American doctors have transplanted entire eyes for the first time

For example, a blood supply in the retina was recorded. Hospital staff called it a “groundbreaking success” in transplant medicine. Patient Aaron James received an electric shock of 7,200 volts in a work accident in 2021 when his face hit a high-voltage line. He lost his left eye, as well as parts of his face and left arm.

More than 140 employees at OP
Surgeons transplanted the 46-year-old’s eye and parts of the face from a deceased donor. More than 140 surgeons and other medical staff were involved in the 21-hour operation. “This is a huge deal,” said Kia Washington, a professor of surgery at the University of Colorado. Because of the time that has passed since the surgery, she doesn’t assume the patient will ever be able to see with his eyes again, “but I never say anything is impossible.”

“Gives hope to people all over the world”
“This gives hope to many people around the world,” said Daniel Pelaez of the University of Miami. Corneal transplants have been a common procedure for a long time, but it has not yet worked for an entire eye. It is still unclear whether vision can be restored by such an operation, because the optic nerve with its approximately one million nerve fibers has been severed.

Doctors are currently investigating how the optic nerve can be repaired, for example through gene therapy. In this way, they investigate whether a connection between the eye and the brain can be established without bypassing the damaged optic nerve. “We are making great progress in treatments to achieve optic nerve regeneration that could be associated with eye transplantation,” said Jeffrey Goldberg of Standford University.