes donated by one person are transplanted to two people with two different corneal diseases causing corneal blindness.
The people who are suffering from AIDS or any other spreadable infectious disease, such as cholera, hepatitis, Corona, meningitis, tetanus, and septicemia, cannot donate their eyes.
If the eyes are not healthy for a corneal transplant, they can be used for clinical research.
A corneal transplant has a more than 90% success rate.
Eye donation has some criteria for donating eyes. It depends on the health condition at the time of death. Here are the criteria listed below
The eyes that cannot be used for transplant can be donated for clinical research. The eyes of the donor should be closed immediately after death and should be covered with a moist cloth or ice packs.
The eyes can be donated only after the death of the person. The removal of eyes should take place within 4-5 hours after death. The eye must be removed by the registered medical practitioner. The team of eye bank will take the eyeball from the deceased person either from home or the hospital or nursing home where death has occurred .The eyes can be donated by the person itself by signing the pledge. The close relatives of the deceased are also eligible for allowing the eye donation even if a pledge is not signed by the person.
There is a religious misconception that after the eye donation, the face will suffer from deformation by having holes. In this process, the doctors remove only the cornea and part of the sclera which is the topmost layer of an eye.
If someone has glaucoma or cataract and treated or operated on, they can pledge for eye donation.
Age is not in the criteria for eye donation. Anyone of the age of more than one year can donate eyes.
Eyes cannot be bought or sold. Eye donation is purely a charitable act. However, eye transplant surgery may have surgical and post-surgical care cost.
It is not necessary to pledge the donation before death. The family members can volunteer the process of eye donation after death.
The myth is eye donation is a long process. However, the reality is the entire process of donating eyes takes 15-20 minutes only.
It is a religious myth that if you, donate your eyes in this birth it leads to blindness in the next birth. There is no scientific proof with this theory.
Eye donation is a noble act. The trend of donation with advanced technologies promises the world for providing more and more corneas to the affected people. The corneal transplant procedure is the gift of sight for someone in need. It is important that more and more people must join this fight against blindness and donate their eyes so that someone who is suffering from corneal blindness would be able to see this beautiful world.
